Veda 
= K. wit: see ici'i 1 .] Tin 1 sum-d M-npture of 
the uiK-i'-nl Iliiidus, written in MM older form 
or dialect of Sanskrit, n is divid.-d into mantra, or 
sacred utterance (ellielly nieli-ieali, /:fnhiiiiiiin, or inspired 
exposition, and xiilrn, or wicrltlcial rule*. It is also dividrd 
int.. four bodies of writings: Ili;i-\'t'<tit or bynins. S'linn 
I 'i'ilii or imants, Yiijiir-Valii or sacred foi mnlas, and Allan - 
f<i-\',',/ii, a enllrrlii.il nl' ]:I|-T and mine silpi i s( il h .11 
hymns raid i \\ il h ils luahuianas and siitras. it is of un- 
known and w-rv 11111 i-rlain chronology, tile oldest of the 
bymns beiui; iMistiihly from near JIXKI it. r. Sometimes ab 
In . \ iated t'l-il. 
Vedalia (v,;-da'li-ii). M. [XL. I. Mulsaut, 1851).] 
1. A genus of ' 'iii'fiin-tliil;r. containing aliout li 
> p. . i eM if lady lii rd licet Ics of predaceous habits, 
natives of snlit ropieal regions. V. cardinalu, an 
Australian form, uas impmii -I li> Ibe I nil 
pii ! 111. iii ni \ i ii'uh 111 . from Australia and New Zealand 
Into ( 'alifornla in the winter of 1888-H to destroy the fluted 
sealr </'</'/'' fiiin-fi /:} which result It accomplished In 
less t ban nine months, through its rapacity and remarkable 
fecundity. 
2. [/. c.] Any member of this genus: as, the 
cardinal uedalia (the species above mentioned). 
Vedanga f va -diing'gii), n. [Skt. vedanga,<. veda, 
Veda, + niit/a, limb.J In lit., a limb of the Veda. 
This name is given to certain Sanskrit works auxiliary 
to the Vedas, and aiding to the understanding of them 
and their application to specific purposes. The Vcdangas 
are elaborate treatises on (1) pronunciation, (2) meter, (8) 
grammar. (4) explanation of difficult tenns, (fi) astrono- 
my, (6) ceremonial. They are composed in the sutra or 
aphoristic style. 
Vedanta (vii-diin'tii), n. [< Skt. Veda, know- 
ledge, + until, end : see Veda.] A system of 
philosophy among the Hindus, founded on the 
Vedas. It is chiefly concerned in the Investigation of 
the Suprc spirit and the relation in which the universe, 
and especially tile human soul, stands to it. 
Vedantic (va-diin'tik), o. [< I'edantu + -ic.] 
Ivi'lating to the Vedanta. 
Vedantin (va-dan'tin), . [< Vedanta + -in.] 
Same as Pedantic. 
Vedantist (va-diin'tist), . [< Vedanta + -int.] 
One versed iii the doctrines of the Vedanta. 
vedette (vo-def), . [Msovidette; <F. vedette, 
< It. vedetia, < vedere, see, < L. videre, see : see 
vision.] A sentinel on horseback stationed at 
some outpost or on an elevation to watch an 
enemy and give notice of danger. 
Vedic (va'dik), a. [= F. vediqite; < Veda + -ic.] 
Of or relating to a Veda or tne Vedas: as, the 
Vedic hymns. 
veelet, An obsolete dialectal form otfeeft. 
veer (ver), e, [Early mod. E. also vere; < F. 
virer = Pr. rirar, (. ML. rirare, turn, sheer off, 
< L. virim, armlets, bracelets. Cf . ferrule^.] I. 
intrans. 1. To turn; specifically, to alter the 
course of a ship, by turning her head round 
away from the wind ; wear. 
Also, as long as Heav'ns swift Orb shall veer, 
A sacred Trophee shall be shining heer. 
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, ii., The Columnes. 
And, as he leads, the following navy twer*. 
Dryden, JCneid, v. 10*8. 
Fickle and false, they veer with every gale. 
Crabbe, Works, I. 174. 
2. To shift or change direction: as, the wind 
veers to the north ; specifically, in meteor., with 
respect to the wind, to shift in the same direc- 
tion as the course of the sun as, in the north- 
ern hemisphere, from east by way of south to 
west. 
As when a ship, by skilful steersman wrought 
. . . where the wind 
Veers oft, as oft so steers, and shifts her sail. 
Milton, P. L., ix. 615. 
3. To turn round ; vary ; be otherwise minded : 
said of persons, feelings, intentions, etc. See 
also veering. 
Buckingham . . . soon . . . peered round from anger to 
fondness, and gave Wycherley a commission in his own re- 
giment. Macmtlay, Comic Dramatists of the Kestoratlon. 
II. trait*. 1. To turn; shift. 
Vere the nialne shete and beare up with the land. 
Spenser, . Q., xil. 1. 
2. Xaut., to change the course of by turning 
the stern to windward ; lay on a different tack 
by turning the vessel's head away from the 
wind; wear: as, to i-eer ship To veer and haul, 
to pull tight and slacken alternately. To veer away, to 
let out; slacken and let run : as. to veer airay the cable. 
To veer out, to sutf er to run or to let out to a greater 
length : as, to veer out a rope. 
veerablet (ver'a-bl), a. [< veer + -able.] 
Changeable; shifting: said of winds. Aompto*. 
veering (ver'ing), . [Verbal n. of veer, v.] 
The act of turning or changing: as, the m riinj 
of the wind; especially, a fickle or capricious 
change. 
It is a double misfortune to a nation which Is thus given 
tochaniie, wbi'ii tbey bave a sovereign at the head of tbem 
that is prone tn fall in with all the turns and iwri;/of the 
people. Ai1<ti*on, Freeholder. 
f,7l>.H 
veering (vt'-r'ing). /<. -. Timiini;: 
shifting. 
'I'b. ! n weathercocks, that were nwlmmliiK 
in tin ini.onii-.-ici, lit,. x"l'l' n li-li. in a gnus vase. 
LoiiyfrUt'ir, Hyperion, II. 10. 
A Htibtlr, sudden (lame, 
. tug passion faun'd, 
About thee breaks and dances. 
n, Madeline. 
veeringly (ycr'ing-li), <ulr. In n veering man- 
in r : (Tiangitigly ; sliit'tingly. 
veery (vcr'i), n'.; pi. rnries (-iz). Wilson's or 
the tawny thrush of North America, Tunl* 
ii-lt'ln) fuscesceHa, one of the five song- 
Veeiy (Turjia (HflocicMti) fttxtKnu). 
thrushes common in the eastern parts of the 
United States. It is 7^ inches long, 12 in extent, above 
uniform tawny-brown, below whitish, the throat buff with 
a few small spots. It is migratory, nesU on the ground or 
very near it, and lays four or five greenlsh-blue eggs with- 
out spots. It Is of shy and retiring habits, frequenting 
thick woods and swamps, and is an exquisite songster. 
The place flows with birds: . . . olive-backs, teeriet, 
and ] oveubirds. S. Judd, Margaret, II. 1. 
Vega 1 (va'gS), n. [< Sp. rega = Cat. reaa = Pg. 
ttiga, an open plain, a tract of flat land; origin 
uncertain.] A tract of ground, low, flat, and 
moist. This wont is confined chiefly to Spain 
and Cuba; in the latter it often denotes a 'to- 
bacco-field.' 
The best properties known as vegas, or tobacco farms, 
are comprised in a narrow area in the south-west part of 
the Island [of Cubal. 
5. Hazard, Cuba with Pen and Pencil (London, 1873), 
[p. 329. 
Sometimes the water of entire rivers or vast artilicial 
reservoirs ... is used in feeding a dense network of canals 
distributed over plains many square miles in extent. Such 
plains in Valencia and Mm via are known by the Spanish 
name of hnertu (gardens), in Andalusia by the Arabic name 
of vei/as, which has the same meaning. 
Encyc. Brit., XXII. 299. 
Vega 2 (ve'gS), . [= F. vega, < Ar. HW/r. fall- 
ing, i. e. the falling bird, with ref. to Altair, the 
flying eagle, situated not far from Vega.] A 
star of the first magnitude in the northern con- 
stellation Lvra; a Lvrw. 
Vegetabilia'(vej'e-ta-bil'i-a), .;>/. [ML., pi. of 
L. veactabUis, vegetable : see vegetable.] Plants 
as a grand division of nature. Compare Primalia. 
vegetability (vej'e-ta-bil'i-ti), n. [= F. veijc- 
tabOHi = isp. regetabiltdad = It. vegetabilita ; 
as vegetable + -ity.] Vegetable quality, char- 
acter, or nature. 
Boetlus, . . . not ascribing Its [the coral's) concretion 
unto the air, but the . . . lapidiBcal juyce of the sea, 
which, entering the parts of that plant, overcomes IU 
vegetabUitj/, and converts it into a lapideons substance. 
Sir T. Browne, Vulg. Err., II. 5. 
vegetable (vej'e-ta-bl), a. and n. [< OF. vege- 
table, living, fit to live, vegetable, as a noun, a 
vegetable, F. regulable, vegetable, = Sp. vege- 
table = Pg. veijetavel = It . vegetabile, apt to vege- 
tate, < LL. vegetabilis, enlivening, animating, < 
L. vegetarc, quicken, animate: see vegetate.] I. 
a. 1. Having life such as a plant has. 
Vegetable IF.), vegetable, fit or able to Hue; hailing, or 
likelie to haue, such life, or increase in groweth, as plants, 
AC. l'..'m' , 
2. Of or pertaining to plants ; characteristic of 
plants; also, having the characteristics of a 
plant or of plants; resembling a plant or what 
belongs to plants; occupied or concerned with 
plants. 
And all amid them stood the Tree of Life, 
High eminent, blooming ambrosial fruit 
Of vegetable gold. .Villon, P. L., iv. 220. 
Vegetable acids, such acids as are obtained from plants, 
as malic, citric, gallic, and tartaric acids. Vegetable 
aethiops, a remedy formerly used in the treatment of 
scrofulous diseases, "prepared by incinerating Fucus vegitii- 
losit, or sea-wrack. Vegetable alkali, (n) Potash. (6) 
An alkaloid. Vegetable anatomy, that branch of bot- 
any which treats of the form, disposition. and structure of 
vegetaline 
the organs of planU. -Vegetable antimony, Die thor- 
ouuli"<' ' Vegetable bezo- 
ar. sauce u Vegetable brimstone. See 
\ ii/i-ii/nulr. Vegetable bristles, the fibers 
mti. Vegetable butters. s.,/m.ri Vegeta- 
ble calomel, PodophyUu ibe May-apple or 
niandiaki- Vegetable casein, tamenltyunta. Veg- 
etable COllC, intestinal pain rallM'i by Hi. II-. nl ijn >-n 
fruit. Vegetable earth, tout mttgttabU mold Vtg- 
etableegg, the egg plant; also, the iimrinalad.-Iin 
mammota. Vegetable fibers. .se,/,.Vri. Vege- 
table fibrin. >', fibrin. Vegetable flannel, a tci.i i, 
from pine-needle wool (which s*,Dodarj)tw-iMM> 
Vegetable fountain, see i-kyt^nne. -Vegetable 
gelatin, see iielaim. Vegetable glue. See glut. 
vegetable horsehair, a tlber extracted from the lrave 
of the European palm, Chanumpt AtmtiUf: used like 
horsehair for stnlttng ; also the Spanlih raou, Tillandila 
umtoidet, similarly used. Vegetable ivory. See ieory- 
nu(.- Vegetable telly, a gelatinous substance found In 
pUnts: |i- . in,. Vegetable kingdom, tbat dm-i if 
natural objects which embraoe* vegetables or plant*; the 
npnum ngetabile; Vtgetabilia - Vegetable lamb, the 
Agnui Seythieut or Tatarian Iamb. See ai/nta. 
Eye* with mute tenderneM her distant dam, 
Or teem* to bleat, a vmetaNe lamb. 
Kramut Darmn, lore* of Plant*. (Dyer.) 
Vegetable leather, marrow, mercury. See the noun*. 
vegetable mold, mob) or ><il < omanilng a considera- 
ble proportion of vegetable constituents ; mold consisting 
wholly or chiefly of humus. Vegetable naphtha. Same 
u wood-naphtha. Vegetable oyster. Same as ot/iter- 
plant, 2. Vegetable parchment Same as parclunriit 
paper (which see, under paper). Vegetable physiol- 
ogy, that branch of liotany which treats of the vital ac- 
tions of plants, or of the office* which their various organ* 
perform. Vegetable serpent, .-ame ai malre-eucvm- 
ber. See cucumber. Vegetable sheep. Same a* iheep- 
plant. See Ramilia. Vegetable Bilk, a flue and glOMy 
tlber, kindred to silk cotton, borne on the seeds of Chun- 
ria tpecuita In Brazil. The name Is applicable to various 
similar substance*. Compare silk-cotton, under eottonl. 
Vegetable sponge. See iponge-yourd. Vegetable sul- 
pbur. Same asfj/copode. Vegetable tallow, tissue, 
war, etc. See the nou us. Vegetable towel, the sponge- 
gourd. - Vegetable turpeth. See turpeth, 1. 
II. . 1. Aplant. Seep/anf 1 . 2. Inamore 
limited sense, a herbaceous plant used wholly 
or in part for culinary purposes, or for feeding 
cattle, sheep, or other animals, us cabbage, 
cauliflower, turnips, potatoes, spinach, peas, 
and beans. The whole plant may be so used, or Its tops 
or leaves, or Its roots, tubers, etc., or Its fruit or seed. 
Sowthistle, dandelion, and lettuce are their favourite 
vegetables, especially the last. 
Ctii'-prr, Account of bis Hares, May 28, 1784. 
Chattel vegetable. See chattel. Leather vegetable, 
a shrubby West Indian plant. Euphorbia punitea: so 
named from its coriaceous leaves. The flower-cluster has 
long scarlet bracts. =8yn. Vegetable, I'lant, Herb. Tree, 
Shrub, linfh, rmlerihrub, Vine. Vegetable and plant In 
scientific use alike denote any member whatever of the 
vegetable kingdom. In popular use a vegetable Is a cull- 
nary herb, ana a plant is comparatively small, either an 
herb, or a shrub or tree when quite young, particularly a 
cultivated herb. An hrrli Is a plant without a woody stem, 
hence dying to the root, or throughout, each year. A tree, 
Is a plant having a woody aerial stem, typically single be- 
low and branching above, the whole with a height of not 
less than four or live times the human stature. A thrub Is 
a woody plant, typically lower than a tree and branching 
near or below the ground. A bush is a shrub of medium 
size, forming a clump of stems, or at least of a branching 
habit. An undershrub is a very small shrub. A rine Is an 
herb, shrub, or even tree, with a long and slender stem 
which is not self-supporting. See the several words, 
vegetablize (vej'e-ta-bliz), r. t. ; pret. and pp. 
vegetabli:ed, ppr. vegetablizing. [< vegetable + 
-i:e.] To render vegetable in character or ap- 
pearance. 
Silk is to be re'jetablizfd ... by an immersion In a bath 
of cellulose dissolved In ammoniacal copper oxide. 
<i Si ill Dyeing and Calico Printing, p. SO. 
vegetal (vej'e-tal), a. and n. [< OF. vegetal, F. 
regetal = Sp. Pg. vegetal = It. regelate, < L. ve ge- 
<*, living, lively: see vegetate.] I. a. 1. Of, 
pertaining, or relating to a plant or plants; 
having the characteristics or nature of a vege- 
table; vegetable. 
On the whole it appears to me to be the most convenient 
to adhere to the old plan of calling such of those low forms 
as are more animal in habit Protozoa, and such a* are 
more vegetal Protophyta. 
llujclry, Critique* and Addresses, p. 281. 
2. Of or pertaining to the series of vital phe- 
nomena common to plants and animals name- 
ly.digestion and nutritive assimilation, growth, 
absorption, secretion, excretion, circulation, 
respiration, and generation, as contradistin- 
guished from sensation and volition, which are 
peculiar to animals. 
The flrst are called the rryetal functions, the second the 
animal functions ; and the powers or forces on which they 
depend have been termed respectively the vegetal life and 
the animal life. 
Brandt and Cat, Diet Sci., Lit, and Art, III. HO. 
U. n. A plant ; a vegetable. 
I saw vegetal! too, as well as minerals, put into one glass 
there. B. Jonson, Mercury Vindicated. 
vegetaline (vcj'e-tal-in), n. [< rnjrtal + -iiH 2 .] 
A material consisting of woody fiber treated 
with sulphuric acid, dried and converted into a 
