a word used in the two main senses, separation and decision, of the verb "to resolve" (Lat. resolvere, to loose, unfasten), to separate anything into its constituent elements or component parts, hence, through the subsidiary meaning of to clear up doubts or difficulties, to settle, determine. The principal applications of the term in its first sense are to the separation of a body into its component parts by chemical process, or, to the eye, by the lens of a microscope or telescope; similarly, in mathematics, to the analysis of a velocity, force, &c., into components. In the second sense, beyond the general meaning of determination, firmness of character, a "resolution" is specifically a decision of opinion formally submitted to a legislative or other assembly and adopted or rejected by votes.