vanity 
In Holy-Oke's edition of Rider's Latin Dictionary, ed. 
1633, the word phaeton is not given. May we conclude 
from this that the phaeton was a vanity started in Puritan 
times ? N. and Q., 6th ser., X. 476. 
(d) In the Bible, a heathen deity, as having no proper ex- 
istence. 
Are there any among the vanities of the Gentiles that 
can cause rain? Jer. xiv. 22. 
3f. One of the personified vices in the old mo- 
ralities and puppet-shows. 
You . . . take vanity the puppet's part. 
Shak., Lear, ii. 2. 39. 
Vanity Fair, the world as a scene of vanity or of osten- 
tatious folly ; hence, the world of fashion : so called from 
the fair described in Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress" as 
established by Beelzebub, Apollyon, and Legion for the 
sale of all sorts of vanities. The name was adopted by 
Thackeray as the title of a satirical novel. = Syn. 1. (&) 
Pride, Egotism, Vanity, etc. See egotism. 
vanmuret, Same as vant-mure. 
vanner (van'er), . [< al + -er 1 .] In min- 
ing, a machine for dressing ore ; an ore-separa- 
tor; avanning-machine. The name is given to vari- 
ous contrivances patented and attempted to be brought 
into use for dressing ore, in which the peculiar motions 
of the shovel in the miner's hands in the operation of 
"making a van" are, or are supposed to be, more or less 
successfully imitated. " Berdan's machine " is one of these 
contrivances, and has been used to some extent in Cali- 
fornia and elsewhere. The most satisfactory machine of 
this kind is the so-called "Frue vanner," which is now 
widely known and somewhat extensively used. In this 
machine various well-tried methods are combined with a 
satisfactory result; but it cannot be said to be as close 
an imitation of the "vanning motion" as Berdan's is. 
It is, in facti a combination of the principle of giving 
side-blows, adopted in Rittinger's " side-blow percussion- 
table," with that of feeding the ore on an endless travel- 
ing belt, slightly inclined in position, on which the ore is 
subjected to the action of a stream of water. " It has the 
defect of being able to treat a binary ore only, or at least 
to furnish only two products." (Cation.) 
vanner-hawk (van'er-hak), n. The hover- 
hawk, windhover, or kestrel, Tinnunculus alau- 
darius. Also called windfanner. 
vannet (van'et), n. [< OF. (and F.) vannet, a 
scallop-shell, dim. of van, a fan: see pan 1 .] In 
her. , a bearing representing a scallop without 
the little pointed plates which form the hinge. 
vanning-machine (van'ing-ma-shen"), n. An 
apparatus for concentrating or cleaning ore, 
in which the motion of the shovel in vanning 
is attempted to be imitated ; a vanner. 
vanquish (vang'kwish), v. t. [< ME. venquishen, 
venkisen, vencusen, < OF. veinquis-, stem of cer- 
tain parts of venquir, veinquir (> ME. venken, 
fenken), also veincre, vaincre, F. vaincre = Pr. 
veneer, tenser = Sp. Pg. veneer = It. vincere, < L. 
vincere, conquer, vanquish. From the same L. 
verb are ult. E. victor, victory, coni'ict, convince, 
evict, evince, vincible, invincible, eta.] 1. To con- 
quer ; overcome ; especially, to subdue in bat- 
tle, as an enemy. 
For thus sayth Tullius, that ther is a maner garneson 
that no man may vanquish ne discomflte, and that is a 
Lord to be beloved of his citizeins, and of his peple. 
Chaucer, Tale of Melibeus. 
Then [while he hung on the cross] was he vanquishing 
death by his death, and opening for us a gate to life and 
immortality. Bp. A-tterbury, Sermons, II. xviii. 
2. To defeat in any contest, as in argument; 
get the better of. 
He [Garrick] struggled with Quin for mastery van- 
quished him, became his friend, and hung up over his 
grave a glowing testimony to his talent and his virtues. 
Doran, Annals of the Stage, I. 403. 
3. To confute; show to be erroneous or un- 
founded; overturn. 
This bold assertion has beeu fully vanquished in a late 
reply to the bishop of Meaugft treatise. Bp. Atterbury. 
4. To overpower ; prostrate ; be too much for. 
Sorrow and grief have vanquished all my powers. 
Shak., 2 Hen. VI., ii. 1. 183. 
Love of himself ne'er vanguish'd me, 
But through your Eyes the Conquest made. 
Congreve, Song to Amynta. 
5f. To overpower the peculiar virtue or prop- 
erties of ; destroy or render inert ; neutralize. 
If the dry of flre be vanquished by the moist of water, 
air will result ; if the hot of air be vanquished by the cold 
of earth, water will result ; and if the moist of water be 
vanquished by the dry of fire, earth will result. 
H. E. Roseoe. 
= Syn. Overcome, Subdue, etc. (see conquer), surmount, 
overthrow ; rout, crush. 
vanquish (vang'kwish), n. [Appar. < vanquish, 
v.] A disease of sheep in which they pine away. 
Also vinquish. [Prov. Eng.] 
vanquishable (vang'kwish-a-bl), a. [< o- 
quish + -able.] Capable of being vanquished; 
conquerable ; subduable. 
That great giant was only vanquishable by th Knights 
of the Wells. 
Gayton, Notes on Don Quixote, p. 87. (Latham.) 
6696 
vanquisher (vang'kwish-er), n. [< vanquish + 
-cj' 1 .] A conqueror; a victor. 
He would pawn his fortunes 
To hopeless restitution, so he might 
Be call'd your vanquisher. Shak., Cor., iii. 1. 17. 
vanquishment (vang'kwish-ment), . [< van- 
qnisli + -went.] The act of vanquishing, or the 
state of being vanquished. Up. Sail, Balm of 
Gilead. 
vansire (van'sir), . [Also vondsira; = F. van- 
sire; from a native name.] A large, stout ich- 
neumon of southern and western Africa, Her- 
pestes ijalcra, the marsh ichneumon. 
Van Swieten's solution. See solution. 
vantt, P. An old spelling of vaunt 1 . 
vant-. A shortened form of avunt-. 
vantage (van'taj), n. [Early mod. E. also vaun- 
tage ; < ME. vantage, vauntage; by apheresis 
from wantage, advantage : see advantage.] If. 
Advantage; gain; profit. 
By-syde hys vantage that may be-falle, 
Of skynnes and other thynges with-alle. 
Babees Book (E. E. T. S.), p. 320. 
Paulus, . . . with more prosperous iorneys then great 
vantage, had from his youth trauayled a greate parte of the 
world. It. Eden, tr. of Paolo Giovio (First Books on Amer- 
[ica, ed. Arber, p. 309). 
2. Advantage ; the state in which one has bet- 
ter means of action or defense than another; 
vantage-ground. 
Petrius . . . cowde well fle and returne at a vauntage, 
and well fight with his enmyes. 
Merlin (E. E. T. 8.), iii. 634. 
A base spirit has this vantage of a brave one : it keeps 
always at a stay ; nothing brings it down, not beating. 
Beau, and Ft., King and No King, iii. 2. 
I pawned my limbs to bullets, those merciless brokers, 
that will take the vantage of a minute. 
Middleton, Father Hubbard's Tales. 
3f. Opportunity; convenience. 
Be assured, madam, [you will hear from him] . . . 
With his next vantage. Shak., Cymbeline, i. 3. 24. 
4f. Surplus ; excess ; addition. 
Yes, a dozen, and as many to the vanlaye as would store 
the world. Shak., Othello, iv. 3. 86. 
5. In lawn-tennis, same as advantage, 6 Coign 
of vantage. See coign. 
vantaget (van'taj), v. t. [< vantage, n. Cf. ad- 
vantage, i'.] To profit; aid. 
Needlesse f eare did never vantage none. 
Spenser, F. Q., I. iv. 49. 
vantage-ground (van'taj -ground), n. Supe- 
riority of position or place ; the place or con- 
dition which gives one an advantage over ano- 
ther; favorable position. 
No pleasure is comparable to the standing upon the van- 
tage ground of truth (a hill not to be commanded, and 
where the air is always clear and serene), and to see the 
errors, and wanderings, and mists, and tempests in the 
vale below. Bacon, Truth (ed. 1887). 
vantage-loaf (van'taj-lof), n. The thirteenth 
loaf in a baker's dozen. Brewer. 
vantage-point (van'taj-point), n. A favorable 
position ; vantage-ground. 
An additional vantage-point for coercing the country. 
Motley, Hist. Netherlands, II. 266. 
vantage-post (van'taj -post), n. A vantage- 
point. 
Father Salvierderra had already entered the chapel 
before . . . Allessandro stirred from his vantage-post of 
observation. Mrs. H. Jackson, Ramona, v. 
vantbracet, vantbrast, . See vambraee. 
vant-couriert (vant'ko"ri-er), n. Same as van- 
courier. 
vant-guardt, n. and v. See vanguard. 
Van Thol tulip. See tulip*. 
vantmuret ( vant'mur ), n . [Also vauntmitre, van- 
mure, vamure, vaimure; by apheresis from F. 
avant-mur, < avant, front, before, + mur, wall: 
see mure 1 .'] In medieval fort., the walk or gang- 
way on the top of a wall behind the parapet. 
[Bare.] 
So many ladders to the earth they threw, 
That well they seem'd a mount thereof to make, 
Or else some vamure fit to save the town, 
Instead of that the Christians late beat down. 
Fairfax, tr. of Tasso's Godfrey of Boulogne, xl. 64. 
Oiambelat Bey tooke charge, who with great ruine rent 
in sunder a most great and thicke wall, and so opened 
the same that he threw downe more then halfe thereof, 
breaking also one part of the vaimure, made before to vp- 
holde the assault. Hakluyt's Voyages, II. 124. 
vantourt, n. A Middle English form ofvattnter. 
vanward 1 (van'ward), n. [< ME. vanwarde, 
vantwarde, short for *avantward, as vanguard 
for avant-guard.] The advance-guard of an 
army when on the march. Compare rearward^. 
Elde the hore was in the vaunt-warde, 
And bar the baner by-fore Deth by right he hitclaymede. 
Piers Plowman (C), xxiii. 95. 
vapor 
And her vantwarde was to-broke. 
Bob. of Gloucester, p. 362. 
The [they] herded hym att an onsett place, and hatlie 
dystrussyd hym, ami hathe slayne the moste parte oft hys 
vanwarde. J'aston Letters, III. 162. 
vanward 2 (van'ward), a. [< van'* + -ward.] 
Of, pertaining to, or situated in the van or 
frout. [Rare.] 
April . . . sometimes cares little for racing across both 
frontiers of May the rearward frontier, and the vanward 
frontier. De Quincey, Autobiog., p. 53. 
van-winged (van'wingd), a. Having wings 
that fan the air like vanes : specifically noting 
the hobby, Falco subbuteo, called van-winged 
hawk. [Local, Eng.] 
vapt (vap), n. [< L. vappa, wine that has lost 
its flavor, < vap- in vapidus, that has lost its 
flavor, vapid: see vapid.] Wine which has 
become vapid or dead; vapid, flat, or insipid 
liquor. 
Wine . . . when it did come was almost vinegar or 
vappe. Jer. Taylor, Rule of Conscience, iii. 11. 
vapid (vap'id), a. [< L. vapidus, that has ex- 
haled its vapor, hence, flat, insipid ; akin to va- 
por, steam, vapor: see vapor.] 1. That has 
lost its life and spirit; insipid; dead; flat. 
A vapid and viscous constitution of blood. Arbuthnot. 
This fermenting sourness will presently turn vapid, and 
people will cast it out. 
Landor, Imag. Conv., Oliver Cromwell and Walter Noble. 
2. Dull; spiritless; destitute of animation; 
insipid. 
A cheap, bloodless reformation, a guiltless liberty, ap- 
pear flat and vapid to their taste. Burke, Rev. in France. 
I sing of News, and all those vapid sheets 
The rattling hawker vends through gaping streets. 
Crabbe, Works, I. 171. 
vapidity (va-pid'i-ti), n. [< 'vapid + -ity.] The 
quality or state of being vapid, dull, or insipid ; 
vapidness. 
The violent ferment which had been stirred in the nation 
by the affairs of Wilkes and the Middlesex election was 
followed, as Burke said, by as remarkable a deadness and 
vapidity. J. Morley, Burke (1879), p. 60. 
She talked more and more, with a rambling, earnest 
vapidity, about her circumstances. 
H. James, Jr., A Passionate Pilgrim, p. 56. 
vapidly (vap'id-li), adv. In a vapid manner; 
without animation ; insipidly. 
vapidness (vap'id-nes), n. 1. The state of be- 
ing vapid; deadness; flatness; insipidity: as, 
the vapidness of ale or cider that has become 
stale. 2. Dullness ; want of life or spirit. 
It is impossible to save it [the class meeting] from de- 
generating into routine generally, and vapidness and cant 
in many cases. E. f. Kirk, Lectures on Revivals, xi. 
vapor, vapour (va'por), n. [< ME. vapour, < 
OF. vapour, F. vapeiir = Sp. Pg. vapor It. 
rapore,< L. vapor, Olj.vapos, exhalation, steam, 
vapor, in particular a warm exhalation, warmth, 
heat, hence ardor; akin to vapidus, that has ex- 
haled its flavor, vapid, vappa, wine that has 
exhaled its flavor ; prob. orig. "cvapor, akin to 
Gr. wiTrvof (*KFairv6f), smoke (L. * cvapor being 
related to Gr. Kairv6<;, smoke, as L. sopor (*sva- 
por), sleep, is to Gr. iiirvof (= L. sonmus), sleep), 
KOTTVCLV, breathe forth, Lith. kwapas, breath, 
fragrance, evaporation, ku'epti, breathe, smell, 
kwepalas, perfume, Kuss. kopotu, fine soot.] 
1. An exhalation of moisture; any visible dif- 
fused substance, as fog, mist, steam, or smoke, 
floating in the atmosphere and impairing its 
transparency. 
It may nat be ... that where greet f yr hath longe tyme 
endured, that ther ne dwelleth som vapour of warmnesse. 
Chaucer, Melibeus. 
From the damp earth impervious vapours rise, 
Increase the darkness, and involve the skies. 
Pope, tr. of Statius's Thebaid, i. 486. 
A bitter day, that early sank 
Behind a purple-frosty bank 
Of vapour, leaving night forlorn. 
Tennyson, In Memoriam, cvii. 
2. In pltysics, the gaseous form which a solid 
or liquid substance assumes when sufficiently 
heated. Vapor is essentially gas, and, since all known 
ases have now been proved to be liqueiiable, no phys- 
cal difference can be said really to exist between an or- 
dinary gas, such as oxygen, and a vapor, such as steam. 
In common language, however, a difference is usually 
recognized : a gas is a substance which at ordinary tem- 
peratures and pressures exists in the gaseous state, while 
a vapor is the gaseous form of a substance which nor- 
mally exists in a solid or liquid form. An important dis- 
tinction exists between a saturated vapor (one which is 
on the point of condensation) and a non-saturated vapor 
(one which can be compressed or cooled to a certain ex- 
tent without condensation). The latter obeys Boyle's and 
Gay-Lussac's laws of gases ; in the former, however, in- 
creased compression produces condensation, but does not 
change the pressure of the vapor, which is a function of 
the temperature alone. Superheated steam is a non-satu- 
I 
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