▪ I. sol, n.1
(sɒl)
[L. sōl (for earlier *sāol, *sāwol), = Gr. ἥλιος (Homeric ἠέλιος, Cretan ἀβέλιος), Skr. suvar, Lith. sáule, Goth. sauil, ON. and Icel. sól (Norw., Sw., Da. sol), Welsh haul.]
1. The sun (personified).
Used without article and written with capital S.
| c 1450 Treat. Astrol. (MS. Ashm. 337) 2 Sol is hote & dry but not as mars is. 1592 Kyd Span. Trag. i. i. 23 Ere Sol had slept three nights in Thetis lap. 1593 Peele Poems Wks. (Rtldg.) 601 More beautiful..Than Sol himself amid the Planets seven. 1609 Ev. Woman in Hum. ii. in Bullen O. Pl. IV, His smile is like the Meridian Sol Discern'd a dauncing in the burbling brook. 1670 D. Denton Brief Desc. New York (1845) 19 The Vines..doth shelter them from the scorching beams of Sols fiery influence. 1712–4 Pope Rape Lock i. 13 Sol thro' white curtains shot a tim'rous ray. 1791 Cowper Retired Cat 62 Till Sol, declining in the west, Shall call to supper. 1820 Combe Syntax, Consol. v. (Chandos) 203 In bright Sol's diurnal round, No such delightful place was found. 1837 P. Keith Bot. Lex. 277 Clytie, inconsolable for the loss of the affections of Sol,..is represented as brooding over her griefs in silence and in solitude. |
† 2. a. Alch. Gold. Obs.
| a 1386 Chaucer Can. Yeom. Prol. & T. 273 Sol gold is, and Luna silver we threpe. [1460–70 Bk. Quintessence i. (1866) 3 Good gold naturel..is clepid of philosophoris sol in latyn.] 1477 Norton Ordin. Alch. iii. in Ashm. (1652) 41 Sol by it selfe, or Mercury alone, Or Sulphur with them. 1591 Sylvester Du Bartas i. iv. 400 Pure goldy-locks, Sol, States'-friend, Honor-giver. 1599 T. M[oufet] Silkwormes 45 Zeuxis his painted dogge shal barke and whine When Ioue they turne to Sol or Luna fine. 1606 J. Davies (Heref.) Select Husband Wks. (Grosart) II. 7/1 Though Beauty then seem Sol, at least as rich, It wil be found but Lune, on Tryalls touch. 1610 B. Jonson Alch. ii. iii, Bright Sol is in his robe. 1651 [see solary a. 2]. 1758 [see Jupiter 2 b]. |
b. Her. (In blazoning by planets instead of metals) = or n. Obs.
| 1610 J. Guillim Heraldry 83 Hee beareth Luna, on a Chiefe Iupiter, a Cherub displaied, Sol. a 1646 J. Gregory Posthuma, Assyrian Monarchie (1650) 235 Emperors and Kings ought to bear Gold in their Arms, and then it might bee thus; The Field is Sol a Dove volant proper. 1706 Phillips (ed. Kersey), Sol..is taken..in Heraldry for the Gold Colour, in the Coats of Soveraign Princes. 1709 Hearne Collect. 6 Nov., Canterbury bears a Staff in Pale Sol. [1880 Encycl. Brit. XI. 691/2 Or, Yellow, Topaz, Sol.] |
c. ? The topaz. Obs.
| 1567 J. Maplet Greene Forest 21 Sol the Precious stone, is in colour like to the Sunne, and is called Sol, for that it giueth reflexions of Sunne beames. |
▪ II. sol, n.2 Mus.
(sɒl, səʊl)
Also 6 soule, 7 soll.
[The first syllable of L. solve: see gamut.]
The fifth note of Guido's hexachords, and of the octave in modern solmization; the note G in the natural scale of C major.
| c 1325 in Rel. Ant. I. 292 Sol and ut and la, And that froward file that men clepis fa. a 1529 Skelton Bouge of Court 258 Wolde to God, it wolde please you some daye..to..lerne me to synge, Re, my, fa, sol! 1565 Kyng Daryus 739 (Brandl), La, soule, soule, fa, my. 1596 Shakes. Tam. Shr. iii. i. 77 D sol re, one Cliffe, two notes haue I. 1626 Middleton Anything for Quiet Life v. ii, You shall never talk your voice above the key sol, sol, sol. 1662 Playford Skill Music (1674) 1 Ut and Re are now changed into Sol and La. 1728 Chambers Cycl. s.v. Sol-fa-ing, From fa to sol is a Tone; also from sol to la. 1797 Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) XII. 547/2 From the adjuncts of the mode, that is to say, the modes of its two fifths, which for ut are fa and sol, and re and mi for la. 1842 Penny Cycl. XXII. 194/1. 1873 H. C. Banister Music 32 The lowest note, Sol, or G. |
Hence sol v. (in nonce-use).
| 1592 Shakes. Rom. & Jul. iv. v. 121 (Q.1), Ile re you, Ile fa you, Ile sol you. |
▪ III. ‖ sol, n.3 Now Hist.
(sɒl)
Also 6 soul.
[Older F. sol (now sou sou), = Prov. sol, Pg. and It. soldo, Sp. sueldo:—L. solidum, acc. of solidus (sc. nummus) a gold coin.]
A former coin and money of account in France and some other countries, equal to the twentieth part of a livre, but varying in actual value at different times and places.
| 1583 T. Stocker Civ. Warres Lowe C. iii. 87 A pot of sweete mylke, a groat and an halfe, and a pounde of butter two souls. 1605 B. Jonson Volpone iv. ii, This fellow, For six sols more, would plead against his Maker. 1611 Coryat Crudities 250 Every Chiquinie containing eleven Livers and twelve Sols: the Liver is nine pence, the Sol an halfe⁓penny. 1639 S. Du Verger tr. Camus' Admir. Events 352 He put his hand into his pocket, and thinking to draw out a Sol, which is little more than an English penny,..gave it him. 1748 Smollett Rod. Rand. xliv, My Pay..amounted to five sols a day. 1789 Burke Corr. (1844) III. 122 A new paper-currency..which is to bear an interest of one sol in the livre. 1809 A. Henry Trav. 54 In this exchange, a pound of beaver-skin is reckoned at sixty sols. [1873 Hale In His Name i. 2 He would relax his hold on the odd sols and deniers as if he had never clung to them.] |
▪ IV. † sol, n.4 Obs.
[Abbreviation of solution: see ob n.1]
The solution of a scholastic problem.
| 1588–1678 [see ob n.1]. |
▪ V. ‖ sol, n.5
(sol)
Pl. soles.
[Sp. sol sun: see sol n.1]
A Spanish-American (now Peruvian) silver coin; the Peruvian unit of currency.
| 1884 Bedford Sailor's Handbk. 126 Peruvian Gold: 20 Sol Piece, {pstlg}3 18 6. Ibid., Peruvian: Soles, {pstlg}0 3 6. 1894 Daily News 20 Dec. 5/2 The United States dollar being substituted for the Central American silver dollar or sol as the standard of value. The value of the sol is about 50 cents. (U.S. currency). |
▪ VI. sol, n.6 Physical Chem.
(sɒl)
[Orig. a suffix f. the first syllable of solution (as in alcosol, hydrosol).]
1. A liquid solution or suspension of a colloid. Cf. gel n.
| 1899, etc. [see gel n.]. 1936 W. Stiles Introd. Princ. Plant Physiol. ii. 16 If the ability to flow is our criterion of the sol state, then protoplasm is usually, but by no means always, a sol; but there are other indicators of the colloidal state such as elasticity, rigidity, and inhibition, and these are gel characteristics. 1940 Glasstone Textbk. Physical Chem. xiv. 1213 The characteristic colors shown by many sols are related in some degree to the particle size; in the course of coagulation, for example, the color of a gold sol changes from red to violet and then to blue. 1970 Ambrose & Easty Cell Biol. xv. 479 When two hydrophilic sols carrying opposite charges are mixed, viscous drops known as coacervates often form instead of a continuous liquid phase. |
2. Comb.: sol-gel, used attrib. with reference to the interconversion of sol and gel.
| 1915 W. W. Taylor Chem. Colloids i. 10 (heading) Sol-gel transformation. 1922 Jrnl. Amer. Chem. Soc. XLIV. 1313 (heading) The sol-gel equilibrium in protein systems. 1951 New. Biol. X. 14 These interchanges, the so-called sol-gel transformations, are constantly going on in the amoeba. 1967 Oceanogr. & Marine Biol. V. 191 Cytoplasmic movement results from sol-gel reactions within cells. |
▪ VII. sol, n.7
(sɒl)
[f. L. sōl sun: cf. sol n.1]
A solar day on the planet Mars (24 hours 39 minutes).
| 1976 Times 22 July 1/8 The squat little lander seemed to get through its first sol (as the Martian day..is called) without any problems. 1977 Sci. Amer. Nov. 58/3 The release of gas tapered off soon after the first sol. 1979 New Yorker 5 Feb. 41 On sol 8..the craft's sampler arm extended straight out and then dropped to the ground. |
▪ VIII. † sol, a. Obs.
Also sole.
[Related to sole v.3 Cf. solwy a.]
Soiled, dirty.
| c 1200 Trin. Hom. 57 Sume bereð sole cloð to þe watere forto wasshen it clene. Ibid. 163 His alter cloð [is] great and sole, and hire chemise smal & hwit, & te albe sol, & hire smoc hwit. a 1225 Ancr. R. 324 Wule a weob beon..mid one watere wel ibleched, oðer a sol cloð hwit iwaschen? |