desleír

Means to dissolve a solid or thick substance into a liquid until it disperses, or to thin something out by adding liquid — desleír el azúcar en agua, desleír la pintura con un poco de aguarrás. A bit more literary/technical than the everyday disolver, and common in cooking and craft instructions.

• Deslíe la harina en un poco de leche fría antes de añadirla al caldo. — Dissolve the flour in a little cold milk before adding it to the broth.
• Deslíe la pintura con agua si está muy espesa. — Thin the paint with a little water if it's too thick.
• El médico le dijo que desliera el medicamento en polvo en un vaso de agua. — The doctor told him to dissolve the powdered medicine in a glass of water.

Conjugating desleír as a regular -eír verb — it follows reír's irregular pattern (deslío, deslíes, deslíe...), so learners who regularize it often produce mistaken forms like *desleo instead of deslío.

Often confused with disolver.