Adhesive, a.
Etymology: [Cf. F. adhésif.]
1. Sticky; tenacious, as glutinous substances.
2. Apt or tending to adhere; clinging. Thomson. Adhesive attraction. (Physics) See Attraction. -- Adhesive inflammation (Surg.), that kind of inflammation which terminates in the reunion of divided parts without suppuration. -- Adhesive plaster, a sticking; a plaster containing resin, wax, litharge, and olive oil.
Shades of meaning
Adhesive is the scientific, sticking or sticky the popular word. That which is adhesive tends to join itself to the surface of any other body with which it is placed in contact; cohesive expresses the tendency of particles of the same substance to hold together. Polished plate glass is not adhesive, but such plates packed together are intensely cohesive. An adhesive plaster is in popular language a sticking-plaster. Sticky expresses a more limited, and generally annoying, degree of the same quality. Glutinous, gummy, viscid, and viscous are applied to fluid or semi-fluid substances, as pitch or tar.
Prepositions
The stiff, wet clay, adhesive to the foot, impeded progress.