Liquid

• POS: Adjective, Noun
• HYPHEN: liq=uid

CIDE DICTIONARY

Liquid, a. [L. liquidus, fr. liquere to be fluid or liquid; cf. Skr. rī to ooze, drop, lī to melt.].

•  Flowing freely like water; fluid; not solid.  [1913 Webster]

  "Yea, though he go upon the plane and liquid water which will receive no step."  [1913 Webster]
•  Being in such a state that the component molecules move freely among themselves, but have a definite volume changing only slightly with changes of pressure, and do not tend to separate from each other as the particles of gases and vapors do when the volume of the container is increased; neither solid nor gaseous; as, liquid mercury, in distinction from mercury solidified or in a state of vapor.

  "Liquid substances may form a definite interface with gases, whereas the molecules of different gases freely intermingle with each other."  [1913 Webster]
•  Flowing or sounding smoothly or without abrupt transitions or harsh tones.  Crashaw.  [1913 Webster]
•  Pronounced without any jar or harshness; smooth; as, l and r are liquid letters.  [1913 Webster]
•  Fluid and transparent; as, the liquid air.  [1913 Webster]
•  Clear; definite in terms or amount.  Ayliffe.
•  In cash or readily convertible into cash without loss of principle; -- said of assets, such as bank accounts, or short-term bonds tradable on a major stock exchange.  [PJC]

Liquid glass. See Soluble glass, under Glass.

Liquid, n. 

•  A substance whose parts change their relative position on the slightest pressure, and therefore retain no definite form; any substance in the state of liquidity; a fluid that is not gaseous and has a definite volume independent, of the container in which it is held. Liquids have a fixed volume at any given pressure, but their shape is determined by the container in which it is contained. Liquids, in contrast to gases, cannot expand indefinitely to fill an expanding container, and are only slightly compressible by application of pressure.  [1913 Webster]

  " Liquid and fluid are terms often used synonymously, but fluid has the broader signification. All liquids are fluids, but many fluids, as air and the gases, are not liquids."  [1913 Webster]
•  A letter which has a smooth, flowing sound, or which flows smoothly after a mute; as, l and r, in bla, bra. M and n also are called liquids.  [1913 Webster]

Liquid measure, a measure, or system of measuring, for liquids, by the gallon, quart, pint, gill, etc.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Liquid, adj. & n.
--adj.
1 having a consistency like that of water or oil, flowing freely but of constant volume.
2 having the qualities of water in appearance; translucent (liquid blue; a liquid lustre).
3 (of a gas, e.g. air, hydrogen) reduced to a liquid state by intense cold.
4 (of sounds) clear and pure; harmonious, fluent.
5 (of assets) easily converted into cash.
6 not fixed; fluid (liquid opinions).
--n.
1 a liquid substance.
2 Phonet. the sound of l or r.

Idiom

liquid crystal a turbid liquid with some order in its molecular arrangement. liquid crystal display a form of visual display in electronic devices, in which the reflectivity of a matrix of liquid crystals changes as a signal is applied. liquid measure a unit for measuring the volume of liquids. liquid paraffin Pharm. a colourless odourless oily liquid obtained from petroleum and used as a laxative.

Derivative

liquidly adv. liquidness n.

Etymology

ME f. L liquidus f. liquere be liquid

THESAURUS

Liquid

accented, alcoholic drink, allophone, alveolar, apical, apico-alveolar, apico-dental, aquatic, aqueous, articulated, articulation, aspiration, assimilated, assimilation, back, barytone, beverage, bilabial, blood, bright, brilliant, broad, cacuminal, central, cerebral, check, checked, clear, close, consonant, consonantal, continuant, convertible, dental, diphthong, dissimilated, dissimilation, dorsal, drink, drinkable, epenthetic vowel, explosive, flat, flowing, fluent, fluid, fluid extract, fluid mechanics, fluidal, fluidic, fluxible, fluxile, fluxional, fluxionary, front, frosted, frosted shake, glide, glossal, glottal, glottalization, golden, guttural, hard, heavy, high, honeyed, hydrated, hydraulic, hydraulics, hydrogeology, hydrous, intonated, juice, juicy, labial, labialization, labiodental, labiovelar, laryngeal, lateral, latex, lax, light, limpid, lingual, liquefied, liquid extract, liquidy, liquor, low, malt, manner of articulation, mellifluent, mellow, melted, mid, milk, modification, molten, monophthong, monophthongal, morphophoneme, mute, muted, narrow, nasal, nasalized, negotiable, occlusive, open, oxytone, palatal, palatalized, parasitic vowel, peak, pharyngeal, pharyngealization, pharyngealized, phone, phoneme, phonemic, phonetic, phonic, pitch, pitched, plashy, plosive, pop, posttonic, potable, potation, profitable, prothetic vowel, retroflex, rounded, running, runny, sap, sappy, segmental phoneme, semiliquid, semivowel, shake, shining, sloppy, soda, soda pop, soda water, soft, soft drink, solution, solvent, sonant, sonority, speech sound, splashy, stop, stopped, stressed, strong, succulent, surd, swashy, syllabic, syllabic nucleus, syllabic peak, syllable, tense, thick, throaty, tonal, tonic, transition sound, translucent, transparent, triphthong, twangy, unaccented, unrounded, unstressed, velar, vocable, vocalic, vocoid, voice, voiced, voiced sound, voiceless, voiceless sound, voicing, vowel, vowellike, water, waterish, watery, weak, whey, wide

ROGET THESAURUS

Liquid

Letter

N letter, character, hieroglyphic, type, capitals, digraph, trigraph, ideogram, ideograph, majuscule, minuscule, majuscule, minuscule, alphabet, ABC, abecedary, christcross-row, consonant, vowel, diphthong, triphthong, mute, liquid, labial, dental, guttural, syllable, monosyllable, dissyllable, polysyllable, affix, suffix, spelling, orthograph, phonography, phonetic spelling, anagrammatism, metagrammatism, cipher, monogram, anagram, doubleacrostic, literal, alphabetical, abecedarian, syllabic, majuscular, minuscular, uncial.

Fluidity

N fluidity, liquidity, liquidness, gaseity, fluid, inelastic fluid, liquid, liquor, lymph, humor, juice, sap, serum, blood, serosity, gravy, rheum, ichor, sanies, chyle, solubility, solubleness, hydrology, hydrostatics, hydrodynamics, liquid, fluid, serous, juicy, succulent, sappy, ichorous, fluent, liquefied, uncongealed, soluble, fluidity, liquidity, liquidness, gaseity, fluid, inelastic fluid, liquid, liquor, lymph, humor, juice, sap, serum, blood, serosity, gravy, rheum, ichor, sanies, chyle, solubility, solubleness, hydrology, hydrostatics, hydrodynamics, liquid, fluid, serous, juicy, succulent, sappy, ichorous, fluent, liquefied, uncongealed, soluble.

Faintness

N faintness, faint sound, whisper, breath, undertone, underbreath, murmur, hum, susurration, tinkle, still small voice, hoarseness, raucity, inaudible, scarcely audible, just audible, low, dull, stifled, muffled, hoarse, husky, gentle, soft, faint, floating, purling, flowing, whispered, liquid, soothing, dulcet, susurrant, susurrous, in a whisper, with bated breath, sotto voce, between the teeth, aside, piano, pianissimo, d la sourdine, out of earshot inaudibly, (ii) SPECIFIC SOUNDS.