Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A suspension of small globules of one liquid in a second liquid with which the first will not mix.
  • noun A photosensitive coating, usually of silver halide grains in a thin gelatin layer, on photographic film, paper, or glass.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Unwashed, a collodion containing finely divided silver bromide held in suspension.
  • noun A draining out.
  • noun A mixture of liquids insoluble in one another, where one is suspended in the other in the form of minute globules, as the fat (butter) in milk: as, an emulsion of cod-liver oil.
  • noun A mixture in which solid particles are suspended in a liquid in which they are insoluble: as, a camphor emulsion.
  • noun In photography, a name given to various emulsified mixtures used in making dry plates, etc. See photography.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun Any liquid preparation of a color and consistency resembling milk; as: (a) In pharmacy, an extract of seeds, or a mixture of oil and water united by a mucilaginous substance. (b) In photography, a liquid preparation of collodion holding salt of silver, used in the photographic process.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun a stable suspension of small droplets of one liquid in another with which it is immiscible
  • noun chemistry a colloid in which both phases are liquid
  • noun the coating of photosensitive silver halide grains in a thin gelatine layer on a photographic film

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a light-sensitive coating on paper or film; consists of fine grains of silver bromide suspended in a gelatin
  • noun (chemistry) a colloid in which both phases are liquids

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[New Latin ēmulsiō, ēmulsiōn-, from Latin ēmulsus, past participle of ēmulgēre, to milk out : ē-, ex-, ex- + mulgēre, to milk; see melg- in Indo-European roots.]

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