dissolve, v.
(dɪˈzɒlv)
Also 4–6 dyssolve, 5–6 desolve.
[ad. L. dissolv-ĕre to loosen asunder, disunite, dissolve, f. dis- 1 + solvĕre to loosen, solve.]
I. Transitive senses.
1. To loosen or put asunder the parts of; to reduce to its formative elements; to destroy the physical integrity; to disintegrate, decompose. (Now rare or Obs. exc. as associated with other senses.)
| 1382 Wyclif 2 Cor. v. 1 If oure erthely hous of this dwellyng be dissolued..we han a bildyng of God, an hous not maad by hondis, euerlastinge. c 1400 Three Kings Cologne 123 Þe bodyes of þes III kyngis wexed corrupt and were dissolued & turned in to powdre. 1500–20 Dunbar Poems (Sc. T. S.) lxxiii. 244 Now cled in gold, dissoluit now in ass (= ashes). 1611 Coryat Crudities 419 If it were a strong bridge, they could not dissolue it with so great expedition. 1722 Wollaston Relig. Nat. ix. §8. 195 Whether that soul..can think at all when the body is quite dissolved. 1775 Priestley Air I. 266 Vegetable and animal substances dissolved by putrefaction..emit phlogiston. 1841–4 Emerson Ess., Intellect Wks. (Bohn) I. 134 Water dissolves wood, and iron, and salt. |
| fig. 1589 Puttenham Eng. Poesie ii. xiv. [xv.] (Arb.) 140 Make your choise of very few words dactilique, or..dissolue and breake them into other feete. 1642 Fuller Holy & Prof. St. iii. xxiv. 221 We may for a while dissolve our continued discourse into a dialogue. |
2. To melt or reduce into a liquid condition. a. To melt by heat; to fuse. Now rare or Obs.
| 1382 Wyclif 2 Pet. iii. 10 Elementes shulen be dissolued bi hete. c 1400 Lanfranc's Cirurg. 342 Þe gummys schulen be..dissolued wiþ fier. 1530 Palsgr. 522/1, I dissolve, as heate dothe lycour, whan it is frosen. 1600 Hakluyt Voy. (1810) III. 48 Before the Sunne hath warmed the ayre, and dissolved the yce. 1793 Smeaton Edystone L. §274 The metal at each end having a considerable heat, it was found practicable to dissolve both the ends of the former masses. |
b. To liquefy by contact with or immersion in a liquid; to diffuse the molecules of (a solid or gas) in a liquid so that they are indistinguishable from it; to melt (in something), make a solution of. (Predicated of a personal agent, or of the liquid.)
dissolve away, out: to remove or extract (from a compound mass) by dissolving.
| [c 1380 Wyclif Sel. Wks. III. 68 Men axen comounly, whi salt is dissolved þus, but cristal and oþere stoones ben not loosid as oþir salt.] 1460–70 Bk. Quintessence 9 Putte þanne yn þe watir corosyue Sal armoniac and þat watir wiþoute doute wol dissolue gold into watir. 1563 T. Gale Antid. ii. 62 The Hammoniacum dissolued in Vineger. 1677 Grew Solution of Salts in Anat. Plants, &c. vii. (1682) 299 Two Ounces of Water will dissolve three Ounces of Loaf-Sugar. 1791 Hamilton Berthollet's Dyeing I. i. i. i. 11 The iron may be dissolved in the muriatic acid. 1854 J. Scoffern in Orr's Circ. Sc. Chem. 24 Various salts..may be dissolved out by lixiviation. 1873 A. W. Williamson Chem. Students (ed. 3) xiv. §87 At 15° C. water dissolves about twice its volume of chlorine gas. 1875 Dawson Dawn of Life iv. 83 By dissolving away their shells with acid. |
3. In various fig. applications of senses 1 and 2: esp. To melt or soften the heart or feelings of; to cause to ‘melt’ into tears, grief, etc.; to relax or enervate with pleasure, luxury, etc.; to immerse or absorb in some engrossing occupation. Chiefly in passive. (Now rare exc. in phr. dissolved in tears, or in direct figures from sense 2 b.)
| 1509 Hawes Past. Pleas. xxxiv. xix, Her hardy harte she gan for to dissolve. 1632 Milton Penseroso 165 In service high, and anthems clear, As may..Dissolve me into ecstasies. 1679 Penn Addr. Prot. i. 38 Dissolv'd in Pleasures, he worshipp'd no other God. 1707 Watts Hymn, ‘Alas! and did my Saviour bleed?’ v, Dissolve my Heart in Thankfulness, And melt my Eyes to Tears. 1791 D'Israeli Cur. Lit., Libraries, Henry Rantzall..whose days were dissolved in the pleasures of reading. 1800 E. Hervey Mourtray Fam. IV. 183 Mrs. Lenmer was dissolved in tears the whole evening. 1843 Carlyle Past. & Pr. iii. iii. (1872) 130 Action hangs, as it were, dissolved in Speech. |
† 4. To relax, weaken, enfeeble, in body or bodily strength. Obs.
| c 1400 Lanfranc's Cirurg. 16 To myche slepinge..febliþ his vertewes..To myche wakynge dissolfiþ & consumeþ hys spirites. c 1400 Mandeville (Roxb.) xviii. 81 Þe grete violence of hete, þat dissoluez þaire bodys. c 1534 tr. Pol. Verg. Hist. (Camden, No. 29) 180 That sorceres Elyzabeth the quene..with her witchcraft hath so enchantyd me that by thanoyance thereof I am dissolvyd. 1563 Homilies ii. Agst. Gluttony, Oft commeth sodaine death..by banquetyng sometyme the members are dyssolued. |
5. To loosen, unfasten, detach, release, set free. (lit. and fig.) arch.
| c 1420 Pallad. on Husb. iv. 29 Yit must it [the vine-stalk] be dissolved ever amonge Oute of this bonde, lest it..Be letted to encrece. 1548 Act 2–3 Edw. VI, c. 23. §1 The partie who disired to be dissolved from the marriage. 1560 Rolland Crt. Venus iv. 458 Venus gart ane..Nimphe..Dissolue his handis quhilks..fast bundin war. 1606 G. W[oodcocke] tr. Hist. Ivstine 87 b, Occasion..to pull and dissolue their neckes out of the yoke. c 1611 Chapman Iliad viii. 44 There his horse he check'd, Dissolved them from his chariot. 1727–46 Thomson Summer 1310 As the soft touch dissolved the virgin zone. 1817 Shelley Rev. Islam i. xiii. 8 Dissolve in sudden shock those linked rings. |
† 6. To release from life; to cause the dissolution or death of; usually in pass. to die, depart. Obs.
Used chiefly with reference to Phil. i. 23, where the Vulgate has the passive dissolvī for the original active ἀναλῦσαι (here = ‘depart’; also trans. = ‘dissolve’). Various notions were app. attached to the expression by those who used it, some associating it with the dissolution of the bodily framework (cf. quots. 1382, 1400, 1722 in 1); some thinking of the dissolution of the union between soul and body, etc.
| c 1374 Chaucer Boeth. i. pr. iii, Ofte a swifte houre dissolueþ þe same man, þat is to seyne whan þe soule departiþ fro þe body. 1382 Wyclif Phil. i. 23 Hauyng desyr for to be dissolued [gloss, or departid the soule fro body]. c 1450 tr. De Imitatione i. xii, He desiriþ deþe, þat he miȝt be dissolued & be wiþ crist. 1565 Jewel Def. Apol. (1611) 294 The Saints, which are dissolued, & reigne with Christ. a 1592 H. Smith Serm. on Phil. i. 23, Good cause had Paul to desire to be with Christ: yet he will not dissolve himself, but desireth to be dissolved. 1654 Whitlock Zootomia 566 Paul phraseth it, a Wish equall to the Gold searching Chymists endeavours, I desire to be dissolved, melted down. a 1670 Hacket Abp. Williams ii. (1692) 227 A squinancy..and a shortness of breath..which dissolved him in the space of twelve hours. 1736 Wesley Wks. (1872) I. 37 O when shall I wish to be dissolved? |
7. a. To cause to vanish or disappear from existence; to bring to nought, undo, destroy, consume.
| c 1374 Chaucer Boeth. i. pr. iii. 10 Þe cloudes of sorowe dissolued and don awey, I..receyuede mynde to knowe þe face of my fyciscien. 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. VI (an. 3) 88 b, To desolve the siege and raise the assault. 1563 W. Fulke Meteors (1640) 35 A great Circle about the Moone, betokeneth great cold..But if it vanish away and bee dissolved altogether, it is a signe of fayre weather. 1632 W. Lithgow Trav. iii. 120 Occasion..whereby the peace and happinesse of Thebes might be dissolved. 1769 Sir W. Jones Palace of Fort. Poems (1777) 18 Each gay phantom was dissolv'd in air. 1877 Tyndall in Daily News 2 Oct. 2/5 That promise is a dream dissolved by the experience of eighteen centuries. |
b. Cinemat. and Television. To cause (a picture) to become faint or fade away (into another); similarly intr. (cf. 13). Cf. dissolving ppl. a. b. Hence as n., the act or process of dissolving a picture; a dissolving scene in a cinema film; a piece of apparatus with the aid of which this is produced.
| [1845 Poster for Assembly Rooms, Nottingham, Dissolving Views & the Chromotrope.] 1912 F. H. Richardson Motion Picture Handbk. (ed. 2) 378 A dissolving effect with one lens is an impossibility. 1915 Ibid. (ed. 3) 606 Dissolving moving picture. Ibid., Many operators who run two machines dissolve one reel into the next. 1918 H. Croy How Motion Pictures are Made vii. 176 The second means of accomplishing a fade picture is by means of the dissolving shutter... The dissolving shutter is a mechanical device which, while the shutter is revolving, is closed by a blade slowly passing over the opening until it is entirely closed. Ibid. 178 The so-called ‘dissolve’, by which the figures of the scene gradually disappear while those of a succeeding scene slowly take their place. 1954 Encounter Aug. 52/1 The fade and the dissolve as means of visual transition from scene to scene. 1959 Halas & Manvell Technique Film Animation xix. 171 It [sc. the work book] must also show how each shot or sequence is to be punctuated, whether by a straight cut, a fade or a dissolve. 1960 N. Kneale Quatermass & Pit i. 14 Dissolve..to a brass name-plate. Ibid. iii. 86 Slow Dissolve..to the Rocket Group laboratory. 1970 New Yorker 31 Oct. 132/3 Their sexual bouts lead to quick dissolves. |
† 8. Med. To disperse (morbid humours), reduce (swellings), remove or assuage (pains or ailments). (Also absol.) Obs.
(Employed variously and vaguely according to context.)
| c 1400 Lanfranc's Cirurg. 136 Riȝt as þe mater of þe frenesie..bi emplastris wiþoutforþ I-leie is dissolued. Ibid. 238 Anoþer electuarie þat dissoluiþ akynge in ioyntis. 1577 Frampton Joyful Newes i. (1596) 6 In griefes of swellinges..it [oil] taketh them away and dooth dissolue them. 1582 J. Hester Secr. Phiorav. i. xxiii. 26 You must dissolue the Catarre first, and then helpe the Feuer. 1610 Markham Masterp. ii. clxxiii, It cleanseth and dissolueth, and also comforteth. 1657 W. Coles Adam in Eden liv, It is available in all cold Diseases..dissolving wind very powerfully. |
9. a. To break up, dismiss, disperse (an assembly or collective body); to put an end to the association or connexion of; to terminate the existence of (a constituted body or association, e.g. of the monasteries, and now esp. of Parliament).
| 1494 Fabyan Chron. v. cxxxii. 116 When y⊇ Kyng had orderyd his matiers..he dissoluyd this counceyll. 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. VI (an. 28) 159 b, To be perswaded to dissolve his armye. Ibid. (an. 39) 182 The kyng dissolved his Parliament. 1586 J. Hooker Girald. Irel. in Holinshed II. 46/2 A religious house of Greie friers..since dissolued in king Henrie the eights time. 1758 Johnson Idler No. 26 ¶5 Our school was now dissolved. 1842 Tennyson Morte d'Arthur 234 But now the whole Round Table is dissolved. 1863 H. Cox Instit. i. vi. 33 Parliament shall not be dissolved on the death of the sovereign. |
b. ellipt. = dissolve parliament.
| 1868 G. Duff Pol. Surv. 16 He immediately dissolved and succeeded in throwing out most of the leading supporters of his predecessor. |
10. a. To undo (a tie, bond, knot); to put an end to, bring to an end (a relation of union, connexion, or association, etc.).
| c 1380 Wyclif Sel. Wks. III. 163 Ffor prestis ben weddid wiþ God by holdyng of his lawe, and þis bond is dissolvyd both in lif and offis. 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. VI (an. 2) 86 The..amitie betwene the Frenche and Scottishe nacions should be shortly broken and dissolved. 1558 Bp. Watson Sev. Sacram. xxvii. 173 The Knot of Matrimonie..can not be broken and dissolued. 1638 Sir T. Herbert Trav. (ed. 2) 95 An excellent sympathy and union, till Ganganna dissolv'd it, having beene till then betwixt 'em. 1767 Blackstone Comm. II. 187 It is advantageous for the joint-tenants to dissolve the jointure. 1776 Gibbon Decl. & F. I. xvi. 384 They dissolved the sacred ties of custom and education. 1841 Lane Arab. Nts. I. 63 When..the marriage is dissolved. 1853 C. Brontë Villette iii. (1876) 18 The league..thus struck up was not hastily dissolved. a 1897 Mod. They have dissolved partnership, and started each on his own account. |
† b. To part, sunder (things united). Obs.
| 1598 Shakes. Merry W. v. v. 237 She and I (long since contracted) Are now so sure that nothing can dissolue vs. 1608–11 Bp. Hall Medit. & Vowes ii. §49 It unites one Christian soule to another so firmely, that no outward occurrences..can dissolve them. |
11. a. To undo (something formally ordained or established); to destroy the binding power, authority, force, or influence of; to annul, abrogate.
| 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 15 It dissolueth and loseth all vowes. 1671 Milton Samson 1149 To frustrate and dissolve these magic spells. 1734 tr. Rollin's Anc. Hist. (1827) VIII. xix. viii. 259 To dissolve and annul all we have enacted. 1805 Scott Last Minstr. iii. xiii, The running stream dissolved the spell, And his own elvish shape he took. 1891 Law Times XC. 403/1 The Court of Appeal..dissolved an injunction granted by Justice Kekewich. |
† b. To do away with as false or erroneous; to refute, confute. Obs.
| 1529 More Dyaloge 67 b/1 Whych obieccyon the author answereth and dyssolueth. 1551 T. Wilson Logike (1567) 84 b, The fault that is in the forme..maie be dissolued, when we shewe that the conclusion, is not well proued by the former proposicions. a 1555 Philpot Exam. & Writ. (Parker Soc.) 414 All that these men are wont to allege..be all ready dissolved and..confuted. 1842 Abp. Thomson Laws Th. §127 (1860) 271 We may dissolve (λύειν) the argument by showing its unfitness for proof because of some formal defect. |
† c. To deny or reject the authority of. [repr. L. solvere of the Vulgate in 1 John iv. 3.] Obs.
| 1382 Wyclif 1 John iv. 3 Ech spirit that dissolueth [gloss, or fordoith] Jhesu is not of God [so 1582 Rhem.; Vulg. qui solvit, after a Gr. v.r. {oaspergrave} λύει]. 1645 Milton Tetrach. Matt. xix. 3 Our Lord..intended not to dissolve Moses. |
12. To solve, resolve, explain (a question, doubt, etc.). arch.
| 1549 Latimer 5th Serm. bef. Edw. VI, (Arb.) 132 I wyll nowe..retourne to my question and dissolue it. 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1658) 14 All..that could not dissolve that riddle she presently slew. 1611 Bible Dan v. 16, I haue heard of thee, that thou canst make interpretations, and dissolue doubts. 1842 Tennyson Two Voices 170 Thou hadst not between death and birth Dissolved the riddle of the earth. |
II. Intransitive senses.
13. To lose its integrity or consolidation; to become disintegrated; to vanish or disappear gradually, come to an end. Now usually taken as fig. from sense 14, to melt away.
| c 1420 Pallad. on Husb. xi. 496 A multitude of reysons puld they take, And myghtely with yerdes first hem bete Until this with the grapes so desolve. 1481 Caxton Myrr. iii. vii. 142 All þ⊇ world..shal desolue & faylle. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de. W. 1531) 254 His senewes and veynes brast, and the hole frame of the ioyntes of his body dissolued and losed. 1610 Shakes. Temp. iv. i. 154 The great Globe it selfe, Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolue, And like this insubstantiall Pageant faded Leaue not a racke behinde. 1660 F. Brooke tr. Le Blanc's Trav. 265 It dissolved to nothing like a mist. 1791 D'Israeli Cur. Lit., Lit. Jrnls., The unsuccessful author..dissolved away in his own weakness. 1820 Shelley Ode to Liberty xix, As summer clouds dissolve, unburthened of their rain. 1886 A. Winchell Walks & Talks Geol. Field 163 The illusion dissolves. |
14. To become liquefied, to melt: a. with heat. Now rare or Obs.
| c 1450 St. Cuthbert (Surtees) 4480 Þe paynyms pride it sall expire, And dissolue as wax at fyre. 1592 Shakes. Ven. & Ad. 565 What wax so frozen but dissolves with tempering? 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. i. 66 While Mountain Snows dissolve against the Sun. 1729 T. Cooke Tales, Proposals, &c. 40 The Wreck of Nature, the prodigious Day, When adamantine Rocks dissolv'd away. 1802–3 tr. Pallas' Trav. (1812) I. 9 The deep snow in the streets began to dissolve. |
b. To become liquefied by contact with or immersion in a liquid; to melt; to become diffused in a liquid, forming a solution.
| 1638 Sir T. Herbert Trav. (ed. 2) 297 The fruit [banana] put into your mouth, dissolves and yeelds a most incomparable relish. 1677 Grew Solution of Salts in Anat. Plants vii. (1682) 299 The Crystals of Tartar..will scarce at all dissolve in Water. 1718 Quincy Compl. Disp. i. vi. 25 We find Sugar will dissolve in the strongest Solution of Common Salt that can be made. 1873 A. W. Williamson Chem. for Students (ed. 3) xi. §67 Olefiant gas dissolves considerably in water. |
15. In various fig. applications of prec. senses: To become faint, faint away; to become softened in feeling, to ‘melt’ (into tears, etc.); to become resolved into something else, like a solid becoming liquid.
| 1605 Shakes. Lear v. iii. 203, I am almost ready to dissolue, Hearing of this. 1672 Cave Prim. Chr. iii. ii. (1673) 250 He dissolved into tears. a 1719 Addison tr. Ovid Wks. 1758 I. 177 The God dissolves in pity at her death. 1761 Hume Hist. Eng. III. lix. 279 He dissolved into a flood of tears. 1858 Carlyle Fredk. Gt. (1865) II. v. v. 99 Full of alarm dissolving into joy. |
16. Of an assembly or collective body: To break up into its individual constituents; to disperse; to lose its aggregate or corporate character.
| 1513 More in Grafton Chron. (1568) II. 795 The company dissolved and departed. 1548 Patten Exped. Scotl. in Arb. Garner III. 149 Our camp should, this day, dissolve. 1667 Milton P.L. ii. 506 The Stygian council thus dissolved. 1766 W. Gordon Gen. Counting-ho. 30 When a fixed company dissolves. 1847 Tennyson Princess iv. 502 She, ending, waved her hands: thereat the crowd Muttering, dissolved. |
17. To lose its binding force or influence.
| 1611 Shakes. Temp. v. i. 64 The charme dissolues apace. c 1750 Shenstone Elegies xi. 3 The charm dissolves; the aerial music's past. |