solid

That can be picked up or held, having a texture, and usually firm. Unlike a liquid, gas or plasma.

Adjective

  1. That can be picked up or held, having a texture, and usually firm. Unlike a liquid, gas or plasma.
    • Almost all metals are solid at room temperature.
  2. Large in size, quantity, or value.
    • Almost a quarter of a million copies is really a solid number for today's record industry. In fact, that number is more than the last two number one albums - 2015 July 8, “Rapper Meek Mill Charts His First Number One...
    • Americans increased their borrowing by a solid amount in September. But the gain was less than half the big August surge - 2018 November 7, “Consumer borrowing up solid $10.9 billion in September”, in Journal Record:
    • On top of that, the speaker is big, so you may have to set aside a solid amount of space for it. - 2018 November 7, Christian de Looper, “The best Google Assistant smart speakers you can buy”, in Business Insider:

    Synonyms: heavy-set massive substantial

  3. Lacking holes, hollows or admixtures of other materials.
    • solid gold
    • solid chocolate
    • The cane was undoubtedly of foreign make, for it had a solid silver ferrule at one end, which was not English hall–marked. - 1904–1905, Baroness Orczy [i.e., Emma Orczy], “The Ayrsham Mystery”, in The Case of Miss...
  4. Strong or unyielding.
    • a solid foundation
    • As in the 1-0 win against Norway in Oslo, this was an England performance built on the foundations of solid defence and tactical discipline. - 2012 June 2, Phil McNulty, “England 1-0 Belgium”, in BBC Sport:
  5. Continuous and heavy.
    • He was covered in a fine mist by then, the night skies growing more saturated by the hour. It would be a nice, solid rain before long, he figured. - 2011 April 1, J.N. Duncan, Deadworld, Kensington Publishing Corp.,...
    • The ground above looked like it might give out again in a solid rain. The opposite bank promised even less. The river bent around acres of mud pocked with knots of grass and cattail spikes. I was tired. Despite the...
  6. Excellent, of high quality, or reliable.
    • That's a solid plan.
    • Radiohead's on tour! Have you heard their latest album yet? It's quite solid.
    • I don't think Dave would have done that. He's a solid dude.
  7. Hearty; filling.
    • a solid meal
  8. Worthy of credit, trust, or esteem; substantial; not frivolous or fallacious.
    • the solid purpose of a sincere and virtuous answer - 1670, John Milton, “(please specify the page)”, in The History of Britain, that Part Especially now Call’d England. […], London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for James...
    • Theſe are they, who wanting Wit, affect Gravity, and go by the name of Solid men: and a ſolid man is, in plain English, a ſolid, ſolemn Fool. - 1675, John Dryden, “To the Right Honourable, John, Earl of Mulgrave, […]”,...
    • 1875-1886, J. A. Symonds, Renaissance in Italy: The revival of learning The genius of the Italians wrought by solid toil what the myth-making imagination of the Germans had projected in a poem.
  9. Financially well off; wealthy.
  10. Sound; not weak.
    • a solid constitution of body
  11. Written as one word, without spaces or hyphens.
    • American English writes many words as solid that British English hyphenates.

    Synonyms: closed closed up

    Coordinate Terms: hyphenation

  12. Not having the lines separated by leads; not open.

Origin

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *solh₂-der. Proto-Indo-European *solh₂-i-dʰ-o-s Proto-Italic *soliðos Latin solidusder. Old French solidebor. Middle English solide English solid From Middle English solide, borrowed from Old French solide, from Latin solidus (“solid”), from Proto-Indo-European *solh₂-i-dʰ-o-s (“entire”), suffixed form of root *solh₂- (“integrate, whole”). Doublet of sol, sold, soldo, solidus, sou, and xu.

Forms

more solid solider most solid solidest

Hyponyms

rock solid

Derived

booked solid equisolid half-solid nonsolid on solid ground quasi-solid quasisolid semisolid semi-solid solid angle solid as a rock solid as Fort Knox solid as the Rock of Gibraltar solidbody solid compound solid-drawn solid emulsion solid hydrogen solidification solidish solidism solidist solidity solidly

Adverb

  1. Solidly.
    • True, not ten of these mines were yielding rock worth hauling to a mill, but everybody said, "Wait till the shaft gets down where the ledge comes in solid, and then you will see!" - 1870–1871 (date written), Mark Twain...
    • Hm-m-—These papers are complete—They make Mortimer and Matilda the legal guardians of Babs—ought to put me in more solid than ever with Miss Effie—and that home is good graft. - 1937 March 7, Marsh, “Dan Dunn-Secret...
    • Suppose, then, a whole family got sick with this flu, and no help around, and winter setting in solid and cold three weeks early? - 1943, Wallace Stegner, The Big Rock Candy Mountain, →ISBN, page 246:
  2. Without spaces or hyphens.
    • Many long-established compounds are set solid.

Forms

more solid most solid

Noun

  1. A substance in the fundamental state of matter that retains its size and shape without need of a container (as opposed to a liquid or gas).
  2. A three-dimensional figure (as opposed to a surface, an area, or a curve).
  3. A favor.
    • Please do me a solid: lend me your car for one week.
    • I owe him; he did me a solid last year.
    • Fortunately, the president of our illustrious institution has been after me for a year to get Francis Ford Coppola to speak at next year's commencement, and Francis owes me a solid. - 2010, Loren D. Estleman, Frames,...
  4. An article of clothing which is of a single color throughout.
    • I prefer solids over paisleys.
  5. Food which is not liquid-based.
    • The doctor said I can't eat any solids four hours before the operation.

Origin

From Middle English solid, from the adjective, Middle French solide, or Latin solidum. Doublet of solidum.

Forms

solids

Derived

Archimedean solid biosolid Catalan solid hypersolid Johnson solid Kepler solid nanosolid nonsolid Platonic solid pseudosolid quantum solid quasisolid quasi-solid semisolid semi-solid solidlike solid of revolution Steinmetz solid supersolid sursolid