solvo

From solvi +‎ -o.

• IPA^(key): /ˈsolvo/
• Rhymes: -olvo

solvo (accusative singular solvon, plural solvoj, accusative plural solvojn)

1. solution

solvo

1. first-person singular present indicative of solvere

• svolo, svolò

• soluō

From se- (“away”) +‎ luō (“to untie, set free, separate”).

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈsol.u̯oː/, [ˈs̠ɔɫ̪u̯oː]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈsol.vo/, [ˈsɔlvo]

solvō (present infinitive solvere, perfect active solvī, supine solūtum); third conjugation

1. to loosen, untie, undo; free [up], release, acquit, exempt

   Synonyms: rumpo, persolvo, absolvo, explicō, distraho, dissolvo

   Antonyms: ligō, colligō, illigō, cōnserō, cōnfīgō, adalligō, alligō, dēligō, nectō, cōnectō, dēfīgō, fīgō

2. to solve, explain
3. to dissolve, break up, separate

   similia similibus solvuntur

   Like dissolves like.

4. to relax, slacken, weaken
   • 23 BCE – 13 BCE, Horace, Odes 2.2.4–7:

     Vīvet extentō Proculeius aevō,
     nōtus in frātrēs animī paternī;
     illum aget pennā metuente solvī
          Fāma superstes.

     Proculeius shall live an extended age,
     well known for his fatherly spirit to his brothers;
     him will bear with feather scorning to be relaxed
          enduring Fame.

5. to cancel, remove, destroy

   Synonym: cancellō

6. to pay up, fulfil

   Synonyms: ērogō, pendo, persolvo, luo, absolvo, dissolvo

7. to undermine
8. (figuratively) (emotion, feelings) to get rid of, let go of, release, dismiss, loosen
   • 29 BCE – 19 BCE, Virgil, Aeneid 1.562:

     “Solvite corde metum, Teucrī, sēclūdite cūrās.”

     “Release the fear within your heart[s], Teucrians, [and] banish worries.”
     (Dido tells the Trojan envoys to “unbind” the inner physical tension which follows intense emotion.)

9. to let down (hair)
10. to open (a letter)
11. to unfurl
12. to raise (a siege)
13. to dismiss (troops)
14. to set sail (ships)

• “solvo”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “solvo”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• solvo in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎, London: Macmillan and Co.
  • to awake: somno solvi
    
  • to perform the last rites for a person: iusta facere, solvere alicui
    
  • to decide, determine a question: quaestionem solvere
    
  • to open a letter: epistulam solvere, aperire, resignare (of Romans also linum incīdere)
    
  • to accomplish, pay a vow: vota solvere, persolvere, reddere
    
  • to pay money: pecuniam solvere
    
  • to repay a loan: pecuniam creditam solvere
    
  • to pay one's debts: nomina (cf. sect. XIII. 3) solvere, dissolvere, exsolvere
    
  • to pay one's old debts by making new: versurā solvere, dissolvere (Att. 5. 15. 2)
    
  • to free from legal obligations: legibus solvere
    
  • to suffer punishment: poenas dependere, expendere, solvere, persolvere
    
  • to weigh anchor, sail: solvere (B. G. 4. 28)
    
  • to weigh anchor, sail: navem (naves) solvere
    
  • the ships sail from the harbour: naves ex portu solvunt
    
• De Vaan, Michiel (2008) Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7)‎, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN