solventadj.n.
/ˈsɒlvənt/ A. adj.in extended use.1667 Ormonde MSS. in 10th Rep. Royal Comm. Hist. MSS (1885) App. v. 45 Sir Daniel Bellingham..is..to issue such solvent assignments as they may receive speedy satisfaction.1674 in O. Airy Essex Papers (1890) I. 183 'Tis probable yt most of ye solvent Arrears are already gather'd.in combination.1852 G. C. Mundy Our Antipodes I. v. 177 A solvent looking gentleman, solus in a buggy, is the very thing for a highwayman.figurative.1875 H. J. S. Maine Lect. Early Hist. Inst. xi. 329 Among the most powerful solvent influences were certain philosophical theories.
1. Able to pay all one's debts or liabilities.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > management of money > solvency > [adjective]
afloat1538
straight1613
solvable1647
solvent1653
solvendoa1684
clear1712
holding company1906
self-financing1913
1653 H. Cogan tr. F. M. Pinto Voy. & Adventures lxxviii. 315 Certain Chineses, who were not men solvent, but became bankrupts.
1664 Addit. to Life Mede in Mede Wks. (1672) p. xxxvi Mr. Mede began..to refuse.., and objected, How shall I be able to be solvent in convenient time?
1698 N. Luttrell Diary in Brief Hist. Relation State Affairs (1857) IV. 379 The commons read the bill..for discovery of solvent prisoners estates.
1810 G. Crabbe Borough xxiii. 317 They would be solvent and deplore a Debt.
1847 G. Grote Hist. Greece III. ii. xi. 145 A solvent man capable of..fulfilling a contract.
1885 Law Times Rep. 53 484/1 If the plaintiff in England had been solvent, no security would have been required.
2. Dissolving; causing solution.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > liquid > making or becoming liquid > action or process of dissolving > [adjective]
resolutivea1400
resolvative1577
resolutative1582
solvent1686
resolvent1732
solutive1732
soluble1846
diluent1878
solving1883
1686 R. Plot Nat. Hist. Staffs. i. 9 [Lightning]..being of a very subtile nature..and solvent of the parts of bodies.
1791 J. Jones in T. Beddoes Observ. on Nature & Cure of Calculus (1793) 32 The extraordinary efficacy of the sal sodæ I had seen in the last case, induced me to try its solvent powers in this.
1807 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 97 146 The excretory ducts of the glands, which secrete the solvent liquor.
1832 D. Brewster Lett. Nat. Magic xii. 298 The disintegrating and solvent powers of chemical agents.
1878 T. H. Huxley Physiography (ed. 2) 122 The comparative ease with which limestone yields to the solvent action of water.
3. Helping to solve or explain.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > testing > resolving of problem, solution > [adjective]
solving1847
problem-solving1854
solvent1872
1872 J. Tulloch Rational Theol. I. i. 34 The most significant and solvent of all the rational principles enunciated by Arminianism.
B. n.
1.
a. A substance (usually a liquid) having the power of dissolving other substances.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > liquid > making or becoming liquid > action or process of dissolving > [noun] > solvent
menstruea1550
menstruum1559
dissolvent1646
dissolver1651
solvent1671
resolvent1678
solutive1712
diluter1718
diluent1775
1671 R. Boyle Some Considerations Usefulnesse Exper. Nat. Philos. (ed. 2) ii. 18 By a substitution of burnt Allom for Vitriol,..we made Solvents for Silver, as good as theirs.
1681 Table of Hard Words in S. Pordage tr. T. Willis Remaining Med. Wks. Solvent, that which dissolveth or openeth the parts of the matter to be wrought upon.
1756 C. Lucas Ess. Waters i. 159 Water..is found the most universal solvent of the food of man and other animals.
1783 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 73 51 If formed by solution, they..retain a portion of their solvent or precipitant.
1827 M. Faraday Chem. Manip. vi. 187 Some of the acids frequently act as mere solvents.
1871 J. Tyndall Fragm. Sci. (1879) I. ii. 43 The solvent of the iodine is perfectly transparent.
b. figurative. A dissolving or disintegrating influence.
ΘΚΠ
the world > existence and causation > creation > destruction > [noun] > one who or that which destroys
baneOE
losera1340
leeserc1380
stroyerc1380
destroyer1382
ravenerc1390
castera1400
confounder1401
wastera1425
stroyc1440
undoerc1440
unmakerc1450
confounderess1509
hydraa1513
stroy-good1540
abolisher1548
thunderbolt1559
disannullera1572
stroy-all1573
ruiner1581
down-puller1583
murdererc1585
spendingc1595
blaster1598
assassin1609
ruinater1609
dissolver1611
minerc1614
destructioner1621
fordoer1631
sinker1632
destructive1640
deletery1642
assassinatea1658
ruinator1658
destroyeress1662
destructora1691
dissolvent1835
solvent1841
wrecker1882
destructant1889
the world > matter > condition of matter > bad condition of matter > [noun] > decomposition, melting, or crumbling away > agent
solvent1841
disintegrator1844
disintegrant1870
1841 R. W. Emerson Intellect in Ess. 1st Ser. (London ed.) 345 Silence is a solvent that destroys personality.
1870 E. Peacock Ralf Skirlaugh II. 5 Fine phrases which have acted as solvents upon..unreasoning Whiggism and Toryism.
1886 Contemp. Rev. July 72 The great solvent of Indian caste prejudice is Western thought.
2. Something which solves, explains, or settles.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > answer > [noun] > solution, explanation > that which provides
keyeOE
explanation?a1475
master key1577
explanatory1650
cluea1665
clew1725
lead1851
solvent1865
accounting1885
the mind > attention and judgement > testing > resolving of problem, solution > [noun] > instance of
keyeOE
solutionc1384
resolutiona1542
salvea1628
solvent1865
1865 W. E. H. Lecky Hist. Rationalism I. iii. 321 Those who, perceiving..yet undefined discoveries,..imagine that they will prove a universal solvent.
1871 R. H. Hutton Ess. (1877) I. 43 How the absence of theistic faith tends..to make philosophy the universal solvent of fact.
1890 ‘R. Boldrewood’ Colonial Reformer (1891) 317 He..was compelled to employ that only universal solvent, a cash payment.
3. A laxative; a loosener.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > healing > medicines or physic > medicines for specific purpose > cleansing or expelling medicines > [noun] > purgative
laxativec1386
abstersive?a1425
purgative?a1425
lax1526
purgation1527
cleanser1528
looser1528
laskc1540
purger1558
solutory1561
scouring1575
expulsive1576
purge1593
solutive1605
opener1610
physica1616
calastic1621
loosener1630
minorative1633
relaxativea1637
cathartic1651
eccoprotic1656
vacuative1656
aperitive1671
spurger1681
aperient1682
hypercathartic1706
chalastic1708
scourer1718
drastic1783
solvent1815
purgament1828
dejector1831
laxation1897
mochlic1907
jollop1955
poop-pusher1966
1815 W. Kirby & W. Spence Introd. Entomol. (1818) I. 314 Had I addressed you a century ago,..I should have recommended the wood~louse as a solvent and aperient.
1823 C. Lamb in London Mag. Jan. 20/2 He took it [sc. tobacco], he would say, as a solvent of speech.
4. A person able to pay all his debts.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > management of money > solvency > [noun] > one who
solvent1825
1825 W. Cobbett Rural Rides in Cobbett's Weekly Polit. Reg. 26 Nov. 553 Every insolvent blames a solvent, that will not lend him money.
Compounds
C1. General attributive.
a.
solvent abuse n.
ΚΠ
1977 Lancet 8 Jan. 84/1 Investigation of the 42 patients..showed that ‘sniffing’ was a group activity involving mainly adolescents aged 12–19 years, all of whom had a previous history of solvent abuse.
solvent recovery n.
ΚΠ
1947 R. E. Kirk & D. F. Othmer Encycl. Chem. Technol. I. 231 Activated carbon is used on a large scale for solvent recovery.
solvent-sniffing n.
ΚΠ
1977 Lancet 8 Jan. 82/1 Cardiac arrhythmias,..neuropsychiatric disorders, and hepatorenal failure have all been reported after solvent sniffing.
b.
solvent-thinned adj.
ΚΠ
1960 McGraw-Hill Encycl. Sci. & Technol. IX. 493/1 Solvent-thinned paints, which dry essentially by solvent evaporation, rely on a fairly hard resin as the vehicle.
C2.
solvent-extract v. and n. (a) v. (transitive) to purify by means of solvent extraction; (b) n. a fraction extracted from a mixture by this process; a spell of solvent extraction.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > chemistry > chemical reactions or processes > subject to chemical reactions or processes [verb (transitive)] > subject to named chemical reaction or process > subject to solvent extraction
solvent-extract1949
the world > matter > chemistry > chemical reactions or processes > [noun] > chemical reactions or processes (named) > extraction > solvent extraction > fraction extracted by
solvent-extract1949
the world > matter > chemistry > chemical reactions or processes > [noun] > chemical reactions or processes (named) > extraction > solvent extraction > a spell of
solvent-extract1949
1949 Our Industry (Anglo-Iranian Oil Co.) (ed. 2) iv. 116 The kerosine fraction may..be solvent extracted by means of liquid sulphur dioxide.
1956 Nature 4 Feb. 224/2 When insulin was added to an acidic solvent-extract of liver..the recovery of the insulin varied between 92 and 93 per cent.
1963 A. J. Hall Student's Handbk. Textile Sci. iii. 122 Another system of purifying wool is to solvent extract it with an organic solvent such as trichloroethylene.
1978 Nature 23 Mar. 298/2 Subsequent solvent extract in mixer settlers will separate plutonium nitrate solution.
solvent extraction n. the partial removal of a substance from a solution or a mixture of liquids by utilizing its greater solubility in another liquid or its greater permeability through a membrane.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > chemistry > chemical reactions or processes > [noun] > chemical reactions or processes (named) > extraction > solvent extraction
solvent extraction1920
1920 Chem. Trade Jrnl. 66 103 Quantities of oil for edible purposes were being produced by solvent extraction processes.
1949 Our Industry (Anglo-Iranian Oil Co.) (ed. 2) iv. 119 Solvent extraction processes are to-day used extensively in the petroleum industry for refining light distillates, kerosines and lubricating oils.
1978 Sci. Amer. July 97/3 Solvent extraction across membranes has been known at least since 1913, when Fritz Haber and Reinhardt Beutner showed that a thin film of oil could be employed as a membrane in two kinds of extraction process.
Derivatives
ˈsolvently adv.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > testing > resolving of problem, solution > [adverb]
solvently1872
1872 H. Bushnell Serm. Living Subj. 437 That personal life-giving spirit that will touch as it were solvently, all the secret bonds and propagative chains of causes.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1913; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.n.1653