Dictionary entry

Dissolution

Webster's Dictionary 1913

Dis′so‐lu″tion (?), n. [OE. dissolucioun dissoluteness, F. dissolution, fr. L. dissolutio, fr. dissolvere. See Dissolve.] 1. The act of dissolving, sundering, or separating into component parts; separation.

Dissolutions of ancient amities. Shak.

2. Change from a solid to a fluid state; solution by heat or moisture; liquefaction; melting.

3. Change of form by chemical agency; decomposition; resolution.

The dissolution of the compound. South.

4. The dispersion of an assembly by terminating its sessions; the breaking up of a partnership.

Dissolution is the civil death of Parliament. Blackstone.

5. The extinction of life in the human body; separation of the soul from the body; death.

We expected

Immediate dissolution. Milton.

6. The state of being dissolved, or of undergoing liquefaction.

A man of continual dissolution and thaw. Shak.

7. The new product formed by dissolving a body; a solution. Bacon.

8. Destruction of anything by the separation of its parts; ruin.

To make a present dissolution of the world. Hooker.

9. Corruption of morals; dissipation; dissoluteness. Atterbury.