▪ I. dilute, ppl. a.
(dɪ-, daɪˈl(j)uːt)
[ad. L. dīlūt-us diluted, weak, thin, pa. pple. f. dīluĕre to dissolve, dilute, f. di-, dis- (dis- 1)+ luĕre to wash.]
1. Weakened in consistency or strength by the addition of water or of anything having a like effect; watered down.
| 1658 Phillips, s.v. Dilution, Wine dilute signifieth wine that is mingled with water. c 1698 Locke Cond. Underst. §45 A large dose of dilute tea. 1757 A. Cooper Distiller i. xvi. (1760) 70 The Wash should be made dilute or thin. 1843 Sir C. Scudamore Med. Visit Gräfenberg 22 In the most dilute urine, I found the evidence of saline matter. |
b. spec. of a chemical substance.
| 1800 Henry Epit. Chem. (1808) 118 Weigh the dilute acid employed. 1816 Accum Chem. Tests (1818) 176 Soluble in dilute nitric and acetic acid. 1871 B. Stewart Heat §129 One of dilute sulphuric acid. |
c. Of a weakened or weaker colour (as in an infusion to which water is added); washed-out.
| 1665 Phil. Trans. I. 106 After a while it [matter]..grows dilute and pale. 1728 Pemberton Newton's Philos. 346 The yellow which preceded this was at first pretty good, but soon grew dilute. 1796 Withering Brit. Plants IV. 262 Gills fixed, dilute green..or whitish towards the edges. 1813 Prichard Phys. Hist. Mankind (1836) I. 221 A much lighter, or more dilute shade. 1860 Tyndall Glac. i. xviii. 128 And permit the sun to shed a ghastly dilute light. |
2. fig. Weak, enfeebled, poor, paltry. Obs. (exc. as directly fig. from 1).
| 1605 Bacon Adv. Learn. ii. xxv. §12. 125 The more you recede from the Scriptures..the more weake and dilute are your positions. a 1631 Donne Serm. Hosea ii. 19 (1634) 22 How pallid, and faint, and dilute a thing all the honours of this world are. 1664 H. More Myst. Iniq. 208 It were a dilute business for the Apostle to describe Antichrist onely by the bare denial of Jesus his being the Christ. 1722 Wollaston Relig. Nat. viii. 166 The relation between the children of these children grows more remote and dilute, and in time wears out. 1814 Monthly Mag. XXXVII. 333 Many a work of art distilled to its essential beauties would keep, which putrifies in its dilute state. |
▪ II. dilute, v.
(dɪ-, daɪˈl(j)uːt)
[f. L. dīlūt- ppl. stem of dīluĕre: see prec. Cf. F. diluer.]
1. trans. To dissolve or make liquid by the addition of water, esp. to make thinner or weaker by this means, to water down; to reduce the strength of (a fluid) by admixture.
| 1664 Evelyn Kal. Hort. (1729) 207 Diluting it with a Portion of Water. 1712 Blackmore Creation vi. (R.), By constant weeping mix their watery store With the chyle's current, and dilute it more. 1791 Cowper Iliad ix. 251 Replenish it with wine Diluted less. 1791 Hamilton Berthollet's Dyeing I. i. i. i. 5 Sulphuric acid diluted with a very large quantity of water. 1799 G. Smith Laboratory I. 270 Lay on it muscle-shell gold or silver, diluted with size. 1800 tr. Lagrange's Chem. I. 294 Dilute one part of calcined bones in four parts of water. 1830 M. Donovan Dom. Econ. I. 373 A small quantity of brandy, diluted with much water. 1856 Emerson Eng. Traits, Result Wks. (Bohn) II. 133 In bad seasons, the porridge was diluted. 1867 W. W. Smyth Coal & Coal-mining 223 An adequate amount of ventilation..to dilute and render harmless noxious gases. |
† b. Med. To treat with diluents. Obs.
| 1740 E. Baynard Health (ed. 6) 11 They cool, dilute, and quench the thirst. 1768 Foote Devil on 2 Sticks iii. Wks. 1799 II. 275 Full power..to pill..dilute..and poultice, all persons. |
2. To weaken the brilliancy of (colour); to make of a faint or washed-out hue.
| 1665 Hooke Microgr. 69 Saline refracting bodies which do dilute the colour of the one, do deepen that of the other. Ibid. 71 There are other Blues, which..will not be diluted by grinding. a 1727 Newton (J.), The chamber was dark, lest these colours should be diluted and weakened by the mixture of any adventitious light. 1794 Home in Phil. Trans. LXXXV. 3 Which by diluting the image formed in the focus..makes that image appear far less bright. |
3. fig. To weaken, take away the strength or force of: generally with obvious reference to the literal sense.
| c 1555 Harpsfield Divorce Hen. VIII (1878) 124 These arguments the adversaries went about to dilute and solve. 1810 Syd. Smith Ess., Fem. Educ. (1869) 199 Can there be any reason why she should be diluted and enfeebled down to a mere culler of simples? 1831 Brewster Newton (1855) I. x. 225 The second dissertation..in which he dilutes the objections made against the theory. 1852 H. Coleridge North. Worthies Advt. 16 The Author finds..nothing which he is resolved to Dilute into no meaning. a 1853 Robertson Serm. Ser. iii. i. (1872) 2 That unreal religion of excitement which diluted the earnestness of real religion in the enjoyment of listening. |
4. intr. (for refl.) To suffer dilution; to become dissolved; to become attenuated.
| 1764 Reid Inquiry vi. §22 Wks. I. 191/1 The colours of the stone and of the cement begin to dilute into one another. |