SOS

Meanings

Noun

• The conventional Morse code call made by a ship in distress.
• Initialism of Secretary of State
• Initialism of special order sale
• A children's game in which players take turns to place S's and O's on a grid, collecting points by creating an "SOS" sequence.
• Initialism of shit on a shingle

Phrase

• Initialism of slip on show: a warning to a woman that the underwear she has on can be seen.

Origin

• From the letters represented by the signal, chosen as a sequence that is easy to recall and transmit (· · · — — — · · ·); it is not, as is commonly believed, an abbreviation for "save our souls", "save our ship" or any other phrase.