resolve

Etymology 1

From Middle English resolven, from Old French resolver, a learned borrowing of Latin resolvō (“loosen, thaw, melt, resolve”), equivalent to re- + solve.

verb

1. (transitive) To find a solution to (a problem).
2. (transitive) To reduce to simple or intelligible notions; to make clear or certain; to unravel; to explain.
   to resolve a riddle
3. (intransitive) To make a firm decision to do something.
   I resolve to finish this work before I go home.
   At length, one night, when the company by ſome accident broke up much ſooner than ordinary, ſo that the candles were not half burnt out, ſhe was not able to reſiſt the temptation, but reſolved to have them ſome way or other. Accordingly, as ſoon as the hurry was over, and the ſervants, as ſhe thought, all gone to ſleep, ſhe ſtole out of her bed, and went down ſtairs, naked to her ſhift as ſhe was, with a deſign to ſteal them […] 1762, Charles Johnstone, The Reverie; or, A Flight to the Paradise of Fools, volume 2, Dublin: […] Dillon Chamberlaine, →OCLC, page 202
4. (transitive) To determine or decide in purpose; to make ready in mind; to fix; to settle.
   He was resolved by an unexpected event.
5. To come to an agreement or make peace; patch up relationship, settle differences, bury the hatchet.
   After two weeks of bickering, they finally resolved their differences.
6. (transitive, intransitive, reflexive) To break down into constituent parts; to decompose; to disintegrate; to return to a simpler constitution or a primeval state.
   The single-imaging optic of the mammalian eye offers some distinct visual advantages. Such lenses can take in photons from a wide range of angles, increasing light sensitivity. They also have high spatial resolution, resolving incoming images in minute detail. 2013 July-August, Fenella Saunders, “Tiny Lenses See the Big Picture”, in American Scientist
7. To cause to perceive or understand; to acquaint; to inform; to convince; to assure; to make certain.
   In health, good air, pleasure, riches, I am resolved it cannot be equalled by any region. 1596, Walter Raleigh, The discovery of the large, rich, and beautiful Empire of Guiana, with a relation of the great and golden city of Manoa
8. (music) To cause a chord to go from dissonance to consonance.
9. (optics) To render visible or distinguishable the parts of something.
10. (computing) To find the IP address of a hostname, or the entity referred to by a symbol in source code; to look up.
11. (rare, transitive) To melt; to dissolve; to liquefy or soften (a solid).
12. (rare, intransitive, reflexive) To melt; to dissolve; to become liquid.
13. (obsolete, transitive) To liquefy (a gas or vapour).
14. (medicine, dated) To disperse or scatter; to discuss, as an inflammation or a tumour.
15. (obsolete) To relax; to lay at ease.
16. (chemistry) To separate racemic compounds into their enantiomers.
17. (mathematics, archaic, transitive) To solve (an equation, etc.).

noun

1. (uncountable) Determination; will power.
   Stripped of all bravado, Cersei breaks, and shows the very scared, vulnerable woman who has kept her emotions at bay. “I don’t want to die,” she whimpers, “Not like this.” It’s all the more moving for coming from a character who built her identity on steely resolve and contempt for such hoary conceits as fear. 12 May 2019, Alex McLevy, “Westeros faces a disastrous final battle on the penultimate Game of Thrones (newbies)”, in The A.V. Club
   It took all my resolve to go through with the surgery.
   Alan Pardew's current squad has been put together with a relatively low budget but the resolve and unity within the team is priceless. October 1, 2011, Saj Chowdhury, “Wolverhampton 1 - 2 Newcastle”, in BBC Sport
2. (countable) A determination to do something; a fixed decision.
   His resolve to die is weakening as he grows accustomed to Sophie's absence, and all his attempts to master irresolution only augment it. 1995, William Arctander O'Brien, Novalis, Signs of Revolution, page 56
3. (countable) An act of resolving something; resolution.
   Some operations require data that, in turn, requires that lightweight components be resolved. In these cases, this option determines whether the user is prompted to approve the resolve or whether components are just resolved automatically. 2008, Matt Lombard, SolidWorks 2007 Bible, page 956

Etymology 2

verb

1. Alternative spelling of re-solve