liquid

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   clear and bright

   the liquid air of a spring morning

2. 2
   adj

   in cash or easily convertible to cash

   liquid (or fluid) assets

3. 3
   noun

   A substance that is flowing, and keeping no shape, such as water; a substance of which the molecules, while not tending to separate from one another like those of a gas, readily change their relative position, and which therefore retains no definite shape, except that determined by the containing receptacle; an inelastic fluid.

   A liquid can freeze to become a solid or evaporate into a gas.

4. 4
   noun

   Any of a class of consonant sounds that includes l and r.

   Many female forenames are regarded as euphonyms. What is and is not euphonious is necessarily subjective, but it could be suggested that names containing labials (b, m), sibilants (s, sh) and liquids (l, r) are more likely to be euphonyms than those that do not.

5. 5
   adj

   Flowing freely like water; fluid; not solid and not gaseous; composed of particles that move freely among each other on the slightest pressure.

   liquid nitrogen

6. 6
   adj

   Flowing or sounding smoothly or without abrupt transitions or harsh tones.

   a liquid melody

7. 7
   adj

   Belonging to a class of consonants comprising the laterals and the rhotics, which in many languages behave similarly.

   /l/ and /r/ are liquid consonants.

8. 8
   adj

   Fluid and transparent.

   the liquid air

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *wleykʷ- Proto-Indo-European *wlikʷ-éh₁-ye-ti Proto-Italic *wlikʷēō Latin liqueō Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁-der. Latin -idus Latin liquidusbor. Old French liquidebor. Middle English liquide English liquid From Middle English liquide, from Old French liquide, from Latin liquidus (“fluid, liquid, moist”), from liqueō (“to be liquid, be fluid”). Doublet of liquidus. As a term for a consonant, it comes from Latin liquida (cōnsōnāns), a calque of Ancient Greek ὑγρὸν (σύμφωνον) (hugròn (súmphōnon), “liquid consonant”).