To cause to pass into solution: dissolve salt in water.
To reduce (solid matter) to liquid form; melt.
To cause to disappear or vanish; dispel.
To break into component parts; disintegrate.
To bring to an end by or as if by breaking up; terminate.
To dismiss (a legislative body, for example): dissolved parliament and called for new elections.
To cause to break down emotionally or psychologically; upset.
To cause to lose definition; blur; confuse: "Morality has finally been dissolved in pity"(Leslie Fiedler).
Law To annul; abrogate.
v.
intr.
To pass into solution.
To become liquid; melt.
To break up or disperse.
To become disintegrated; disappear.
To be overcome emotionally or psychologically: I dissolved into helpless laughter.
To lose clarity or definition; fade away.
To shift shots in a motion-picture film or videotape by having one shot fade out while the next appears behind it and grows clearer as the first one dims.
n.
A transition in a motion-picture film or videotape made by fading out one shot while the next one grows clearer. Also called lap dissolve.
[Middle English dissolven, from Latin dissolvere : dis-, dis- + solvere, to release; see leu- in Indo-European roots.]
Dis*solve"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Dissolved; p. pr. & vb. n. Dissolving.] [L. dissolvere, dissolutum; dis- + solvere to loose, free. See Solve, and cf. Dissolute.]1. To separate into competent parts; to disorganize; to break up; hence, to bring to an end by separating the parts, sundering a relation, etc.; to terminate; to destroy; to deprive of force; as, to dissolve a partnership; to dissolve Parliament. Lest his ungoverned rage dissolve the life. --Shak. 2. To break the continuity of; to disconnect; to disunite; to sunder; to loosen; to undo; to separate. Nothing can dissolve us. --Shak. Down fell the duke, his joints dissolved asunder. --Fairfax. For one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another. --The Declaration of Independence. 3. To convert into a liquid by means of heat, moisture, etc.,; to melt; to liquefy; to soften. As if the world were all dissolved to tears. --Shak. 4. To solve; to clear up; to resolve. "Dissolved the mystery." --Tennyson. Make interpretations and dissolve doubts. --Dan. v. 16. 5. To relax by pleasure; to make powerless. Angels dissolved in hallelujahs lie. --Dryden. 6. (Law) To annul; to rescind; to discharge or release; as, to dissolve an injunction. Syn: See Adjourn.
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Audio Help [di-zolv] Pronunciation Key verb -solved, -solv·ing, noun 
