Emily Dickinson Lexicon

DIS-SOLV'ENT, n.

1. Any thing which has the power or quality of melting, or converting a solid substance into a fluid, or of separating the parts of a fixed body so that they mix with a liquid; as, water is a dissolvent of salts and earths. It is otherwise called a menstruum.
2. In medicine, a remedy supposed capable of dissolving concretions in the body, such as calculi, tubercles, &c. – Parr.