Definitions

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

  • noun The act or process of mixing.
  • noun The condition of being mixed.
  • noun Something produced by mixing, as.
  • noun A combination of ingredients used in cooking or baking.
  • noun One that consists of diverse elements.
  • noun A fabric made of different kinds of thread or yarn.
  • noun Chemistry A composition of two or more substances that are not chemically combined with each other and are capable of being separated.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The material for the charge of an internal-combustion engine.
  • noun The act of mixing, or the state of being mixed.
  • noun That which results from mixing; a mixed mass, body, or assemblage; a compound or combination of different ingredients, parts, or principles; specifically, in pharmacy, a preparation in which insoluble substances are suspended in watery fluids by means of gum arabic, sugar, the yolk of eggs, or other viscid matter. When the suspended substance is of an oleaginous nature, the mixture is properly called an emulsion.
  • noun Admixture; something mingled or added.
  • noun In chem., a blending of several ingredients without chemical alteration of the substances, each of which still retains its own nature and properties: distinguished from combination, in which the substances unite by chemical attraction, lose their distinct properties, and form a compound differing in its properties from any of the ingredients.
  • noun In organ-building, a fluestop having two or more pipes to each digital, the pipes being so tuned as to give certain sets of the shriller harmonics of the fundamental tone of the digital; a compound stop.
  • noun A cloth of variegated or mottled coloring, usually of sober tints.
  • noun In printing, typesetting that calls for the use of three or more distinct faces or faces and bodies of type.
  • noun Same as krasis.
  • noun Synonyms Mixture, Miscellany, Medley, Farrago, Hotchpotch, Jumble; variety, diversity. Mixture is a general term denoting a compound of two or more ingredients, more often, but not necessarily, congruous. Miscellany is a collection of things not closely connected, but brought together by rational design: “A miscellany has the diversity without the incongruity of a medley.” (C. J. Smith, Syn. Disc., p. 564.) Specifically, a miscellany is a collection of independent literary pieces, the unity lying only in their general character. A medley is a mixture or collection of things distinctly incongruous: the word has the specific sense of a song or tune made up of scraps of other songs or tunes ingeniously and amusingly fitted together. Farrago emphasizes the confusion or indiscriminateness of the mixture or collection: it is applied chiefly to printed or spoken discourse. Hotchpotch is a still more energetic expression of the confusion of the collection, the idea being drawn from the boiling together of shreds of all sorts of food. Jumble implies the idea of a heap turned over and over till everything is hopelessly mixed. The figurative uses correspond essentially to the literal.

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

  • noun The act of mixing, or the state of being mixed.
  • noun That which results from mixing different ingredients together; a compound; ; -- also, a medley.
  • noun An ingredient entering into a mixed mass; an additional ingredient.
  • noun (Med.) A kind of liquid medicine made up of many ingredients; esp., as opposed to solution, a liquid preparation in which the solid ingredients are not completely dissolved.
  • noun (Physics & Chem.) A mass of two or more ingredients, the particles of which are separable, independent, and uncompounded with each other, no matter how thoroughly and finely commingled; -- contrasted with a compound and solution.
  • noun (Mus.) An organ stop, comprising from two to five ranges of pipes, used only in combination with the foundation and compound stops; -- called also furniture stop. It consists of high harmonics, or overtones, of the ground tone.

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

  • noun The act of mixing.
  • noun Something produced by mixing.
  • noun Something that consists of diverse elements
  • noun A medicinal compound

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

  • noun an event that combines things in a mixture
  • noun any foodstuff made by combining different ingredients
  • noun (chemistry) a substance consisting of two or more substances mixed together (not in fixed proportions and not with chemical bonding)
  • noun a collection containing a variety of sorts of things
  • noun the act of mixing together

Etymologies

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

[Middle English, from Old French, from Latin mixtūra, from mixtus, past participle of miscēre, to mix; see meik- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English, from Old French, from Latin mixtūra ("a mixing"), from mixtus, perfect passive participle of misceō ("mix"); compare mix.

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Examples

  • a mixture will slowly but surely lose _the_ colour for which it was compounded, and be _as a mixture_ semi-stable or fugitive.

    Field's Chromatography or Treatise on Colours and Pigments as Used by Artists George Field

  • Next add drops of red, yellow, or orange food coloring into the peroxide until the mixture is a bright consistent color.

    make tracking easier 2009

  • When the mixture is almost frozen, pour the baked and raw cookie pieces into the ice cream maker and just blend into the mixture.

    Archive 2009-08-01 Sarah 2009

  • When the mixture is almost frozen, pour the baked and raw cookie pieces into the ice cream maker and just blend into the mixture.

    ...Now, What Was I Doing? Sarah 2009

  • Keep stirring until the mixture is a rich brown and thick enough to coat the back of the spoon, which will happen in about 15 minutes.

    Archive 2008-03-01 Homesick Texan 2008

  • When the mixture is almost completely frozen, lift it up using the plastic liner of your bowl and shape the wrapped mixture into a ball.

    Ice Ice Baby! 2008

  • Stir in tomato and ketchup and saute until the mixture is almost dry.

    Archive 2008-02-01 Nupur 2008

  • Keep stirring until the mixture is a rich brown and thick enough to coat the back of the spoon, which will happen in about 15 minutes.

    A Mexican sweet treat | Homesick Texan Homesick Texan 2008

  • Writer/director Frank Miller seems to be on a mission to cram as many of these genres as possible into his offbeat movie adaptation, even if the mixture is about as natural as a flying reindeer.

    Miller under the influence of “The Spirit” » Scene-Stealers 2008

  • Cook uncovered on low-medium heat, stirring frequently, until the mixture is almost dry.

    Archive 2008-05-01 Nupur 2008

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