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.
© Webster 1913.