village
Or THE VILLAGE, i.e., London. Birmingham is called "the hardware VILLAGE." Also a Cambridge term for a disreputable suburb of that town, viz., Barnwell, generally styled "the VILLAGE."
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ville
Or VILE, a town or village—pronounced PHIAL, or VIAL.—French.
vim and vigor
With energy and enthusiasm
Vin de Goutte
The last pressing of grapes, yielding an inferior wine. Vin de Faille, A sweet wine from the Jura, made from grapes dried on straw before pressing.
Vin Gris
A cheap wine made in eastern France by mixing red and white grapes,
vin ordinaire
A cheap wine served in restaurants when no style or mark is asked for.
vincent's law
The art of cheating at cards, composed of the following associates: bankers, those who play booty; the gripe, he that betteth; and the person cheated, who is styled the vincent; the gains acquired, termage.
vinegar
A name given to the person who with a whip in his hand, and a hat held before his eye, keeps the ring clear, at boxing-matches and cudgel-playing; also, in cant terms, a cloak.
Vineyard Controversy
A paper war provoked by Datncs Barrmgton (1727-1800), a well- known lawyer, naturalist, and antiquary, who entered ^the lists to overthrow all chroniclers and antiquaries from William of Malmesbury to Samuel Pegge, respecting the vineyards of
vinnied
Mildewed, or sour.—Devonshire.
vino
Wine.
vio
A ripoff.
Viper and File
The biter bit -dSsop says a viper found a file, and tried to bite it, under the supposition that it was good food; but the file said that its province was to bite others, and not to be bitten.
Virgil's first Eclogue
In the Shepheardes Calendar (Feb., June, and Dec.) Spenser calls Chaucer by this name.
Virgin Birth
In theology the doctrine — in the R.C. Church the dogma — that the miraculous birth of Christ did not impair the virginity of His mother, our Lady, and that she remained a virgin to the day of her death.
Virgin Mary
In the Roman Catholic Church the phrase is applied to an invocation to the Virgin beginning with those words; and also to the smaller beads of a rosary, the larger ones being termed pater- nosters.
Virgin Queen
His colony was probably planted on Roanoke Island and was in what is now North Carolina, but for many years the whole seaboard from Florida to Newfoundland was known as Virginia.
virginia
vagina
Virginia and N
Carolina to the habit, there once prevalent, of chewing snuff.
virginia fence
An irregular fence made of roughly laid logs. Benjamin Franklin describes a drunkard's uncertain progression as resem- bling a Virginia fence.
virtue is its own reward
Doing good is rewarding in itself
virtue which parleys is near a surrender
To compromise on one's principles is to risk abandoning them
virtuous circle
A situation where a positive event leads to more positive events
vis inertia
(Lat., the power of inactivity). It is a common mistake to imagine that inertia means absence of motion; inertia is that property of matter which makes it resist any change. Thus it is hard to set in motion what is still, or to stop what is in motion. Figuratively, it applies to that un- willingness of change which makes men "rather bear the ills they have than fly to others they know not of.
vision out
To create in the mind's eye; to imagine; to see as in a vision.
Visual Aids
Instructive diagrams, pictures, pictorial maps, etc.
vitamin I
Ibuprofen.
vitamin O
Oxygen.
viv
vivarium
vixen
A termagant; also a she fox, who, when she has cubs, is remarkably fierce.
voice in the wilderness
A person who expresses an unpopular opinion
voker
To talk; "can you VOKER Romany?" can you speak the canting language?—Latin, VOCARE; Spanish, VOCEAR.
Volstead Act
A. J. Volstead (1860-1946) was one of the active Congressmen who secured the passing of the 18th Amendment to the Constitution of the U.S.A. prohibiting the sale of intoxicating liquors. On October 18th, 1919, he secured the passing of an Act of which he was the author to define the quantity of alcohol which made a particular liquor intoxicating.
Voltaic Battery
An apparatus for accumu- lating electricity. So called from the Italian physicist, Alessandro Volta (1745-1827), who first contrived it.
vomit up
To vomit.
vote down
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
vote off the island
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
vote with one's feet
Show approval or disapproval by leaving or staying
vote with one's wallet
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
Votive Offerings
See ANATHEMA. Voyageur (vwayazherO- A French Canadian or half-breed hired as a guide to the remoter stations of a fur or trading company on account of his skill as a boatman, tracker, and woods- man.
vouch for
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
vowel
"To VOWEL a debt" is to acknowledge with an I O U.
voël
A penis.
VR legs
Temporary disorientation after using virtual reality technology
vth dynasty
There are royal tombs on the island and the famous Nilometer, dating from Ptolemaic days.
vulpecide
One who shoots or traps foxes, or destroys them in any way other than that of hunting. A foxhunter regards a VULPECIDE as rather worse than an ordinary murderer.
’varsity
Either UNIVERSITY—more rarely University College, Oxford.