vaulting-tile 
lessen the weight of the upper parts of large 
masses of masonrv. 
vault-light (valt'lit), . A cover of a vault 
set with glass so that it can serve for the ad- 
mission of light. 
vault-shell (valt'shel), it. The masonry or 
"skin" of a vault; especially, the filling of a 
ribbed vault that is, the comparatively thin 
structure which forms a compartment between 
adjacent ribs. ('. H. Moore, Gothic Architec- 
ture, p. 52. 
vaulture (val'tur), . [< vault* + -ure.~] Arch- 
like shape; vaulted work. [Rare.] 
The strength and firmness of their vaulture and pillars. 
Say, Works of Creation, iii. (Latham.) 
vault-work (valt'werk), n. Vaulting. 
This Temple was borne vp with Vaidt-worke, with great 
lights and secret passages, the space of an hundred steps. 
1'urchas, Pilgrimage, p. 684. 
vaultyt (val'ti), a. [Also vauty; < vault 1 + -y l .~] 
Vaulted; arched; concave. 
The vanity top of heaven. Shak., K. John, v. 2. 52. 
One makes the haughty vauty welkin ring 
In praise of custards and a bag-pudding. 
John Taylor, Works. (Xares.) 
vauncet, v. t. [ME. vauncen, by apheresis for 
avauncen, E. advance.'] To advance. 
Voide vices ; vertues shall vaunce vs all. 
Boote of Precedence (E. E. T. 8., extra ser.), i. 66. 
vaunt 1 (vant or vant), v. [Formerly also vant; 
< ME. vaunten, vanten, also erroneously avaun- 
ten, avanten, < OF. vanter, < ML. vanitare, boast, 
be vainglorious, < L. vanita(t-)s, vanity, vain- 
glory, < vamts, empty: see vain, vanity.'] I. 
intrans. 1. To make a vain display of one's own 
worth, attainments, or powers ; talk with vain 
ostentation; boast; brag. 
Panting in wordes true valour oft doth seeme, 
Yet by his actions we him coward deem. 
Times' Whittle (E. E. T. S.), p. SO. 
Some misbegotten thing, that, having pluckt the gay 
feathers of her obsolet bravery to hide her own deformed 
barenesse, now vaunts and glories in her stolne plumes. 
MUton, Church-Government^ i. 3. 
2. To glory; exult; triumph. 
The foe vaunts in the field. Shak., Rich. III., v. 3. 288. 
II. trans. 1. To magnify or glorify with vani- 
ty ; boast of ; brag of. 
Charity vaunteth not itself. 1 Cor. xiii. 4. 
My vanquisher, spoil'd of his vaunted spoil. 
MUton, P. L., iii. 251. 
Though at the expense of their vaunted purity of blood. 
Prescott, Ferd. and Isa., i. 17. 
2. To display or put forward boastfully ; ex- 
hibit vaingloriously. 
What shape, what shield, what armes, what steed, what 
stedd, 
And what so else his person most may vaunt. 
Spenser, F. Q., III. ii. 17. 
vaunt 1 (vant or vant), w. [< vaunt 1 , .] A vain 
display of what one is, or has, or has done ; os- 
tentation from vanity ; a boast ; a brag. 
Such high vaunts of his nobility. 
Shak., 2 Hen. VI., iii. 1. 50. 
vaunt 2 t (vant), n. [< F. arant, before : see van 2 .'] 
The first part ; the beginning. 
The vaunt and firstlings of those broils. 
Shak., T. and C., Prol., 1. 27. 
vauntbracet, See vambrace. 
vauntcouriert, n. [See van-courier. 1 An old 
form of van-courier. Shak., Lear, iii. 2. 5. 
vaunter (van'ter or van'ter), n. [< ME. vaun- 
tour, vantour, < OF. "vanteor, vanteur, boaster, 
< vanter, boast : see vaunt 1 ."] One who vaunts; 
a boaster; a braggart ; a man given to vain os- 
tentation. 
Wele I wote, a vaimtour am I none, for certeynly I love 
better silence. Political Poems, etc. (ed. Furnivall), p. 77. 
Alas, you know I am no vaunter, I ; 
My scars can witness, dumb although they are, 
That my report is just and full of truth. 
Shak., Tit. And., v. 3. 113. 
vauntery (van'- or van'ter-i), n. [< vaunft + 
-en/.] The act of vaunting; bravado. Also 
vantery. Holland, tr. of Plutarch, p. 249. 
[Rare.] 
For she had led 
The infatuate Moor, in dangerous vauntery, 
To these aspiring forms. 
Southey, Roderick, the Last of the Goths, xxii. 
vauntful (vant'ful or vant'ful), a. [< iwn/M 
+ -ful.'] Boastful ; vainly ostentatious. Spen- 
ser, Muiopotmos, 1. 52. 
vauntguardt, . Same as vanguard. Merlin 
(E. E. T. S.), n. 151. 
6708 
Veda 
vaunting (viin'ting or van'ting), n. [Verbal 2. The flesh of the calf used for food. 
n. of rauntl, #.] Ostentatious setting forth of 
what one is or has ; boasting ; bragging. 
You say you are a better soldier ; 
Let it appear so ; make your vaunting true. 
Shak., J. C.,iv. 3. 52. 
vauntingly (van'- or van'ting-li), ndv. In a 
vaunting manner ; boastfully ; with vain osten- 
tation. Sliak., Rich. II., iv. 1. 36. 
vauntmuret, n. See vantmure. 
vauntwardt, A Middle English form of ran- 
jiwrfl. 
vauqueline (vok'lin), n. [< F. vauqueline, so 
called after L. N. Vauquelin (1763-1829), a 
French chemist.] 1. A name originally given 
by Pelletier and Caventon to strychnine. 2. A 
name given by Pallas to a crystalline substance 
obtained from the bark of the olive-tree. 
vauquelinite (vok'lra-it), n. [< Vauquelin (see 
vauqwline) + -Me 2 .] Native chromate of lead 
and copper, a mineral which occurs in small 
green or brown crystals on quartz accompany- 
ing crocoite. Also called lajcmannite. 
vautt, n . and v. An obsolete form of vault 2 . 
Spenser. 
vautert, n. An obsolete form of vaulter. 
vautyt, a. A variant of vaultij. 
vavasor, vavasour (vav'a-sor, -sor), n. [Also 
vavassor, valvasor; ME. vavasour, < OF. vavas- 
soitr, F. vavasseur, < ML. vassus vassorum, vas- 
sal of vassals : vassus, vassal ; vassorum, gen. 
pi. of vassus, vassal.] In feudal law, a princi- 
pal vassal not holding immediately of the sov- 
ereign, but of a great lord, and having other 
vassals holding of him ; a vassal of the second 
degree or rank. In the class of vavasors were compre- 
hended chutdaim (castellans), who owned castles or for- 
tified houses, and possessed rights of territorial justice. 
In England the title was rarely used, though Camden de- 
fines it as next to baron, while Chaucer applies it to his 
Frankeleyn. [Obsolete or archaic.] 
A Frankeleyn was in his compaignye ; . . . 
Was nowher such a worthy vavasour. 
Chaucer, Gen. Prol. to C. T., 1. 360. 
Lord, liegeman, valvassor, and suzerain, 
Ere he could choose, surrounded him. 
Browning, Bordello. 
vavasory (vav'a-so-ri), i. [ME. 'vavasorie(^), 
< vavasor: see vavasor."] 1. The tenure of the 
fee held by a vavasor. 2. Lands held by a 
vavasor. 
vawardt, n. and a. [< ME. vaward, a reduction 
of vantwarde, vauntwarde, etc.: see vanward 1 .] 
I. . Same as vanward 1 . 
My Lord, most humbly on my knee I beg 
The leading of the vaward. 
Shak., Hen. V., iv. 3. 130. 
II. a. Being in the van or the front; fore- 
most; front. 
My sons command the vaward post, 
With Brian TunstaU, stainless knight. 
Scott, Marmion, vi. 24. 
Vayu (va'yo), n. [< Skt. vayu, < -/fa, blow, = 
Goth, waian, blow: see winS?, vent 1 .'] In Hind, 
myth., the wind or wind-god. 
Vaza (va'za), n. [NL. (5. R. Gray, 1855, after 
les vazas of Lesson, 1831), also Vasa."] A genus 
of parrots, also called Coracopsis. There are sev- 
eral species, of Madagascar, Reunion, the Seychelles, and 
Mozambique, one of which was originally called Psittacus 
vaza by Shaw. Others are V. obscura (Coracopsis madasca- 
riensis), V. niyra, V. comorensis, and V. barkleyi. 
vaza-parrot (va'za-par"ot), n. A parrot of the 
genus Coracopsis (or Vaza). 
V-bob (ve'bob), n. Inmach., a V-shaped form 
of bell-crank used to change the direction of 
motion, as the horizontal motion of a cross- 
head to the vertical motion of a pump-rod. E. 
H. Knight. See 6068. 
V. 0. An abbreviation of Victoria cross. 
V-croze (ve'kroz), n. A coopers' croze used to 
cut angular heading-grooves. 
V. d. An abbreviation, in book-catalogues, of 
various dates. 
Veadar (ve'a-dar), n. [Heb.] The thirteenth 
or intercalary month which is added to the Jew- 
ish year about every third year, after Adar (the 
last month of the sacred or ecclesiastical year). 
veal (vel), w. [< ME. veel, veil, < OF. veel. vedels, 
veau, F. veau = Pr. vedel, vedelh = It. vitello (cf. 
Pg. vitella, f.), a calf, < L. vitellus, a little calf, 
< vituhis, a calf, = Gr. ira?.6f, a calf, = Skt. 
vatsa, a calf, perhaps lit. a 'yearling,' < vatsa = 
Gr. CTOI;, year, allied to L. vetus, aged, vetulus, a 
little old man: see veteran. Cf. vellum, ult. 
from the same source as veal."] If. A calf. 
Intruding into other King's territories (especially these 
fruitful ones of ours), to eat up our fat beefs, veals, muttons, 
and capons. Eng. Stratagem (Arber's Eng. Garner, 1. 604). 
Bet than olde boef is the tendre veel. 
Chaucer, Merchant's Tale, 1. 176. 
Bob veal, (a) The flesh of a calf taken before birth from 
a slaughtered cow ; also, the flesh of a new-born calf. (f>) 
Same as deaconed teal. Deaconed veal. See deacon. 
Veal cutlet. See cutlet. 
veal-skin (vel'skiu), . A cutaneous disease 
distinguished by smooth white tubercles of a 
glistening character, found on the ears, neck, 
face, and sometimes covering the whole body. 
vealy (ve'li), a. [< veal + -y l .~] Like veal; 
young; immature; having the qualities of a 
calf: as, a vealy youth; vealy opinions. [Col- 
loq.] 
Their vealy faces mezzotinted with soot. 
Lowell, Fireside Travels, p. 248. 
Veatchia (ve'chi-a), n. [NL. (Asa Gray, 1884), 
named after Dr. John A. Veutch, who discov- 
ered theCerros Island trees.] A genus of trees, 
of the order Anacardiaceee and tribe Spondieee. 
It is distinguished from the related genus Rhus (the 
sumac) by its valvate sepals, accrescent petals, and thin- 
walled fruit. The only species, V. discolor (V. Cedrosen- 
t), one of the most singular of American trees, a native 
of Lower California, is known as elephant-tree, from the 
thick heavy trunk and branches (often 2 feet thick and 
not more than the same height, sending out ponderous 
bent and tortuous horizontal branches often 20 feet long, 
and ending suddenly in short twigs loaded with bright- 
pink or yellowish-gray flowers). The trees usually grow 
close together, often forming low and impenetrable mats. 
On the mainland the species becomes erect and sometimes 
25 feet high, and is locally known as copal-quicn. Its bark 
is there used in tanning leather. The outer bark is a 
peculiar brown skin, peeling annually, and increasing 
the resemblance to the elephant. The flowers appear 
after the fall of the minute leaves, and where the trees 
are grouped in masses form a blaze of color visible for 
several miles. 
veckt (vek), H. [ME. vecke, vekke; origin ob- 
scure.] An old woman. 
A rympled vekke, ferre ronne in age. 
Rom. of the Rose, \. 4495. 
vectiont (vek'shon), n. [< L. vectio(n-), a carry- 
ing, conveyance, < vehere, pp. vectus, bear, con- 
vey: see vehicle.] The act of carrying, or the 
state of being carried; vectitation; "a carry- 
ing or portage," Blount (1670). 
vectis (vek'tis), n. [L., a pole, bar, bolt, spike.] 
1. In Rom. antiq., abolt. 2. [NL.] In obstet., 
a curved fenestrated instrument similar to one 
of the blades of the obstetrical forceps, used 
in certain cases to aid delivery. Commonly 
called lever. 
vectitation (vek-ti-ta'shpn), n. [< L. *vecti- 
tare, pp. vectitatus, bear or carry about, freq. 
of vehere, pp. vectus, convey: see veetion.] 
A carrying, or the state of being carried. 
[Rare.] 
Their enervated lords are lolling in their chariots (a 
species of vectitation seldom used amongst the ancients 
except by old men). Martinus Scriblerus. 
vector (vek'tor), n. and a. [= F. vecteur, < L. 
vector, one who carries or conveys, < vehere, pp. 
vectus, carry, convey : eeeveetion.] I. n. 1. (a) 
In quaternions, a quantity which, being added 
to any point of space, gives as the sum that 
point which is at a certain distance in a certain 
direction from the first. Vectors are said to be equal 
when their directions and magnitudes are the same. Unit 
vectors in quaternions are considered as equivalent to 
quadrantal versors having their axes in the directions of 
vectors ; the word vector has accordingly sometimes, but 
incorrectly, been used in the sense of a quadrantal versor. 
Every quaternion can be resolved in one way, and one way 
only, into a sum of a scalar and a vector ; and this vector 
is called the vector of the quaternion, and is denoted by 
writing V before the sign of the quaternion. Thus, Vq de- 
notes the vector of the quaternion q. Hence (6) A 
directive quantity; a quantity determined by 
two numbers giving its direction and a third 
giving its magnitude. 2. Same as radius vec- 
tor. See radius. Addition of vectors. See addi- 
tion. Origin. Of a vector. See origin. 
II. it. Of the nature of or concerned with 
vectors Vector analysis, the algebra of vectors. 
Vector equation, an equation between vectors. Vec- 
tor function. See function. Vector potential, a vec- 
tor quantity so distributed throughout space that the re- 
sult of operating upon it by the Hamiltonian operator 
represents some natural quantity. 
vectorial (yek-to'ri-al), . -f< vector + -ial."] 
Of or pertaining to a vector or vectors Vecto- 
rial coordinates. See coordinate. 
vecturet (vek'tftt), n. [= F. voiture = It. vet- 
tura, a carriage'! < L. vectura, a carrying, trans- 
portation, < vclitre, pp. vectus, carry: see vec- 
tion."] A carrying; carriage; conveyance by 
carrying. Bacon, Seditions and Troubles (ed. 
1887). 
Veda (va'dii), n. [= F. veda = G. Veda, < Skt. 
veda, lit. knowledge, understanding, esp. sacred 
knowledge, the Hindu scripture, < T/ vid, know, 
