soul

noun

1 SPIRIT (C) the spiritual part of a person that is believed to continue to exist after they die: A prayer was said for the souls of those who had died in the accident.

2 INNER CHARACTER (singular) the part of a person that contains their true character, where their deepest thoughts and feelings come from: Deep down in her soul she knew she could never marry him.

3 PERSON (C) a person: Betty's a happy soul with a ready smile. | not a (living) soul (=no one): I won't tell a living soul. | not a soul to be seen: There wasn't a soul to be seen in the park. | poor old soul: The poor old soul had fallen and broken her hip.

4 POPULATION souls (plural) literary people, considered as the population of a place: a village with a population of 300 souls

5 SENSE OF BEAUTY (U)

a) the ability to be emotionally affected by great art, music, or literature: My brother doesn't appreciate poetry - he has no soul.

b) the quality of sincere human feelings that makes a painting, piece of music, performance etc attractive: Her performance was technically perfect, but it lacked soul.

6 SPECIAL QUALITY (U) the special quality or part that gives something its true character

(+ of): Basho's poems capture the true soul of old Japan.

7 be the soul of discretion etc to always be extremely careful to keep secrets: You can trust Leon, he's the very soul of discretion.

8 MUSIC (U) soul music

9 bless my soul/upon my soul old-fashioned spoken used to express surprise

10 be good for the soul humorous if something is good for the soul, it is good for you and you should do it, even though it may seem unpleasant: They say that hardship is good for the soul.

11 God rest his/her soul used when you mention the name of someone who is dead: Your Uncle Edward, God rest his soul, loved cricket.

—see also: bare your soul bare 2 (2), be the life and soul of the party life (32), keep body and soul together body (14), heart and soul heart (2), sellyour soul (to the devil) sell 1 (11), soul music