viridigenous 
viridigenous (vir-i-dij'e-nus), a. [< L. viridis, 
green, + -genus, producing: see -gcnous.] Pro- 
ducing viridity; in zoijl., specifying certain 
microscopic vegetable organisms which, when 
swallowed as food by such mollusks as the 
oyster and clam, impart a green tinge to the 
flesh. 
viridine (vir'i-din), n. [< viride (see def.) + 
-e 3 .] An alkaloid, supposed to be the same 
as jervine, obtained from Veratrum viride. 
viridite (vir'i-dit), n. [< L. viridis, green, + 
-jte 2 .] In lithol., the name given by Vogelsang 
to certain minute greenish-colored scaly, fila- 
mentary, or granular bodies frequently seen in 
microscopic sections of more or less altered 
rocks, especially such as contain hornblende, 
augite, and olivin. They are too small to have their 
exact nature distinctly made out, but probably generally 
belong to the chlorite or serpentine families. 
viridity (vi-rid'i-ti), re. [< L. viridita(t-)s, green- 
ness, verdure, < viridis, green: see virid, verd.] 
1. Greenness; verdure; the state of having the 
color of fresh vegetation. 
This deification of their trees amongst other things, be- 
sides their age and perennial viridity . . . 
Evelyn, Sylva, iv. 13. 
2. In zofil., specifically, the greenness acquired 
by certain mollusks after feeding on viridige- 
nous organisms; greening, as of the oyster. 
viridness (vir'id-nes), n. Greenness ; viridity. 
Virile (vir'ilor vi'ril), a. [< OF. (and F.) viril 
= Sp. Pg. viril = It. virile, < L. virilis, of a man, 
manly, < vir, a man, a hero, = Gr. r/pac, (for F//- 
pu;), a hero (see hero), = Skt. vira, a hero, he- 
roic, = Zend vira, a hero, = Lith. wyra, a man, 
= Ir. fear = Goth, wair = OS. OHG. 'wer, a man 
(see wer~L, wergild, werwolf, etc.) ; root unknown . 
From L. vir are also ult. E. virility, virago, vir- 
tue, etc., and the second element in duumvir, 
triumvir, decemvir, etc.] 1. Pertaining to a 
man as opposed to a woman ; belonging to the 
male sex ; hence, pertaining to procreation : as, 
the virile power. 
Little Rawdon . . . was grown almost too big for black 
velvet now, and was of a size and age befitting him for the 
assumption of the virile jacket and pantaloons. 
Thackeray, Vanity Fair, xliv. 
2. Masculine; not feminine or puerile; hence, 
masterful; strong; forceful. 
Nor was his fabrique raised by soft and limber stud, but 
sturdy and virile. 
H. L 'Estrange, Reign of K. Charles (ed. 1655), p. 92. 
Only the virile and heroic can fully satisfy her own na- 
ture, and master it for good or evil. 
Stedman, Viet. Poets, p. 407. 
The men [of Greece] were essentially virile, yet not 
rude ; the women as essentially feminine, yet not weak. 
Fortnightly Rev., N. S., XLI. 714. 
Virile member (membrum virile), the penis. =Syn. Man- 
ly, etc. See masculine. 
virilescence (vir-i-les'ens), n. [< virilescen(t) 
+ -ce.] The state of tlie aged female in which 
she assumes some of the characteristics of the 
male. (Dunglison.) It is no uncommon con- 
dition of fowls which are sterile, or those which 
have ceased to lay. 
virilescent (vir-i-les'ent), a. [< L. virilis, vir- 
ile, + -escent.] Assuming some characteristics 
of the male, as a female : as when a hen past 
laying acquires a plumage like that of the cock, 
and tries to crow. 
virilia (vl-ril'i-ii), .. pi. [L. , neut. pi. of virilis, 
virile: see virile.~\ The male organs of genera- 
tion. 
virility (vi- or vi-ril'i-ti), n. [< F. virilite = Sp. 
virilidad = Pg. virilidade = It. virilita, < L. viri- 
lita(t-)s, manhood, < virilis, manly: see virile.] 
1. Manhood; the state of one of the male sex 
who has arrived at the maturity and strength 
of a man, and acquired the power of procrea- 
tion. 2. The power of procreation. 
We may infer, therefore, that sexual power and high sex- 
ual characters go hand in hand, and that in proportion to 
the advance toward organic perfection virility increases. 
Amer. Nat., Nov., 1890, p. 1030. 
3. Character or conduct of man, or befitting 
a man; masculine action or aspect; hence, 
strength ; vigor. 
Yet could they never observe and keep the virility of vis- 
age and lyonlike look of his [Alexander's]. 
Holland, tr. of Plutarch, p. 1038. 
A country gentlewoman pretty much famed for this vi- 
rility of behaviour in party disputes. 
Addison, Freeholder, No. 26. 
The result some day to be reached will be normal lib- 
erty, political vitality and vigor, civil virility. 
W. Wilson, State, 1195. 
viripotentt (vi-rip'o-tent), a. [< L. viripo- 
ten(t-)s, tit for a husbaild, marriageable, < vir, 
6766 
man, husband, + potens, able, having power: 
see potent.] Fit for a husband ; marriageable. 
Which was the cause wherefore he would not suffer his 
sonne to marrie hir, being not of ripe yeares nor viripotent 
or mariable. Holiiixhed, Hen. II., an. 1177. 
viritoott, H. An unexplained word found in the 
following passage : 
What eyleth yow? Som gay gerl, God it woot, 
Hath brought yow thus upon the ciritoot. 
Chaucer, Miller's Tale, 1. 5S4. 
[The word is variously spelled viritoot, vyritote, veritote, 
verytrot, merytot. Compare it with the word viritrate.] 
Viritratet, n. An opprobrious term, as yet not 
satisfactorily explained, found in the following 
passage : 
This somonour clappeth at the wydowes gate : 
"Com out," quod he, "thou olde virytrate." 
Chaucer, Friar's Tale, 1. 284. 
[The MSS. read virytrate, viritrate, veritrate, verye crate, viri- 
tate, vcritate, very trate. Tyrwhitt has the reading thou olde 
very trate, based upon two MSS., and regards trate as used 
for 'trot,' a common term for an old woman. The expla- 
nation is not satisfactory.] 
virmiliont, . and a. An old spelling of ver- 
milion. 
virolait, . Same as virelay. 
Virola-tallow (vir'o-la-tal"d), n. A concrete fat 
from the seeds of Myristica ( Virola) sebifera. 
virole (vi-rol'), . t< OF. virol, virole, also vi- 
reulle, viroetile, F. virole, a ring, ferrule, < ML. 
virola, a ring, bracelet, equiv. to L. viriola, a 
bracelet, dim. of viria, a bracelet, armlet : see 
ferrule 2 , which is a doublet of virole.] A cir- 
clet or little hoop of iron put round the end of 
a cane, a knife-handle, and the like; a ferrule ; 
hence, in her., a hoop or ring; one of the rings 
surrounding a trumpet or horn. Some writers 
apply it especially to the funnel-shaped open- 
ing at the larger end. 
viro!6 (vir-o-la'), a. In Tier., same as vcruled. 
viroled (vi-i-old'), a. [< virole + -ed%.] Same 
as veniled. 
viront, n. [ME. viroun, also contr. vyrne, later 
verne, early mod. E. fearne (Cotgrave), < OF. 
viron, for environ, around, about, vironner, sur- 
round : see environ.] A circuit. Halliwell. 
Vyrne or sercle (cerkyll, P). Girus, ambitus, circulus. 
Prompt. Parv., p. 510. 
Vironryt, n. [< viron + -ry.] Environment. 
Her streaming rayes have pierced the cloudie skies, 
And made heau'ns traitors blush to see their shame ; 
Cleared the world of her black vironries, 
And with pale feare doth all their treason tame. 
C. Tourneur, Transf. Metamorphosis, st. 85. 
virose (vl'ros), a. [< L. virosus, poisonous, 
foul, < virus : see virus. ] 1 . Full of virus ; viru- 
lent ; poisonous : as, the virose sting of some 
spiders. 2. In bot., emitting a fetid odor. 
virous (vi'rus), a. [< L. virosus, poisonous: 
see virose.] Possessing poisonous properties ; 
charged with virus. 
Virtu (vir-to'), n. [Also vcrtu; = It. virtu, ver- 
tu, virtue, excellence, a love of the fine arts : 
see virtue.] A word used chiefly in the phrase 
article of virtu, an object interesting for its 
precious material, fine or curious workmanship, 
antiquity, rarity, or the like, such as gems, 
medals, enamels,etc.: usually an object of some 
quality of art which appeals to fancy or to a 
curious taste. 
I had thoughts in my chamber to place it in view, 
To be shown to my friends as a piece of virtu. 
Goldsmith, Haunch of Venison. 
His shop was a perfect infirmary for decayed articles 
of virtu from all the houses for miles around. Cracked 
china, lame tea-pots, broken shoe-buckles, rickety tongs, 
and decrepit fire-irons, all stood in melancholy proximity, 
awaiting Sam's happy hours of inspiration. 
H. B. Stmee, Oldtown, p. 34. 
virtual (ver'tu-al), a. [= F. virtual = Sp. Pg. 
virtual = lt~. v'irtuale, < ML. virtualis (Duns 
Scotus), < L. virtus, strength, virtue : see vir- 
tue.] 1. Existing in effect, power, or virtue, 
but not actually : opposed to real, actual, for- 
mal, immediate, literal. 
Shall this distinction be called real? I answer, it is 
not properly real actual in the sense in which that is 
commonly called real actual which is a difference be- 
tween things and in act, for in one person there is no 
difference of things on account of the divine simplicity. 
And as it is not real actual, so it is not real potential, for 
nothing is there in power which is not in act. But it can 
be called . . . a virtual difference, because thatwhich has 
such a distinction in itself has not thing and thing, but is 
one thing having virtually or eminently, as it were, two 
realities, for to either reality, as it is in that thing, be- 
longs the property which is in such reality as though it 
were a distinct thing : for so this reality distinguishes 
and that does not distinguish, as though this were one 
thing and that another. 
Duns Scotus, Opus Oxonicnse (trans.), I. ii. 7. 
[This passage is given as affording perhaps the earliest 
example of the word in Latin.] 
virtue 
Love not the heavenly spirits, and how their love 
Express they? by looks only? or do they mix 
Irradiance, virtual or immediate touch? 
Miltmi, P. L., viii. 617. 
But America is virtually represented. What? does the 
electrick force of virtual representation more easily pass 
over the Atlantick than pervade Wales, which lies in your 
immediate neighbourhood, or than Chester and Durham, 
surrounded by abundance of representation that is actual 
and palpable ? Burke, Conciliation with America. 
Attributes a few chapters to the virtual compiler of the 
whole. D. G. Mitchell, Wet Days, p. 73. 
2. Pertaining to a real force or virtue ; poten- 
tial. 
Fomented by his virtual power. Milton, P. L., xi. 339. 
We have no nitre of our own virtual enough to whiten 
us. Sev. T. Adams, Works, I. :;98. 
The resurrection of the just is attributed to his resur- 
rection as the virtual and immediate cause thereof. 
Sir M. Hale, Knowledge of Christ Crucified. 
3. In mcch., as usually understood, possible 
and infinitesimal: but this meaning seems to 
have arisen from a misunderstanding of the 
original phrase virtual velocity, first used by 
John Bernoulli, January 26th, 1717, which was 
not clearly defined as a velocity at all, but 
rather as an infinitesimal displacement of the 
point of application of a force resolved in the 
direction of that force. The principle of virtual 
velocities is that, if a body is in equilibrium, the sum of 
all the forces each multiplied by the virtual velocity of 
ite point of application is, for every possible infinitesimal 
displacement of the body, equal to zero. The epithet 
appears to have been derived from an older statement 
that when, by means of any machine, two weights are 
brought into equilibrium, the velocities are inversely as 
the weights ; so that virtual would here mean practical, as 
In def. 1. Virtual coefficient. See coefficient. Virtual 
cognition (notitia, virtualis), the implicit existence in the 
mind of a concept as part of another, without special 
attention to this secondary concept. The term is due 
to Duns Scotus. Virtual difference. See difference. 
Virtual displacement, an infinitesimal arbitrary dis- 
placement, essentially the same as a virtual velocity. 
Virtual focus, in optics, a point at which the lines of 
a pencil of rays would meet if sufficiently produced, al- 
though the rays themselves do not actually reach it. See 
focus, l. Virtual head. See head. Virtual image, in 
optics, an apparent image ; an image which has no real ex- 
istence. See under lens, mirror. Virtual moment of a 
force. See moment. Virtual monopoly. Seemonopo- 
ly. Virtual quantity. Same as intensive quantity 
(which see, under intensive). Virtual resistance. See 
resistance, 3. Virtual velocity. See def. 3. 
Virtuality (ver-tu-al'i-ti), n. [= It. virtuaKta; 
as virtual + -ity.] 1. The state or quality of 
being virtual or not actual. 2f. Potentiality; 
potential existence. 
In one grain of corn . . . there lieth dormant the vir- 
tualtty of many other, and from thence sometimes proceed 
above an hundred ears. Sir T. Browne, Vulg. Err., vii. 2. 
virtually (ver'tu-al-i), adv. In a virtual man- 
ner; in principle, or in effect, if not in actuality. 
They virtually deprived the church of every power and 
privilege which, as a simple society, she had a claim to. 
Warburton, Divine Legation, iv., Ded. 
The Lords of Articles . . . were virtually nominated 
by himself ; yet even the Lords of Articles proved refrac- 
tory. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., vi. 
Weight, mobility, inertia, cohesion are universally rec- 
ognizedare virtually, if not scientifically, understood 
to be essential attributes of matter. 
//. Spencer, Social Statics, p. 507. 
Though it was obvious that the war north of the Alps 
was mrtually over, yet Prussia was still pouring troops 
into Austrian territory. 
E. Dicey, Victor Emmanuel, p. 292. 
Virtuatet (ver'tu-at), v. t. [< virtue + -ate%.] 
To make efficacious. 
Potable gold should be endued with a capacity of being 
assimilated to the innate heat and radical moisture, or 
at least virtuated with a power of generating the said es- 
sentials. Harvey. 
Virtue (ver'tu), n. [Early mod. E. also vertue ; 
< ME. verttt (pi. verities, vertus, vertuz, wertous, 
vertuis), < OF. vertu, F. vertu = Sp. virtud = 
Pg. virtude = It. vertit, virtu, < L. virtus (vir- 
titt-), the qualities of a man, strength, courage, 
bravery, capacity, worth, manliness, applied to 
physical and intellectual excellence ; also of 
moral excellence, virtue, morality; <vir, man: 
see virite.] If. Manly spirit; bravery; valor; 
daring; courage. 
And so much vertu was in Leodogan and his men that 
thei made hem remove and forsake place. 
Merlin (E. E. T. S.), ii. 335. 
Pindar many times prayseth highly victories of small 
moment, matters rather of sport than vertue. 
Sir P. Sidney, Apol. for Poetrie. 
You are brave captains, 
Most valiant men ; go up yourselves; use virtue; 
See what will come on 't. Fleteher, Bonduca, v. 2. 
2. Moral goodness; the practice of moral du- 
ties and the conformity of life and conversa- 
tion to the moral law; uprightness; rectitude; 
morality : the opposite of vice. 
