Solitariety Sol`i·ta·ri"e·ty noun The state of being solitary; solitariness. [ Obsolete] Cudworth.

Solitarily Sol"i·ta·ri·ly adverb In a solitary manner; in solitude; alone. Mic. vii. 14.

Solitariness Sol"i·ta·ri·ness noun Condition of being solitary.

Solitary Sol"i·ta·ry adjective [ Latin solitarius , from solus alone: confer French solitaire . See Sole , adjective , and confer Solitaire .] 1. Living or being by one's self; having no companion present; being without associates; single; alone; lonely.

Those rare and solitary , these in flocks.

Milton.

Hie home unto my chamber,
Where thou shalt find me, sad and solitary .

Shak. 2. Performed, passed, or endured alone; as, a solitary journey; a solitary life.

Satan . . . explores his solitary flight.

Milton. 3. Not much visited or frequented; remote from society; retired; lonely; as, a solitary residence or place. 4. Not inhabited or occupied; without signs of inhabitants or occupation; desolate; deserted; silent; still; hence, gloomy; dismal; as, the solitary desert.

How doth the city sit solitary , that was full of people.

Lam. i. 1.

Let that night be solitary ; let no joyful voice come therein.

Job iii. 7. 5. Single; individual; sole; as, a solitary instance of vengeance; a solitary example. 6. (Botany) Not associated with others of the same kind. Solitary ant (Zoology) , any solitary hymenopterous insect of the family Mutillidæ . The female of these insects is destitute of wings and has a powerful sting. The male is winged and resembles a wasp. Called also spider ant . -- Solitary bee (Zoology) , any species of bee which does not form communities. -- Solitary sandpiper (Zoology) , an American tattler ( Totanus solitarius ). -- Solitary snipe (Zoology) , the great snipe. [ Prov. Eng.] -- Solitary thrush (Zoology) the starling. [ Prov. Eng.]

Solitary Sol"i·ta·ry noun One who lives alone, or in solitude; an anchoret; a hermit; a recluse.

Solitude Sol"i·tude noun [ French, from Latin solitudo , solus alone. See Sole , adjective ] 1. state of being alone, or withdrawn from society; a lonely life; loneliness.

Whosoever is delighted with solitude is either a wild beast or a god.

Bacon.

O Solitude ! where are the charms
That sages have seen in thy face?

Cowper. 2. Remoteness from society; destitution of company; seclusion; -- said of places; as, the solitude of a wood.

The solitude of his little parish is become matter of great comfort to him.

Law. 3. solitary or lonely place; a desert or wilderness.

In these deep solitudes and awful cells
Where heavenly pensive contemplation dwells.

Pope. Syn. Loneliness; soitariness; loneness; retiredness; recluseness. -- Solitude , Retirement , Seclusion , Loneliness . Retirement is a withdrawal from general society, implying that a person has been engaged in its scenes. Solitude describes the fact that a person is alone; seclusion , that he is shut out from others, usually by his own choice; loneliness , that he feels the pain and oppression of being alone. Hence, retirement is opposed to a gay, active, or public life; solitude , to society; seclusion , to freedom of access on the part of others; and loneliness , enjoyment of that society which the heart demands.

O blest retirement , friend to life's decline.

Goldsmith.

Such only can enjoy the country who are capable of thinking when they are there; then they are prepared for solitude ; and in that [ the country] solitude is prepared for them.

Dryden.

It is a place of seclusion from the external world.

Bp. Horsley.

These evils . . . seem likely to reduce it [ a city] ere long to the loneliness and the insignificance of a village.

Eustace.

Solivagant So·liv"a·gant adjective [ Latin solus alone + vagans wandering.] Wandering alone. [ R.] T. Grander.

Solivagous So·liv"a·gous adjective [ Latin solivagus .] Solivagant.

Sollar Sol"lar noun 1. See Solar , noun [ Obsolete] 2. (Mining) A platform in a shaft, especially one of those between the series of ladders in a shaft.

Sollar Sol"lar transitive verb To cover, or provide with, a sollar.

Sollein Sol"lein adjective Sullen; sad. [ Obsolete] Spenser.

Solleret Sol·ler·et" noun [ French soleret im. from Old French soler shoe.] A flexible steel shoe (or one of the plates forming such a shoe), worn with mediæval armor.

Solmization Sol`mi·za"tion noun [ French solmisation , from solmiser to sol-fa; -- called from the musical notes sol , mi . See Sol-fa .] (Mus.) The act of sol-faing. [ Written also solmisation .] » This art was practiced by the Greeks; but six of the seven syllables now in use are generally attributed to Guido d' Arezzo, an Italian monk of the eleventh century, who is said to have taken them from the first syllables of the first six lines of the following stanza of a monkish hymn to St. John the Baptist. --

Ut queant laxis
Re sonare fibris
Mi ra gestorum
Fa muli tuorum
Sol ve polluti
La bii reatum,
Sancte Joannes.

Professor Skeat says the name of the seventh note, si , was also formed by him [ Guido] from the initials of the two words of the last line; but this is disputed, Littré attributing the first use of it to Anselm of Flanders long afterwards. The syllable do is often substituted for ut .

Solo So"lo noun ; plural English Solos , Italian Soli . [ Italian , from Latin solus alone. See Sole , adjective ] (Mus.) A tune, air, strain, or a whole piece, played by a single person on an instrument, or sung by a single voice.

Solo So"lo adjective (Music) Performing, or performed, alone; uncombined, except with subordinate parts, voices, or instruments; not concerted.

Solo whist Solo whist A card game played with the full pack ranking as at whist, each player declaring for which of seven different points he proposes to play.

Soloist So"lo·ist noun (Mus.) One who sings or plays a solo.

Solomon Sol"o·mon noun One of the kings of Israel, noted for his superior wisdom and magnificent reign; hence, a very wise man. -- Sol`o*mon"ic adjective Solomon's seal (Botany) , a perennial liliaceous plant of the genus Polygonatum , having simple erect or curving stems rising from thick and knotted rootstocks, and with white or greenish nodding flowers. The commonest European species is Polygonatum multiflorum . P. biflorum and P. giganteum are common in the Eastern United States. See Illust. of Rootstock . -- False Solomon's seal (Botany) , any plant of the liliaceous genus Smilacina having small whitish flowers in terminal racemes or panicles.

Solomon's seal Sol"o·mon's seal A mystic symbol consisting of two interlaced triangles forming a star with six points, often with one triangle dark and one light, symbolic of the union of soul and body.

Solon So"lon noun A celebrated Athenian lawmaker, born about 638 b. c. ; hence, a legislator; a publicist; -- often used ironically.

Solpugid Sol·pu"gid adjective (Zoology) Of or pertaining to the Solifugæ. -- noun One of the Solifugæ.

Solpugidea Sol`pu·gid"e·a noun plural [ New Latin See Solifugæ .] (Zoology) Same as Solifugæ .

Solstice Sol"stice noun [ Latin solstitium ; sol the sun + sistere to cause to stand, akin to stare to stand: confer French solstice . See Solar , adjective , Stand , intransitive verb ] 1. A stopping or standing still of the sun. [ Obsolete] Sir T. Browne. 2. (Astron.) (a) The point in the ecliptic at which the sun is farthest from the equator, north or south, namely, the first point of the sign Cancer and the first point of the sign Capricorn, the former being the summer solstice , latter the winter solstice , in northern latitudes; -- so called because the sun then apparently stands still in its northward or southward motion. (b) The time of the sun's passing the solstices, or solstitial points, namely, about June 21 and December 21. See Illust. in Appendix.

Solstitial Sol·sti"tial adjective [ Latin solstitialis : confer French solsticial .] 1. Of or pertaining to a solstice. 2. Happening at a solstice; esp. (with reference to the northern hemisphere), happening at the summer solstice, or midsummer. " Solstitial summer's heat." Milton.

Solubility Sol`u·bil"i·ty noun [ Confer French solubilité .] 1. The quality, condition, or degree of being soluble or solvable; as, the solubility of a salt; the solubility of a problem or intricate difficulty. 2. (Botany) The tendency to separate readily into parts by spurious articulations, as the pods of tick trefoil.

Soluble Sol"u·ble adjective [ Latin solubilis , from solvere , solutum , to loosen, to dissolve: confer French soluble . See Solve , and confer Solvable .] 1. Susceptible of being dissolved in a fluid; capable of solution; as, some substances are soluble in alcohol which are not soluble in water.

Sugar is . . . soluble in water and fusible in fire.

Arbuthnot. 2. Susceptible of being solved; as, a soluble algebraic problem; susceptible of being disentangled, unraveled, or explained; as, the mystery is perhaps soluble . "More soluble is this knot." Tennyson. 3. Relaxed; open or readily opened. [ R.] "The bowels must be kept soluble ." Dunglison. Soluble glass . (Chemistry) See under Glass .

Solubleness Sol"u·ble·ness noun Quality or state of being soluble.

Solus So"lus masc. adjective , So"la fem. adjective [ Latin ] Alone; -- chiefly used in stage directions, and the like.

Solute So·lute" adjective [ Latin solutus , past participle of solvere to loosen. See Solve .] 1. Loose; free; liberal; as, a solute interpretation. [ Obsolete] Bacon. 2. Relaxed; hence; merry; cheerful. [ R.]

A brow solute , and ever-laughing eye.

Young. 3. Soluble; as, a solute salt. [ Obsolete] 4. (Botany) Not adhering; loose; -- opposed to adnate ; as, a solute stipule.

Solute So·lute" transitive verb 1. To dissolve; to resolve. [ Obsolete] 2. To absolve; as, to solute sin. [ Obsolete] Bale.

Solution So·lu"tion (so*lū"shŭn) noun [ Middle English solucion , Old French solucion , French solution , from Latin solutio , from solvere , solutum , to loosen, dissolve. See Solve .] 1. The act of separating the parts of any body, or the condition of undergoing a separation of parts; disruption; breach.

In all bodies there is an appetite of union and evitation of solution of continuity.

Bacon. 2. The act of solving, or the state of being solved; the disentanglement of any intricate problem or difficult question; explanation; clearing up; -- used especially in mathematics, either of the process of solving an equation or problem, or the result of the process. 3. The state of being dissolved or disintegrated; resolution; disintegration.

It is unquestionably an enterprise of more promise to assail the nations in their hour of faintness and solution , than at a time when magnificent and seductive systems of worship were at their height of energy and splendor.

I. Taylor. 4. (Chem.Physics ) The act or process by which a body (whether solid, liquid, or gaseous) is absorbed into a liquid, and, remaining or becoming fluid, is diffused throughout the solvent; also, the product resulting from such absorption. » When a solvent will not take in any more of a substance the solution is said to be saturated . Solution is of two kinds; viz.: ( a ) Mechanical solution , in which no marked chemical change takes place, and in which, in the case of solids, the dissolved body can be regained by evaporation, as in the solution of salt or sugar in water. ( b ) Chemical solution , in which there is involved a decided chemical change, as when limestone or zinc undergoes solution in hydrochloric acid. Mechanical solution is regarded as a form of molecular or atomic attraction, and is probably occasioned by the formation of certain very weak and unstable compounds which are easily dissociated and pass into new and similar compounds. » This word is not used in chemistry or mineralogy for fusion , or the melting of bodies by the heat of fire. 5. Release; deliverance; discharge. [ Obsolete] Barrow. 6. (Medicine) (a) The termination of a disease; resolution. (b) A crisis. (c) A liquid medicine or preparation (usually aqueous) in which the solid ingredients are wholly soluble. U. S. Disp. Fehling's solution (Chemistry) , a standardized solution of cupric hydrate in sodium potassium tartrate, used as a means of determining the reducing power of certain sugars and sirups by the amount of red cuprous oxide thrown down. -- Heavy solution (Min.) , a liquid of high density, as a solution of mercuric iodide in potassium iodide (called the Sonstadt or Thoulet solution ) having a maximum specific gravity of 3.2, or of borotungstate of cadmium ( Klein solution , specific gravity 3.6), and the like. Such solutions are much used in determining the specific gravities of minerals, and in separating them when mechanically mixed as in a pulverized rock. -- Nessler's solution . See Nesslerize . -- Solution of continuity , the separation of connection, or of connected substances or parts; -- applied, in surgery, to a fracture, laceration, or the like. "As in the natural body a wound, or solution of continuity , is worse than a corrupt humor, so in the spiritual." Bacon. -- Standardized solution (Chemistry) , a solution which is used as a reagent, and is of a known and standard strength; specifically, a normal solution, containing in each cubic centimeter as many milligrams of the element in question as the number representing its atomic weight; thus, a normal solution of silver nitrate would contain 107.7 mgr. of silver in each cubic centimeter.

Solutive Sol"u·tive (sŏl"u*tĭv) adjective [ Confer French solutif .] Tending to dissolve; loosening; laxative. Bacon.

Solvability Solv`a·bil"i·ty noun [ French solvabilité .] 1. The quality or state of being solvable; as, the solvability of a difficulty; the solvability of a problem. 2. The condition of being solvent; ability to pay all just debts; solvency; as, the solvability of a merchant.

Solvable Solv"a·ble adjective [ French solvable . See Solve , and confer Soluble , Solvible .] 1. Susceptible of being solved, resolved, or explained; admitting of solution. 2. Capable of being paid and discharged; as, solvable obligations. Tooke. 3. Able to pay one's debts; solvent. [ Obsolete] Fuller.

Solvableness Solv"a·ble·ness noun Quality of being solvable.

Solve Solve (sŏlv) transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Solved (sŏlvd); present participle & verbal noun Solving .] [ Latin solvere , solutum ; from a prefix so- expressing separation (cf. Sober ) + luere to loosen; confer Old French soldre , soudre . See Loose , and confer Absolve .] To explain; to resolve; to unfold; to clear up (what is obscure or difficult to be understood); to work out to a result or conclusion; as, to solve a doubt; to solve difficulties; to solve a problem.

True piety would effectually solve such scruples.

South.

God shall solve the dark decrees of fate.

Tickell. Syn. -- To explain; resolve; unfold; clear up.

Solve Solve noun A solution; an explanation. [ Obsolete] Shak.

Solvency Sol"ven·cy (sŏl"v e n*sȳ) noun [ See Solvent .] The quality or state of being solvent.

Solvend Sol"vend (sŏl"vĕnd) noun [ Latin solvendus to be loosened or dissolved, from solvere . See Solution .] A substance to be dissolved. [ R.]

Solvent Sol"vent (sŏl"v e nt) adjective [ Latin solvens , present participle of solvere . See Solvable .] 1. Having the power of dissolving; dissolving; as, a solvent fluid. "The solvent body." Boyle. 2. Able or sufficient to pay all just debts; as, a solvent merchant; the estate is solvent .

Solvent Sol"vent noun (Chemistry) A substance (usually liquid) suitable for, or employed in, solution, or in dissolving something; as, water is the appropriate solvent of most salts, alcohol of resins, ether of fats, and mercury or acids of metals, etc. 2. That which resolves; as, a solvent of mystery.

Solver Sol"ver (sŏlv"ẽr) noun One who, or that which, solves.

Solvible Solv"i·ble (-ĭ*b'l) adjective See Solvable .

Soly Sol"y (sōl"ȳ) adverb Solely. [ Obsolete] Spenser.

Soma So"ma (sō"mȧ) noun [ New Latin , from Greek sw^ma , sw`matos , the body.] (Anat.) The whole axial portion of an animal, including the head, neck, trunk, and tail. B. G. Wilder.

Somaj So"maj" (so*mäj"), Sa*maj" (sȧ*mäj") , noun A society; a congregation, a worshiping assembly, or church, esp. of the Brahmo- somaj. [ India]

Somali So·ma"li (so*mä"le), So*mal" (so*mäl") , noun (Ethnol.) A Hamitic people of East Central Africa.

Somatic So·mat"ic (so*măt"ĭk) adjective [ Greek swmatiko`s , from sw^ma the body.] 1. Of or pertaining to the body as a whole; corporeal; as, somatic death; somatic changes. 2. Of or pertaining to the wall of the body; somatopleuric; parietal; as, the somatic stalk of the yolk sac of an embryo. Somatic death . See the Note under Death , noun , 1.

Somatical So·mat"ic·al adjective Somatic.

Somatics So·mat"ics noun The science which treats of the general properties of matter; somatology.