Word: resolve Part of Speech: verb Etymology: From Middle English resolven, from Old French resolver, a learned borrowing of Latin resolvō (“loosen, thaw, melt, resolve”), equivalent to re- + solve. Piecewise doublet of re-solve. Pronunciation: /ɹɪˈzɒlv/, /ɹiːˈzɒlv/, /ɹɪˈzɑlv/, /ɹɪˈzɔlv/ 1. To find a solution to (a problem). Labels: transitive Example: Exeter. Shall I call in Thambaſſadors my Liege? / King. Not yet my Couſin, til we be reſolude / Of ſome ſerious matters touching vs and France. 2. To reduce to simple or intelligible notions; to make clear or certain; to unravel; to explain. Labels: transitive Example: to resolve a riddle Example: Resolve my doubt. 3. To make a firm decision to do something. To become determined to reach a certain goal or take a certain action. Labels: intransitive Example: I resolve to finish this work before I go home. Example: At length, one night, when the company by ſome accident broke up much ſooner than ordinary, ſo that the candles were not half burnt out, ſhe was not able to reſiſt the temptation, but reſolved to have them ſome way or other. Accordingly, as ſoon as the hurry was over, and the ſervants, as ſhe thought, all gone to ſleep, ſhe ſtole out of her bed, and went down ſtairs, naked to her ſhift as ſhe was, with a deſign to ſteal them […] 4. To determine or decide in purpose; to make ready in mind; to fix; to settle. Labels: transitive Example: He was resolved by an unexpected event. Example: Gentlemen, importune me no farther, / For hovv I firmly am reſolu'd you knovv: / That is, not to beſtovv my yongeſt daughter, / Before I haue a husband for the elder: […] 5. To come to an agreement or make peace; patch up relationship, settle differences, bury the hatchet. Example: After two weeks of bickering, they finally resolved their differences. 6. To break down into constituent parts; to decompose; to disintegrate; to return to a simpler constitution or a primeval state. Labels: intransitive, reflexive, transitive Example: The House immediately resolved itself into a Committee on the Bill. Example: O, that this too too solid flesh would melt, / Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew! 7. To cause to perceive or understand; to acquaint; to inform; to convince; to assure; to make certain. Example: In health, good air, pleasure, riches, I am resolved it cannot be equalled by any region. Example: We must be resolved how the law can be pure and perspicuous, and yet throw a polluted skirt over these Eleusinian mysteries. 8. To cause a chord to go from dissonance to consonance. 9. To render visible or distinguishable the parts of something. Example: The single-imaging optic of the mammalian eye offers some distinct visual advantages. Such lenses can take in photons from a wide range of angles, increasing light sensitivity. They also have high spatial resolution, resolving incoming images in minute detail. 10. To find the IP address of a hostname, or the entity referred to by a symbol in source code; to look up. 11. To melt; to dissolve; to liquefy or soften (a solid). Labels: rare, transitive Example: With milke-white Hartes vpon an Iuorie ſled, / Thou ſhalt be drawen amidſt the froſen Pooles, / And ſcale the yſie mountaines lofty tops: / Which with thy beautie will be soone reſolu’d. 12. To melt; to dissolve; to become liquid. Labels: intransitive, rare, reflexive Example: When the blood stagnates in any part, it first coagulates, then resolves, and turns alkaline. 13. To liquefy (a gas or vapour). Labels: obsolete, transitive 14. To disperse or scatter; to discuss, as an inflammation or a tumour. Labels: dated 15. To relax; to lie at ease. Labels: obsolete Example: resolve himself into all sports and looseness again 16. To separate racemic compounds into their enantiomers. 17. To solve (an equation, etc.). Labels: archaic, transitive