dissolve

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. v. To cause to pass into solution: dissolve salt in water.
2. v. To reduce (solid matter) to liquid form; melt.
3. v. To cause to disappear or vanish; dispel.
4. v. To break into component parts; disintegrate.
5. v. To bring to an end by or as if by breaking up; terminate.
6. v. To dismiss (a legislative body, for example): dissolved parliament and called for new elections.
7. v. To cause to break down emotionally or psychologically; upset.
8. v. To cause to lose definition; blur; confuse: "Morality has finally been dissolved in pity” ( Leslie Fiedler).
9. v. Law To annul; abrogate.
10. v. To pass into solution.
11. v. To become liquid; melt.
12. v. To break up or disperse.
13. v. To become disintegrated; disappear.
14. v. To be overcome emotionally or psychologically: I dissolved into helpless laughter.
15. v. To lose clarity or definition; fade away.
16. v. To shift shots in a motion-picture film or videotape by having one shot fade out while the next appears behind it and grows clearer as the first one dims.
17. n. A transition in a motion-picture film or videotape made by fading out one shot while the next one grows clearer. Also called lap dissolve.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. To liquefy by the disintegrating action of a fluid; separate and diffuse the particles of, as a solid body in a liquid; make a solution of: as, water dissolves salt and sugar; to dissolve resin in alcohol; to dissolve a gas in a liquid. See solution.
2. In general, to melt; liquefy by means of heat or moisture; soften by or cover with moisture: chiefly figurative and poetical. See melt.
3. To disunite; break up; separate into parts; loosen the connection of; destroy, as any connected system or body, or a union of feeling, interests, etc.; put an end to: as, to dissolve a government; to dissolve Parliament; to dissolve an alliance; to dissolve the bonds of friendship.
4. To explain; resolve; solve.
5. To destroy the power of; deprive of force; annul; abrogate: as, to dissolve a charm or spell; to dissolve an injunction.
6. To consume; cause to vanish or perish; end by dissolution; destroy, as by fire.
7. Synonyms Thaw, Fuse., etc. See melt.
8. To become fluid; be disintegrated and absorbed by a fluid; be converted from a solid to a fluid state: as, sugar dissolves in water.
9. To be disintegrated by or as if by heat or force; melt or crumble; waste away.
10. To become relaxed; lose force or strength; melt or sink away from weakness or languor.
11. To separate; break up: as, the council dissolved; Parliament dissolved.
12. To break up or pass away by degrees; disappear gradually; fade from sight or apprehension: as, dissolving views (see view); his prospects were rapidly dissolving.

Wiktionary

1. v. transitive To terminate a union of multiple members actively, as by disbanding
2. v. transitive To destroy, make disappear
3. v. transitive To liquify, melt into a fluid
4. v. intransitive To be melted, changed into a fluid
5. v. chemistry (transitive) To disintegrate chemically into a solution by immersion into a liquid or gas.
6. v. chemistry (intransitive) To be disintegrated by such immersion.
7. v. transitive To disperse, drive apart a group of persons.
8. v. cinematography (intransitive) To shift from one shot to another by having the former fade out as the latter fades in.
9. v. intransitive To resolve itself as by dissolution
10. n. cinematography A film punctuation in which there is a gradual transition from one scene to the next.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. v. To separate into competent parts; to disorganize; to break up; hence, to bring to an end by separating the parts, sundering a relation, etc.; to terminate; to destroy; to deprive of force
2. v. To break the continuity of; to disconnect; to disunite; to sunder; to loosen; to undo; to separate.
3. v. To convert into a liquid by means of heat, moisture, etc.,; to melt; to liquefy; to soften.
4. v. To solve; to clear up; to resolve.
5. v. To relax by pleasure; to make powerless.
6. v. (Law) To annul; to rescind; to discharge or release.
7. v. To waste away; to be dissipated; to be decomposed or broken up.
8. v. To become fluid; to be melted; to be liquefied.
9. v. To fade away; to fall to nothing; to lose power.

WordNet 3.0

1. v. cause to lose control emotionally
2. v. stop functioning or cohering as a unit
3. v. become or cause to become soft or liquid
4. v. become weaker
5. v. cause to go into a solution
6. v. bring the association of to an end or cause to break up
7. n. (film) a gradual transition from one scene to the next; the next scene is gradually superimposed as the former scene fades out
8. v. lose control emotionally
9. v. pass into a solution
10. v. come to an end
11. v. declare void
12. v. cause to fade away