O, that this too too solid flesh would melt, Thaw,
and resolve itself into a dew! --Shak.
Ye immortal souls, who once were men, And now
resolved to elements again. --Dryden.
2. To reduce to simple or intelligible notions; -- said of
complex ideas or obscure questions; to make clear or
certain; to free from doubt; to disentangle; to unravel;
to explain; hence, to clear up, or dispel, as doubt; as,
to resolve a riddle. ``Resolve my doubt.'' --Shak.
To the resolving whereof we must first know that the
Jews were commanded to divorce an unbelieving
Gentile. --Milton.
3. To cause to perceive or understand; to acquaint; to
inform; to convince; to assure; to make certain.
Sir, be resolved. I must and will come. --Beau. &
Fl.
Resolve me, Reason, which of these is worse, Want
with a full, or with an empty purse? --Pope.
In health, good air, pleasure, riches, I am resolved
it can not be equaled by any region. --Sir W.
Raleigh.
We must be resolved how the law can be pure and
perspicuous, and yet throw a polluted skirt over
these Eleusinian mysteries. --Milton.
4. To determine or decide in purpose; to make ready in mind;
to fix; to settle; as, he was resolved by an unexpected
event.
5. To express, as an opinion or determination, by resolution
and vote; to declare or decide by a formal vote; --
followed by a clause; as, the house resolved (or, it was
resolved by the house) that no money should be apropriated
(or, to appropriate no money).
6. To change or convert by resolution or formal vote; -- used
only reflexively; as, the house resolved itself into a
committee of the whole.
7. (Math.) To solve, as a problem, by enumerating the several
things to be done, in order to obtain what is required; to
find the answer to, or the result of. --Hutton.
8. (Med.) To dispere or scatter; to discuss, as an
inflammation or a tumor.
9. (Mus.) To let the tones (as of a discord) follow their
several tendencies, resulting in a concord.
10. To relax; to lay at ease. [Obs.] --B. Jonson.
{To resolve a nebula}.(Astron.) See {Resolution of a nebula},
under {Resolution}.
Syn: To solve; analyze; unravel; disentangle.
That makes him a resolved enemy. --Jer. Taylor.
I am resolved she shall not settle here. --Fielding.