Also 6–7 solide. [f. the adj., or ad. F. solide, L. solidum.]
1. Geom. A body or magnitude of three dimensions; one having length, breadth and thickness.
Solid of revolution, one formed by the revolution of a plane figure.
1495. Trevisa’s De P. R., XIX. cxxvii. (W. de W.), 928. The Cubus is properly the Solid ylyke longe, brode, and depe.
1570. Billingsley, Euclid, XI. def. 1. 312. A solide or body is that which hath length, breadth, and thicknes.
1571. Digges, Pantom., III. Q, Lyke solides are such as are encompassed with superficies that are lyke and of equall number.
1625. N. Carpenter, Geog. Del., I. ii. (1635), 36. As wee esteeme of a circle described in a plaine surface, so must we iudge in solids of a Spheare.
1696. Phillips (ed. 5), s.v., All Solids are either Spherical or Elliptical, which have no Sides or Angles; or Prisms, which are contain’d in Plains.
1725. Watts, Logick, I. vi. § 8. 190. Geometry divides its Objects into Lines, Surfaces and Solids.
1816. trans. Lacroix’s Diff. & Int. Calculus, 679. To find the differentials of the volumes and curve surfaces of solids of revolution.
1841. Penny Cycl., XIX. 364/2. We have thus the five regular solids, and have shown that there can be no others.
1878. Gurney, Crystal., 41. A solid cannot be bounded by fewer than four planes.
2. A solid substance or body.
1698. Keill, Exam. Th. Earth (1734), 195. For it is not so with solids as with fluids, where all range themselves according to their intensive gravities.
a. 1722. Lisle, Husb. (1757), 8. Nor is it to be objected, that by fire these vegetative particles should be destroyed, seeing they are supposed to be solids.
1812. Sir H. Davy, Chem. Philos., 65. The first class consists of solids, which compose the great known part of the globe.
1844–57. G. Bird, Urin. Deposits (ed. 5), 62. The quantity of solids in a fluid ounce of the urine.
1882. Minchin, Unipl. Kinemat., 137. Every one easily recognises a broad distinction between a Fluid and a Solid.
transf. 1727. Bailey (vol. II.), Semi-vowels … are distinguished into Solids and Liquids. Ibid., Solids,… or solid Letters, are those which are never liquefied.
b. Physiol. A solid part or constituent of the body. Used in pl.
Freq. in the 18th cent.; now Obs. or rare.
1704. F. Fuller, Med. Gymn. (1711), 26. I come now to shew after what manner [exercise] affects the solids.
1769. E. Bancroft, Guiana, 324. Its use … is indispensably necessary in this climate, to corroborate the solids.
1805. Med. Jrnl., XIV. 325. Its influence upon the nervous system through … the balance between the solids and fluids.
[a. 1862. Buckle, Civiliz. (1869), III. 420. All the solids in the human body are either simple or vital.]
c. Building. A solid mass of masonry or other construction, esp. that between windows or doors; a pier of a bridge.
1736. N. Hawksmoor, Hist. London Bridge, 9. There are also eighteen Solids or Piers of different Dimensions, from thirty-four to twenty-five Feet thick.
1793. Smeaton, Edystone L., § 45. The whole therefore to the height of the store-room floor … having been made with all possible solidity, was denominated the solid.
1840. Civil Eng. & Arch. Jrnl., III. 84/1. To obtain the largest possible admission of light, with the smallest obstruction of solids or piers.
1842. Gwilt, Archit., § 2756. The investigation relative to the voids and solids of doors. Ibid., Gloss. s.v. Pier, A solid between the doors or windows of a building.
d. Printing. (See quot.)
1888. Jacobi, Printers’ Vocab., 128. Solids.—The blacker or more solid parts of a woodcut or other illustration.
3. The solid, the unbroken mass, the main part or body, of something.
1776. G. Semple, Building in Water, 148. The Tongues and Grooves to be put on with Spikes and stout Oak Pins, or made out of the Solid.
1840. Browning, Sordello, IV. 168. Her hero’s car Clove dizzily the solid of the war.
1908. Westm. Gaz., 13 Feb., 4/2. The mechanically operated valves are … actuated by cams turned from the solid.
4. ellipt. in pl. in various senses: a. Solid or substantial dishes or food. b. U.S. Self-colored cloths or garments. c. Salt-making. (See quot.) d. Mining. (See quot.) e. Sc. Solid qualities or character.
a. 1792. A. Young, Trav. France, 217. I am very well served at dinner with many and good dishes, and some of them solids.
b. 1883. Evening Star (Washington), 31 Oct., 3/6. Well, solids are all the go this season. Stripes and checks are very dull.
c. 1886. Holland, Cheshire Gloss., Solids.… The solid brickwork about the fires, on which the bars, bearers, and other ironwork rests.
d. 1894. Heslop, Northumbld. Gloss., Solids, in mining, the solid rock as distinguished from soil, moss, drifts, etc.
e. 1896. J. Horne, Canny Countryside, xix. 212. That precentor was never again seen in Knockdry. He lacked ‘solids.’
