The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Solution \So*lu"tion\ (s[-o]*l[=u]"sh[u^]n), n. [OE. solucion,
   OF. solucion, F. solution, fr. L. solutio, fr. solvere,
   solutum, to loosen, dissolve. See Solve.]
   1. The act of separating the parts of any body, or the
      condition of undergoing a separation of parts; disruption;
      breach.
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            In all bodies there is an appetite of union and
            evitation of solution of continuity.  --Bacon.
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   2. The act of solving, or the state of being solved; the
      disentanglement of any intricate problem or difficult
      question; explanation; clearing up; -- used especially in
      mathematics, either of the process of solving an equation
      or problem, or the result of the process.
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   3. The state of being dissolved or disintegrated; resolution;
      disintegration.
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            It is unquestionably an enterprise of more promise
            to assail the nations in their hour of faintness and
            solution, than at a time when magnificent and
            seductive systems of worship were at their height of
            energy and splendor.                  --I. Taylor.
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   4. (Chem.Phys.) The act or process by which a body (whether
      solid, liquid, or gaseous) is absorbed into a liquid, and,
      remaining or becoming fluid, is diffused throughout the
      solvent; also, the product resulting from such absorption.
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   Note: When a solvent will not take in any more of a substance
         the solution is said to be saturated. Solution is of
         two kinds; viz.: (a) Mechanical solution, in which no
         marked chemical change takes place, and in which, in
         the case of solids, the dissolved body can be regained
         by evaporation, as in the solution of salt or sugar in
         water. (b) Chemical solution, in which there is
         involved a decided chemical change, as when limestone
         or zinc undergoes solution in hydrochloric acid.
         Mechanical solution is regarded as a form of
         molecular or atomic attraction, and is probably
         occasioned by the formation of certain very weak and
         unstable compounds which are easily dissociated and
         pass into new and similar compounds.
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   Note: This word is not used in chemistry or mineralogy for
         fusion, or the melting of bodies by the heat of fire.
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   5. Release; deliverance; discharge. [Obs.] --Barrow.
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   6. (Med.)
      (a) The termination of a disease; resolution.
      (b) A crisis.
      (c) A liquid medicine or preparation (usually aqueous) in
          which the solid ingredients are wholly soluble. --U.
          S. Disp.
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   Fehling's solution (Chem.), a standardized solution of
      cupric hydrate in sodium potassium tartrate, used as a
      means of determining the reducing power of certain sugars
      and sirups by the amount of red cuprous oxide thrown down.


   Heavy solution (Min.), a liquid of high density, as a
      solution of mercuric iodide in potassium iodide (called
      the Sonstadt solution or Thoulet solution) having a
      maximum specific gravity of 3.2, or of borotungstate of
      cadium (Klein solution, specific gravity 3.6), and the
      like. Such solutions are much used in determining the
      specific gravities of minerals, and in separating them
      when mechanically mixed as in a pulverized rock.

   Nessler's solution. See Nesslerize.

   Solution of continuity, the separation of connection, or of
      connected substances or parts; -- applied, in surgery, to
      a fracture, laceration, or the like. "As in the natural
      body a wound, or solution of continuity, is worse than a
      corrupt humor, so in the spiritual." --Bacon.

   Standardized solution (Chem.), a solution which is used as
      a reagent, and is of a known and standard strength;
      specifically, a normal solution, containing in each cubic
      centimeter as many milligrams of the element in question
      as the number representing its atomic weight; thus, a
      normal solution of silver nitrate would contain 107.7 mgr.
      of silver in each cubic centimeter.
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