a.; also 7 adhæsive. [a. Fr. adhésif, -ive, as if ad. L. *adhæsīvus. See ADHESION and -IVE.]
1. Having the property of adhering; sticky.
1775. Gooch, in Phil. Trans., LXV. 374. I apply a circular plaster, moderately adhesive.
1791. E. Darwin, Bot. Gard., II. 36. The paste, made by boiling wheat-flour in water, ceases to be adhesive after having been frozen.
1858. H. Miller, Cruise of Betsey, ii. 258. The Blackpots clay is … so adhesive, that I now felt … as if I had got into a bed of birdlime.
2. Furnished with an appliance for adhesion. Adhesive envelope, one having a gummed flap.
1854. Mayhew, Lond. Lab., I. 287. The envelopes are sold at from 6d. to 15d. the dozen: the higher-priced being adhesive.
3. fig. Apt or tending to adhere, cling to, or persevere in.
1670. G. H., trans. Hist. Cardinals, III. ii. 262. To render the election of the Pope more tedious, and pernicious, that is, more adhæsive to the World.
1730–46. Thomson, Autumn, 441.
| If slow, yet sure, adhesive to the Track | |
| Hot-streaming, up behind him come again | |
| Th’ inhuman Rout. |
a. 1845. Hood, Craniol., iv. (1871), 333. What severs man and wife? a simple Defect of the Adhesive pimple.
