Vehicle Ve"hi·cle noun [ Latin vehiculum , from vehere to carry; akin to English way , wain . See Way , noun , and confer Convex , Inveigh , Veil , Vex .]

1. That in or on which any person or thing is, or may be, carried, as a coach, carriage, wagon, cart, car, sleigh, bicycle, etc.; a means of conveyance; specifically, a means of conveyance upon land.

2. That which is used as the instrument of conveyance or communication; as, matter is the vehicle of energy.

A simple style forms the best vehicle of thought to a popular assembly.

Wirt.

3. (Pharm.) A substance in which medicine is taken.

4. (Paint.) Any liquid with which a pigment is applied, including whatever gum, wax, or glutinous or adhesive substance is combined with it.

» Water is used in fresco and in water-color painting, the colors being consolidated with gum arabic; size is used in distemper painting. In oil painting, the fixed oils of linseed, nut, and poppy, are used; in encaustic, wax is the vehicle. Fairholt.

Vehicle Ve"hi·cle noun (Chemistry) A liquid used to spread sensitive salts upon glass and paper for use in photography.

Vehicled Ve"hi·cled adjective Conveyed in a vehicle; furnished with a vehicle. M. Green.

Vehicular Ve·hic"u·lar adjective [ Latin vehicularis : confer French véhiculaire .] Of or pertaining to a vehicle; serving as a vehicle; as, a vehicular contrivance.

Vehiculary Ve·hic"u·la·ry adjective Vehicular.

Vehiculate Ve·hic"u·late transitive verb & i. To convey by means of a vehicle; to ride in a vehicle. Carlyle.

Vehiculation Ve·hic`u·la"tion noun Movement of vehicles.

Vehiculatory Ve·hic"u·la·to·ry adjective Vehicular. Carlyle.

Vehm Vehm Vehme noun ; plural Vehme . [ See Vehmgericht .] A vehmic court.

Vehmgericht Vehm"ge·richt noun ; plural Vehmgerichte . [ German vefm , fehm criminal tribunal + gerichte court, judgment. Confer Vehmic .] A vehmic court.

Vehmic Veh"mic (vē"mĭk or vā-; 277) adjective [ German vehm , fehm , fehme , a secret tribunal of punishment, Middle High German veime , veme : confer French vehmique .] Of, pertaining to, or designating, certain secret tribunals which flourished in Germany from the end of the 12th century to the middle of the 16th, usurping many of the functions of the government which were too weak to maintain law and order, and inspiring dread in all who came within their jurisdiction. Encyc. Brit.

Veil Veil (vāl) noun [ Middle English veile , Old French veile , French voile , Latin velum a sail, covering, curtain, veil, probably from vehere to bear, carry, and thus originally, that which bears the ship on. See Vehicle , and confer Reveal .] [ Written also vail .]

1. Something hung up, or spread out, to intercept the view, and hide an object; a cover; a curtain; esp., a screen, usually of gauze, crape, or similar diaphnous material, to hide or protect the face.

The veil of the temple was rent in twain.

Matt. xxvii. 51.

She, as a veil down to the slender waist,
Her unadornéd golden tresses wore.

Milton.

2. A cover; disguise; a mask; a pretense.

[ I will] pluck the borrowed veil of modesty from the so seeming Mistress Page.

Shak.

3. (Botany) (a) The calyptra of mosses. (b) A membrane connecting the margin of the pileus of a mushroom with the stalk; -- called also velum .

4. (Eccl.) A covering for a person or thing; as, a nun's veil ; a paten veil ; an altar veil .

5. (Zoology) Same as Velum , 3.

To take the veil (Eccl.) , to receive or be covered with, a veil, as a nun, in token of retirement from the world; to become a nun.

Veil Veil transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Veiled ; present participle & verbal noun Veiling .] [ Confer Old French veler , French voiler , Latin velarc . See Veil , noun ] [ Written also vail .]

1. To throw a veil over; to cover with a veil.

Her face was veiled ; yet to my fancied sight,
Love, sweetness, goodness, in her person shined.

Milton.

2. Fig.: To invest; to cover; to hide; to conceal.

To keep your great pretenses veiled .

Shak.

Veiled Veiled adjective Covered by, or as by, a veil; hidden. "Words used to convey a veiled meaning." Earle.

Veiled plate Veiled plate (Photog.) A fogged plate.

Veiling Veil"ing noun A veil; a thin covering; also, material for making veils.

Veilless Veil"less adjective Having no veil. Tennyson.

Vein Vein noun [ Middle English veine , French veine , Latin vena .]

1. (Anat.) One of the vessels which carry blood, either venous or arterial, to the heart. See Artery , 2.

2. (Botany) One of the similar branches of the framework of a leaf.

3. (Zoology) One of the ribs or nervures of the wings of insects. See Venation .

4. (Geol. or Mining) A narrow mass of rock intersecting other rocks, and filling inclined or vertical fissures not corresponding with the stratification; a lode; a dike; -- often limited, in the language of miners, to a mineral vein or lode, that is, to a vein which contains useful minerals or ores.

5. A fissure, cleft, or cavity, as in the earth or other substance. "Down to the veins of earth." Milton.

Let the glass of the prisms be free from veins .

Sir I. Newton.

6. A streak or wave of different color, appearing in wood, and in marble and other stones; variegation.

7. A train of association, thoughts, emotions, or the like; a current; a course.

He can open a vein of true and noble thinking.

Swift.

8. Peculiar temper or temperament; tendency or turn of mind; a particular disposition or cast of genius; humor; strain; quality; also, manner of speech or action; as, a rich vein of humor; a satirical vein . Shak.

Certain discoursing wits which are of the same veins .

Bacon.

Invoke the Muses, and improve my vein .

Waller.

Vein Vein transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Veined ; present participle & verbal noun Veining .] To form or mark with veins; to fill or cover with veins. Tennyson.

Vein quartz Vein quartz Quartz occurring as gangue in a vein.

Veinal Vein"al adjective Pertaining to veins; venous. [ R.]

Veined Veined adjective 1. Full of veins; streaked; variegated; as, veined marble. " Veined follies." Ford.

2. (Botany) Having fibrovascular threads extending throughout the lamina; as, a veined leaf.

Veinless Vein"less adjective Having no veins; as, a veinless leaf.

Veinlet Vein"let noun A small vein.

Veinous Vein"ous adjective Marked with veins; veined; veiny.

The excellent old gentleman's nails are long and leaden, and his hands lean and veinous .

Dickens.

Veinstone Vein"stone` noun The nonmetalliferous mineral or rock material which accompanies the ores in a vein, as quartz, calcite, barite, fluor spar, etc.; -- called also veinstuff .

Veinstone Vein"stone` noun (Mining) Valueless material surrounding the ore in a lode; gangue; matrix.

Veiny Vein"y adjective [ From Vein : confer French veiné .] Full of veins; veinous; veined; as, veiny marble.

Velar Ve"lar adjective [ See Velum .]

1. Of or pertaining to a velum; esp. (Anat.) of or pertaining to the soft palate.

2. (Phon.) Having the place of articulation on the soft palate; guttural; as, the velar consonants, such as k and hard q .

Velarium Ve·la"ri·um noun ; plural Velaria . [ Latin , a covering.] (Zoology) The marginal membrane of certain medusæ belonging to the Discophora.

Velate Ve"late adjective [ Latin velatus , past participle of velare to veil. See Veil .] (Botany) Having a veil; veiled.

Veldt Veldt noun [ Dutch veld . Confer Field , noun ] A region or tract of land; esp., the open field; grass country. [ South Africa]

Veldt sore Veldt sore (Medicine) An infective sore mostly on the hands and feet, often contracted in walking on the veldt and apparently due to a specific microörganism.

Vele Vele noun A veil. [ Obsolete] Spenser.

Velella Ve·lel"la noun [ New Latin , dim. from Latin velum a veil, a sail.] (Zoology) Any species of oceanic Siphonophora belonging to the genus Velella .

» These creatures are brilliantly colored and float at the surface of the sea. They have an oblong, disklike body, supported by a thin chitinous plate, from which rises a thin diagonal crest which acts as a sail. The feeding and reproductive zooids hang down from the under side of the disk.

Veliferous Ve·lif"er·ous adjective [ Latin velifer ; velum a sail + ferre to bear.] Carrying or bearing sails. [ Obsolete] " Veliferous chariots." Evelyn.

Veliger Vel"i·ger noun [ New Latin , from Latin velum a veil + gerere bear.] (Zoology) Any larval gastropod or bivalve mollusk in the state when it is furnished with one or two ciliated membranes for swimming.

Velitation Vel`i·ta"tion noun [ Latin velitatio , from velitari , velitatus , to skirmish, from veles , - itis , a light-armed soldier.] A dispute or contest; a slight contest; a skirmish. [ R.] Sir M. Hale.

After a short velitation we parted.

Evelyn.

Velivolant Ve·liv"o·lant adjective [ Latin velivolans ; velum a sail + volare to fly.] Flying with sails; passing under full sail. [ R.]

Vell Vell noun [ Confer Latin vellus the skin of a sheep with the wool on it, a fleece, a hide or pelt, or English fell a hide.] The salted stomach of a calf, used in making cheese; a rennet bag. [ Prov. Eng.]

Vell Vell intransitive verb [ Confer Vell , noun ] To cut the turf from, as for burning. [ Prov. Eng.] Halliwell.

Velleity Vel·le"i·ty noun [ French velléité (cf. Italian velleità ), from Latin velle to will, to be willing.] The lowest degree of desire; imperfect or incomplete volition. Locke.

Vellet Vel"let noun Velvet. [ Obsolete] Spenser.

Vellicate Vel"li·cate transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Vellicated ; present participle & verbal noun Vellicating .] [ Latin vellicatus , past participle of vellicare to twitch, from vellere to pluck, pull.] To twitch; to cause to twitch convulsively.

Convulsions, arising from something vellicating a nerve in its extremity, are not very dangerous.

Arbuthnot.

Vellicate Vel"li·cate intransitive verb To move spasmodically; to twitch; as, a nerve vellicates .

Vellication Vel`li·ca"tion [ Latin vellicatio .] 1. The act of twitching, or of causing to twitch.

2. (Medicine) A local twitching, or convulsive motion, of a muscular fiber, especially of the face.

Vellicative Vel"li·ca·tive adjective Having the power of vellicating, plucking, or twitching; causing vellication.

Vellon Vel·lon" noun [ Spanish ] A word occurring in the phrase real vellon . See the Note under Its Real .

Vellum Vel"lum noun [ Middle English velim , French vélin , from Latin vitulinus of a calf, from vitulus a calf. See Veal .] A fine kind of parchment, usually made from calfskin, and rendered clear and white, -- used as for writing upon, and for binding books.

Vellum cloth , a fine kind of cotton fabric, made very transparent, and used as a tracing cloth.

Vellumy Vel"lum·y adjective Resembling vellum.

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