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. [Obs. or R.] Atterbury.
Hear it pronounced