01 a. Having the constituent parts so compact, or so firmly adhering, as to resist the impression or penetration of other bodies; having a fixed …
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1.
Having the constituent parts so compact, or so firmly adhering, as to resist the impression or penetration of other bodies; having a fixed form; hard; firm; compact; -- opposed to fluid and liquid or to plastic, like clay, or to incompact, like sand.
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2.
Not hollow; full of matter; as, a solid globe or cone, as distinguished from a hollow one; not spongy; dense; hence, sometimes, heavy.
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3.
Having all the geometrical dimensions; cubic; as, a solid foot contains 1,728 solid inches.(Arith.)
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4.
Firm; compact; strong; stable; unyielding; as, a solid pier; a solid pile; a solid wall.
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5.
Applied to a compound word whose parts are closely united and form an unbroken word; -- opposed to hyphened.
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6.
Fig.: Worthy of credit, trust, or esteem; substantial, as opposed to frivolous or fallacious; weighty; firm; strong; valid; just; genuine.“The solid purpose of a sincere and virtuous answer.” — Milton.“These, wanting wit, affect gravity, and go by the name of solid men.” — Dryden.“The genius of the Italians wrought by solid toil what the myth-making imagination of the Germans had projected in a poem.” — J. A. Symonds.
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7.
Sound; not weakly; as, a solid constitution of body.
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8.
Of a fleshy, uniform, undivided substance, as a bulb or root; not spongy or hollow within, as a stem.(Bot.)
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9.
Impenetrable; resisting or excluding any other material particle or atom from any given portion of space; -- applied to the supposed ultimate particles of matter.(Metaph.)
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10.
Not having the lines separated by leads; not open.(Print.)
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11.
United; without division; unanimous; as, the delegation is solid for a candidate.[Polit. Cant. U.S.]“Repose you there; while I [return] to this hard house, More harder than the stones whereof 't is raised.” — Shak.“I hear his thundering voice resound, And trampling feet than shake the solid ground.” — Dryden.
Phrases & compounds
Solid angle —
See under Angle.
Solid color —
an even color; one not shaded or variegated.
Solid measure —
a measure for volumes, in which the units are each a cube of fixed linear magnitude, as a cubic foot, yard, or the like; thus, a foot, in solid measure, or a solid foot, contains 1,728 solid inches.
Solid newel —
a newel into which the ends of winding stairs are built, in distinction from a hollow newel. See under Hollow, a.
Solid problem —
a problem which can be construed geometrically, only by the intersection of a circle and a conic section or of two conic sections.
Solid square —
a square body or troops in which the ranks and files are equal.
Syn.
Hard; firm; compact; strong; substantial; stable; sound; real; valid; true; just; weighty; profound; grave; important.
Solid, Hard. These words both relate to the internal constitution of bodies; but hardnotes a more impenetrable nature or a firmer adherence of the component parts than solid. Hard is opposed to soft, and solid to fluid, liquid, open, or hollow. Wood is usually solid; but some kinds of wood are hard, and others are soft.