[f. L. consolidāt- ppl. stem of consolidāre, f. con- + solidāre to make firm or solid, f. solid-us SOLID.]
1. trans. To make solid; to form into a solid or compact mass; to solidify.
1653. H. Cogan, Diod. Sic., 2. The humor which is consolidated in the day by the power of the sun.
1700. Astry, trans. Saavedra-Faxardo, II. 236. Melted Metals … afterwards consolidated.
1759. Duhamel’s Husb., I. xiii. (1762), 64. The former … consolidate the ground.
1885. Sir N. Lindley, in Law Rep., 15 Q. B. Div. 4. The metalling of the roads is better and more quickly consolidated by steam rollers.
2. To make firm or strong; to strengthen (now chiefly power, established systems, and the like).
c. 1540. in Vicary’s Anat. (1888), App. ix. 223. The which [plaster] doith both consolidate and comforte the membre.
1639. G. Daniel, Ecclus., xxvi. 33. A vertuous woeman doth Consolidate Her husband.
1754. Richardson, Grandison (1781), II. iv. 69. My forgiveness … would consolidate his reconciliation with Sir Charles Grandison.
1759. Symmer, in Ellis, Orig. Lett., Ser. II. 477. IV. 413. The late Successes … by Sea and Land … have consolidated the power of the Minister.
1839. Thirlwall, Greece, II. 191. To aim rather at consolidating and securing his empire than at enlarging it.
1871. Morley, Voltaire (1886), 82. The English way of narrowing the mind and consolidating the social order.
3. To combine compactly into one mass, body, or connected whole (territories, estates, companies, administrations, commercial concerns, and the like; rarely, things material). spec. b. To unite two parishes, benefices, or offices; c. To unite the property and superiority, or the property and occupancy of land in the same person.
1511–2. Act 3 Hen. VIII., c. 17 § 14. To annexe, appropre, unitye, and consolidate the forseid Churche, Parsonage and Glebe-landes.
1712. Prideaux, Direct. Ch.-Wardens (ed. 4), 60. When two Churches are consolidated, the Rates … are still to be separate as before.
1786. W. Thomson, Watson’s Philip III., VI. (1839), 365. The duke of Feria … consolidated the territories of both branches of the Austrian race into one extensive and mighty empire.
1816. J. Smith, Panorama Sci. & Art, I. 11. When the iron is required to be doubled, or two or more pieces consolidated.
1818. Cruise, Digest (ed. 2), V. 201. The legal existence of a woman … during her marriage … is incorporated or consolidated into that of her husband.
1861. W. Bell, Dict. Law Scot., 222. The proprietor must … consolidate the two estates of property and superiority.
1870. Daily News, 11 Feb. The telegraphs have not only been transferred, but consolidated.
† 4. spec. To cause (the sides of a wound, the parts in a rupture or fracture) to unite or grow together, and so to heal. Obs.
1563. T. Gale, Antidot., II. 48. To make fleshe growe in woundes and to consolidate and heale them.
1607. Topsell, Four-f. Beasts (1673), 148. The Brains of a Dog in Lint and Wool laid to a mans broken bones … doth consolidate and joyn them together again.
1767. Gooch, Treat. Wounds, I. 364. Endeavouring to stop the effusion of blood, and consolidate the vessels.
a. 1788. Pott, Chirurg. Wks., II. 46. Consolidating the parts supposed to be broken or torn.
† b. absol. Obs.
1656. Ridgley, Pract. Physick, 39. We must consolidate with Syrup of Comfrey. Ibid., 72. Congelation requires Dissolvers; Ruptures, means that consolidate.
5. To unite or combine in one comprehensive statute (a number of distinct statutes, laws, or acts bearing upon the same subject).
1817. Parl. Debates, 778. A bill to amend and consolidate the different acts for regulating the residence of the clergy.
1858. L. Bucher, in Philol. Soc. Trans., 54. To consolidate means to sum up in one statute the enactments of many others.
1864. Burton, Scot. Abr., II. i. 110. Employed in editing and consolidating the Scottish Acts.
6. To unite (several items of revenue) into one fund, applicable to certain purposes collectively; to combine a number of claims on the public exchequer or similar debts into one stock.
1753. [see CONSOLIDATED b].
1785. Burke, Sp. Nabob Arcot’s Debts, Wks. IV. 250. It is probably the first debt ever assuming the title of consolidation, that did not express what the amount of the sum consolidated was.
1819. Rees, Cycl., s.v. Funds (L.). It consisted of a great variety of taxes and duties which were in that year consolidated.
1845. McCulloch, Taxation, II. v. (1852), 237. The customs duties were again consolidated in 1825 by the act 6 Geo. IV. cap. 111.
7. intr. (for refl.). a. To become solid or firm.
b. To combine or unite solidly or compactly.
† c. To grow together as the parts of a wound or fracture (obs.).
1626. Bacon, Sylva, § 785. Hurts and ulcers of the head require it not … dryness maketh them more apt to consolidate.
1654. H. L’Estrange, Chas. I. (1655), 1. Those tender limbs began to consolidate and knit together.
1690. Locke, Hum. Und., II. xxiii. (ed. 3), 166. They unite, they consolidate, these little Atoms cohere.
1706. Phillips (ed. Kersey), s.v., Surgeons … say, The Parts begin to consolidate, i. e. to joyn together in one Piece.
1768–74. Tucker, Lt. Nat. (1852), 121. These small weights have no effect at all until they consolidate, and by their number grow into a great one.
1885. Lyell’s Elem. Geol., xxix. 470. It being assumed that columnar trap has consolidated from a fluid state.
