resolvent, a. and n.
(rɪˈzɒlvənt)
[ad. L. resolvent-em, pres. pple. of resolvĕre to resolve.]
A. adj.
1. Chiefly Med. Having the power to resolve; causing solution. Also const. of.
| 1676 Wiseman Surg. Treat. i. xix. 94, I..applied the milder resolvent Emplaster. 1732 Arbuthnot Rules of Diet in Aliments, etc. i. 249 A Juice..resolvent of the Bile. 1762 R. Guy Pract. Obs. Cancers 75 The resolvent Applications taking no effect. 1822–34 Good's Study Med. (ed. 4) II. 463 All the chylific organs secrete an unusual quantity of resolvent juices. 1866 Odling Anim. Chem. 158 The so-called resolvent action of alkalies upon the animal economy. |
2. Of a proposition: That merely asserts what is already included in the conception of the subject.
| 1856 Ferrier Inst. Metaph. (ed. 2) 25 note, The proposition adds nothing to our knowledge: it is merely explicative, or resolvent. |
3. Math., in resolvent equation, resolvent product, etc.
| 1859 R. Harley in Mem. Lit. & Phil. Soc. Manchester (1860) XV. 173 The product..which may be called the symmetric or resolvent product, according as it is or is not symmetric. 1861 Cayley in Phil. Trans. (1862) CLI. 263 Then..fω is the root of an equation of the order 24 called the Resolvent Equation. 1882 ― in Quart. Jrnl. Math. XVIII. 60 Transformation of the Jacobian Sextic into the Resolvent Sextic of a special quintic equation. |
B. n.
1. Med. A medicine or application to cause the resolution of a swelling; a discutient.
| 1676 Wiseman Surg. Treat. i. xix. 92 Young people..require to be treated with milder Resolvents then those who live a labouring life. 1758 Wood Farriery 16 As soon as Resolvents take effect [etc.]. 1797 Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) XVII. 567/2 Soap is also externally employed as a resolvent. 1834 J. Forbes Laennec's Dis. Chest (ed. 4) 193 Blood-letting, derivatives, and resolvents or stimulants of the absorbent system,..retard the progress of the disease. 1883–4 Med. Ann. 9/2 He believes the drug to be an aplastic or resolvent of great energy. |
2. Something capable of resolving; a solvent.
| 1706 Phillips (ed. Kersey), Resolvents, in Chymistry, certain Liquors that are us'd for the dissolving of Metals, or Minerals. 1708 J. Keill Anim. Secretion Pref. xv, Different Substances require different Resolvents. 1900 Q. Rev. July 55 The whole earth, the one disinfectant and resolvent of death and decay. |
3. A means of removing difficulties, settling problems, etc. Const of.
| 1851 Willmott Pleas. Lit. ii. 6 The harsher resolvents of digamma and allegory. 1880 R. G. White Every-Day English 142 A coin which would serve as a common resolvent of all accounts. 1892 Critic (U.S.) 1 Oct. 186/2 But those who know the man..scarcely look for such a resolvent of Samoan troubles. |
4. Math. A resolvent equation, function, etc. Galois resolvent: see Galois.
| 1859 Phil. Mag. XVIII. 54 One of the roots of its resolvent..is a rational function of another. 1860 Rep. Brit. Assoc. (1861) 147 Let us consider the function F(a, x), which is a particular case of the resolvent [etc.]. |