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The state or quality of being solid; density; consistency, -- opposed to fluidity; compactness; fullness of matter, -- opposed to openness or hollowness; strength; soundness, -- opposed to weakness or instability; the primary quality or affection of matter by which its particles exclude or resist all others; hardness;…

Susceptible of being dissolved in a fluid; capable of solution; as, some substances are soluble in alcohol which are not soluble in water. Sugar is . . . soluble in water and fusible in fire. Arbuthnot.

(whether solid, liquid, or gaseous) is absorbed into a liquid, and, remaining or becoming fluid, is diffused throughout the solvent; also, the product reulting from such absorption.

Having the power of dissolving; dissolving; as, a solvent fluid. "the solvent body." Boyle.

To express opinions; to say; to talk; to converse. That fluid substance in a few minutes begins to set, as the tradesmen speak. Boyle. An honest man, is able to speak for himself, when a knave is not. Shak. During the century and a half which followed the Conquest, there is, to speak strictly, no English history. Macau…

The male fecundating fluid; semen. See Semen. Sperm cell (Physiol.), one of the cells from which the spermatozoids are developed. -- Sperm morula. (Biol.) Same as Spermosphere.

Of or pertaining to semen; as, the spermatic fluid, the spermatic vessels, etc. Spermatic cord (Anat.), the cord which suspends the testicle within the scrotum. It is made up of a connective tissue sheath inclosing the spermatic duct and accompanying vessels and nerves.

suffer to fall or run out of a vessel; to lose, or suffer to be scattered; -- applied to fluids and to substances whose particles are small and loose; as, to spill water from a pail; to spill quicksilver from a vessel; to spill powder from a paper; to spill sand or flour.

Any small aperture or vent for air or other fluid.

Having the quality of imbibing fluids, like a sponge. Spongy lead (Chem.), sponge lead. See under Sponge. -- Spongy platinum. See under Platinum.

To shake and wash a fluid about in the mouth with the lips closed. [Prov. Eng.] Forby.

Fixedness; -- as opposed to Ant: fluidity. Since fluidness and stability are contary qualities. Boyle.

The condition of being stagnant; cessation of flowing or circulation, as of a fluid; the state of being motionless; as, the stagnation of the blood; the stagnation of water or air; the stagnation of vapors.

The elastic, aëriform fluid into which water is converted when heated to the boiling points; water in the state of vapor.

Free from reproductive spores or germs; as, a sterile fluid.

To destroy all spores or germs in (an organic fluid or mixture), as by heat, so as to prevent the development of bacterial or other organisms.

One that sterilizes anything; specif., an apparatus for sterilizing an organic fluid or mixture.

Not liquid or fluid; thick and tenacious; inspissated; neither soft nor hard; as, the paste is stiff.

A sharp-pointed hollow hair seated on a gland which secrets an acrid fluid, as in nettles. The points of these hairs usually break off in the wound, and the acrid fluid is pressed into it.

a liquid in a pipe; -- in distinction from a valve which is operated by the action of the fluid it restrains. -- Stop watch, a watch the hands of which can be stopped in order to tell exactly the time that has passed, as in timing a race. See Independent seconds watch, under Independent, a.