dilute

Etymology

From Latin dīlūtus, from dīluere (“to wash away, dissolve, cause to melt, dilute”), from dī-, dis- (“away, apart”) + luere (“to wash”). See lave, and compare deluge.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /daɪˈljuːt/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /daɪˈlut/, /dɪˈlut/
• Rhymes: -uːt

Verb

dilute (third-person singular simple present dilutes, present participle diluting, simple past and past participle diluted)

1. (transitive) To make thinner by adding solvent to a solution, especially by adding water.
   • 1712, Richard Blackmore, Creation: A Philosophical Poem:

     Mix their watery store / With the chyle's current, and dilute it more.

2. (transitive) To weaken, especially by adding a foreign substance.
   • 1704, I[saac] N[ewton], “[The First Book of Opticks. Part I.] ”, in Opticks: Or, A Treatise of the Reflexions, Refractions, Inflexions and Colours of Light. […], London: […] Sam[uel] Smith, and Benj[amin] Walford, printers to the Royal Society, […], →OCLC, page 36:

     For if these Colours be diluted and weakened by the Mixture of any adventitious light, the distance between the places of the Paper will not be so great.

   • 1856, L. S. Lavenu, chapter XXXIII, in Erlesmere; or, Contrasts of Character‎, volume 1, London: Smith, Elder & Co., page 336:

     “Stay a little.”
     “Not another second: language and discussion dilute thought; I will say no more.”

   • 1980 August 30, Jil Clark, quoting Jane, “Gays Talk About Registration and the Draft”, in Gay Community News, volume 8, number 6, page 9:

     It's healthy to have people in the military who would perhaps rather be somewhere else; they can dilute the more gung-ho military types.

3. (transitive, stock market) To cause the value of individual shares or the stake of a shareholder to decrease by increasing the total number of shares.
4. (intransitive) To become attenuated, thin, or weak.

   It dilutes easily.

Adjective

dilute (comparative more dilute, superlative most dilute)

1. Having a low concentration.

   Clean the panel with a dilute, neutral cleaner.

2. Weak; reduced in strength by dilution; diluted.
3. Of an animal: having a lighter-coloured coat than is usual.

   a dilute calico

   a cat with a dilute tortoiseshell coat

Noun

dilute (plural dilutes)

1. An animal having a lighter-coloured coat than is usual.
   • 2000, Joe Stahlkuppe, American Pit Bull Terrier Handbook, page 131:

     On average, blues and other dilutes have weaker coats and skin problems seem more prevalent in the dilutes.

See also

• Concentration on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• dilate

References

• “dilute”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “dilute”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

Participle

dīlūte

1. vocative masculine singular of dīlūtus