viscid
Americanadjective
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having a glutinous consistency; sticky; adhesive; viscous.
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Botany. covered by a sticky substance.
adjective
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cohesive and sticky; glutinous; viscous
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(esp of a leaf) covered with a sticky substance
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of viscid
1625–35; < Late Latin viscidus, equivalent to Latin visc ( um ) mistletoe, birdlime made from mistletoe + -idus -id 4; see viscous
Explanation
The adjective viscid is used to describe something that is sticky or a thick, slow-moving liquid. If you bake bread and you get flour all over your counters, clean it up carefully because adding water can turn the flour into a viscid paste, and then you'll really have a mess! The word viscid is from the Latin word viscum, or birdlime. Birdlime is a sticky substance made from sap and is smeared on branches. Small birds land on the branches and are trapped, allowing someone to easily catch them. The word viscous comes from the same root and has a similar meaning — think of lava and how it moves slowly and thickly down a mountain.
Vocabulary lists containing viscid
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Mouth: Viscid saliva in mouth, raised by coughing; water in mouth with tearing pains in molars.
From New, Old, and Forgotten Remedies: Papers by Many Writers by Anshutz, Edward Pollock
Viscid: sticky: covered with a shiny, resinous or greasy matter.
From Explanation of Terms Used in Entomology by Smith, John. B.
Viscid with rather minute pubescence; leaves lance-oblong or rhombic-lanceolate, rarely lance-linear, short-petioled.—Sandy fields, E. Mass. to Ky., south to Fla. and Tex.
From The Manual of the Botany of the Northern United States Including the District East of the Mississippi and North of North Carolina and Tennessee by Gray, Asa
Viscid or semi-solid bodies, such as pitch, would rapidly spread out and take on a surface as plane and smooth as water under the conditions of gravity upon the earth.
From Scientific American Supplement, No. 829, November 21, 1891 by Various
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
