vise 
An I hut (1st him once ; an a' come but within my vice. 
Shalt., -2 Hen. IV., ii. 1. 24. 
6. The cock or tap of a vessel. HalliweU. [Prov. 
Eng.] 
vise 1 , vice 2 (vis), v.t. [<<*e*,.] It. To screw; 
force, as by a screw. 
He swears . . . 
As he had seen 't or been an instrument 
To vice you to 't. Shak., W. T., i. 2. 416. 
2. To press or squeeze with a vise, or as if with 
a vise ; hold as if in a vise. De Quincey. 
Vise 2 t, " Same as vese. 
vise (ve-za'), . [< F. vise, pp. of viser, view, 
examine, inspect, < ML. *visare, freq. of L. vi- 
dere, pp. visits, see : see vision.'] An indorsement 
made upon a passport or the like by the prop- 
erly constituted authority, whether ambassa- 
dor, consul, or police, denoting that it has been 
examined and found correct. Also visa. 
Particular rules follow in regard to is<? of the com- 
mander giving the notice, which is to be put on the ship's 
register, and for which the captain of the vessel overhaul- 
ed and visited shall give a receipt. 
Woolsey, Introd. to Inter. Law, p. 468, App. iii. 
The European door is closed, and remains closed until 
the native authorities may think proper to affix to the pass- 
port other visas and stamps, at sight of which frontier gen- 
darmes will open the bars and set the captive free. 
Harper's Mag., LXXIX. 188. 
vis6 (ve-za'), v. t. [< vise, n."] To put a vise 1 
on ; examine and indorse, as a passport. Also 
visa. 
Before he and his baggage can pass the guarded door 
that leads into the restaurant ... he must satisfy the 
' suave inspector that his passport is duly visaed. 
Harper's Waff., LXXIX. 188. 
vise-bench (vis'bench), n. In carp., etc., a 
work-bench to which a vise is attached. 
vise-cap (vis'kap), n. A cap of metal or leather 
placed over the jaws of a vise to prevent in- 
jury of the surface of the work by its teeth. 
vise-clamp (vis'klamp), . 1. A supplemental 
vise-jaw of such form as to hold work of unusual 
shape or material without injury. 2. A clamp 
by which a vise can be temporarily secured to 
a bench or other object. 
viseman, viceman (vis'man), n. ; pi. visemen, 
vicemen (-men). A man who works at a vise. 
vise-press (vls'pres), n. A former name in 
Great Britain for the screw-press. 
visert, viseret, visernt, Old forms of vizor. 
Vishnu (vish'no), n. [< Skt. Fislnm.'] In later 
Hind, myth., the god who with the other two 
great gods, Brahma and Siva, forms the trimurti, 
or trinity ; the Preserver, considered by his 
worshipers to be the 
supreme god of the Hin- 
du pantheon. In the Ve- 
das he appears only as a man- 
ifestation of the sun. The 
myths relating to Vishnu are 
chiefly characterized by the 
idea that whenever a great 
disorder affected the world 
Vishnu descended to set it 
right. Such descents are 
called avataras or avatars, 
and consist in Vishnu's as- 
sumingtheformof some won- 
derful animal or superhuman 
being, or as being born in 
human form of human pa- 
rents, and always endowed 
with miraculous power. 
These avatars are generally 
given as ten, nine of which 
are already past, the tenth, 
the Kalki-avatdra, being yet 
to come, " when the practices 
taught by the Vedas and the 
institutes of the law shall 
have ceased, and the close of 
the Kali or present age shall 
be nigh." Vishnu is sometimes represented as riding on 
Garuda, a being half bird and half man ; as holding in one 
of his four hands a conch-shell blown in battle, in another 
a disk as emblem of supreme power, in the third a mace 
as the emblem of punishment, and in the fourth a lotus 
as a type of creative power. 
visibility (viz-i-bil'i-ti), n. [< F. visibilite = 
Sp. visibilidad = Pg'. ' visibilidade =It. visibilita, 
< LL. visibilita(t-)s, the property or condition of 
being seen, < visibilis, visible : see visible. ] 1. 
The state or property of being visible, or per- 
ceivable by the eye ; perceptibility ; the state 
of being exposed to view ; conspicuousness. 
Sir Richard Browne [during nineteen years' exile] . . . 
kept up in his chapel the liturgy and offices of the Church 
of England, to his no small honour, and in a time when it 
was so low, and as many thought utterly lost, that in vari- 
ous controversies, both with Papists and Sectaries, our 
divines us'd to argue for the visibility of the Church from 
his chapel and congregation. Evelyn, Diary, June 4, 1660. 
2f. A thing which is visible. 
The visibility [of the Holy Ghost] being on an effulgency 
of visible light. Quoted in Walton's Complete Angler, p. 28. 
6770 
visible (viz'i-bl), a. and n. [< ME. visible, < OF. 
(and F.) visible = Sp. visible = Pg. visivel = It. 
visibile, < LL. visibilis, that may be seen, < L. vi- 
ilere, pp. visus, see: see vision.] I. <i. 1. Per- 
ceivable by the eye; capable of being seen; 
open to sight. 
Then the eighteth sone borne of ilelusin, 
Thre eyes hauyng on in front visible; 
Moche peple meruellyd and wonderd ther-in. 
Jiom. of Partenay (E. E. T. S.), 1. 1269. 
Were armies to be raised whenever a speck of war is 
visible in our horizon, we never should have been without 
them. Jefferson, Works, VIII. 69. 
2. Apparent; open; conspicuous: as, a man 
with no visible means of support. 
Though his actions were not visible. 
Shak., Cymheline, iii. 4. 152. 
The factions at court were greater, or more viiible, than 
before. Clarendon. 
3. In entom., noting parts which are not con- 
cealed by other parts, as the spiracles when 
they are not concealed under the hard parts of 
the integument: opposed to covered Visible 
church, in theol., the church of Christ on the earth ; the 
whole body of professed believers in Christ. Visible 
horizon, the line that bounds the sight. .See horizon. 
Visible means, means or resources which are apparent 
or ascertainable by others, so that the court or a creditor 
can ascertain that the person is responsible or reach his 
property. Visible spectrum. See spectrum , 3. Visi- 
ble speech, a name applied by Prof. A. Melville Bell, 
its inventor, to a system of alphabetical characters de- 
signed to represent every possible articulate utterance of 
the organs of speech. The system is based on a pene- 
trating analysis of the possible actions of the speech- 
organs, each organ and every mode of action having its 
appropriate symbol. = Syn. Discernible, in sight, obvious, 
manifest, clear, distinct evident, plain, patent, unmistak- 
able. 
II. n. That which is seen by the eye. 
Visibles work upon a looking-glass, which is like the pu- 
pil of the eye. Bacon, Nat. Hist., 263. 
Go into thy room and enter into that spiritual commu- 
nion which is beyond all visibles. 
A. E. Ban; Friend Olivia, iii. 
visibleness (viz'i-bl-nes), n. The state or prop- 
erty of being visible ; visibility. 
visibly (viz'i-bli), adv. In a visible manner; 
perceptibly to the eye ; manifestly ; obviously ; 
clearly. 
visie, vizie (viz'i), n. [Also vizy; < F. visee, aim, 
< viser, aim, sight at: see vise.] 1. A scrutiniz- 
ing view or look. 
Ye had best take a visie of him through the wicket be- 
fore opening the gate. Scott. 
2. The aim taken at an object, as when one is 
about to shoot. 
Logan took a vtey and fired, but his gun flashed in the 
pan. Gait, Steam-Boat, p. 143. (Jamieson.) 
3. The knob or sight on the muzzle of a gun 
by which aim is taken. [Scotch in all uses.] 
visiert, n. See vizir. 
Visigoth (viz'i-goth), n. [< LL. * Visigoilii, 
Fiseaothsp., West Goths, < visi-, vise-, repr. Teut. 
west, + Gothi, Gothse, Goths.] An individual 
of the more westerly of the two great historical 
divisions of the Goths. See Goth. The Visigoths 
founded a monarchy which continued in southern France 
until 507 and in Spain until 711. Also called West Goth. 
Visigothic (viz-i-goth'ik), a. [< Visigoth + 
-ic.] Of or pertaining to the Visigoths. 
vision (vizh'pn), n. [< ME. vision, visioun, 
visiun, < OF. vision, F. vision = Sp. vision = Pg. 
visao = It. visione, < L. visio(n-), the act or 
sense of seeing, vision, < videre, pp. visus, see, 
= Gr. ISelv (*Fifctv), Skt. rf vid, know, = E. wit: 
see wit 1 . From the L. videre are also ult. E. 
visible, visage, vis^, visit, visive, visual, advice, 
advise, device, devise, pervise, revise, supervise, 
provide, provision, revision, supervision, etc., evi- 
dent, provident, evidence, providence, etc., pur- 
vey, survey, etc., invidious, envy 1 , etc.] 1. The 
act of seeing external objects ; sight. 
Faith here is turned into vision there. 
Hammond, Practical Catechism, i. 3. 
2. The faculty that perceives the luminosity, 
color, form, and relative size of objects; that 
sense whose organ is the eye; by extension, 
an analogous mental power. As noting one of 
the five special senses of the body, vision is cor- 
related with olfaction, audition, ijustation, and 
faction. See sit/hti. 3. That which is seen; 
an object of sight ; specifically, a supernatural 
or prophetic appearance ; something seen in a 
dream, ecstasy, trance, or the like; also, an 
imaginary appearance ; an apparition ; a phan- 
tom. 
There duelled the Holy Prophete Daniel ; and there he 
saughe Visionnes of Hevene. MandevUle, Travels, p. 43. 
Your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall 
see visicms. Joel ii. 28. 
visionary 
Departing Year! 'twas on no earthly shore 
My soul beheld thy vision .' 
Coleridge, Ode to the Departing Year, iv. 
Far in the North, like a vision of sorrow, 
Rise the white snow-drifts to topple and fall. 
R. T. Cooke, September. 
4. Anything unreal or imaginary ; a mere cre- 
ation of fancy; a fanciful view. 
Visions of dominion and glory rose before him. 
Macaulay, Hist. Eng., vi. 
Arc Of vision, in astron., the arc measuring the sun's dis- 
tance below the horizon when a star or planet previously 
concealed by his light becomes visible. Axis of vision. 
See axis*. Beatific vision, in theol. See beatific. Bi- 
nocular vision, vision effected by the cooperation of 
both eyes in such a way that the two impressions made 
upon the retinae are perceived as one ; stereoscopic vision. 
It is by means chiefly of binocular vision that we are en- 
abled to judge of the relative positions of objects. Center 
of vision. Same appoint of vision. Chromatic vision, 
a condition of sight in which objects appear to have a 
color they dp not possess, or to have an iridescent border ; 
chromatopsia. Day- vision, a condition of sight in which 
vision is weakened or lost at night ; night-blindness ; 
hemeralopia. Dichromic vision, a form of color-blind- 
ness in which there is perception of but two of the pri- 
mary colors ; dichromism. In this condition the percep- 
tion of red is usually wanting. Direct or central vi- 
sion, the formation of the sight-image at the macula lu- 
tea. Direct- vision spectroscope. See spectroscope. 
Double vision, the perception of two images of one and 
the same object; diplopia. Erect vision. See erect. 
Field of vision. See field. Indirect or peripheral 
vision, formation of the sight-image at some part of the 
retina other than the macula lutea. Intuitive vision. 
Same as beatific vision. Iridescent vision, a condition 
of sight in which objects appear to be bordered with alter- 
nating colors like those of the rainbow : a form of chroma- 
topsia. Limit of distinct vision. See limit. Night- 
vision, a condition of vision in which objects are perceived 
more clearly at night ; day-blindness ; nyctalopia. Per- 
sistence of vision. See persistence. Point of vision. 
See point^. Reflected vision, reflex vision. See re- 
flex. Refracted vision, vision performed by means of 
rays refracted or deviated by passing through mediums of 
different densities. 
vision (vizh'on), v. t. [< vision, n.] 1. To see 
as in a vision; perceive by the eye of the intel- 
lect or imagination. 
We in the morning eyed the pleasant fields 
Vision'd before. Southey, Joan of Arc, viii. 
Such guessing, visioning, dim perscrutation of the mo- 
mentous future ! 
Carlyle, Past and Present, ii. 8. (Davies.) 
2. To present in or as in a vision. 
It [truth] may be visioned objectively by representatives 
and symbols, when the prophet becomes a seer, . . . 
sioned as out of the mind, . . . now as actual water vi- 
sioned and flowing clear. 
E. H. Sears, The Fourth Gospel, The Heart of Christ, pp. 
[72, 80. 
visional (vizh'on-al), a. [< vision + -al.] Of or 
pertaining to a vision ; seen in a vision ; hence, 
not real. Waterland. 
visionally (vizh'on-al-i), adv. In a visional 
manner ; in vision. 
Visionally past, not eventually. 
Trapp, On Rev. xi. 14, quoted in Biblical Museum, V. 
visionariness (vizh'on-a-ri-nes), n. The char- 
acter of being visionary. 
Dulnessfrom absolute monotony, and visionariness from 
the aerial texture of the speculations. 
De Quincey, Style, iii. 
visionary (vizh'qn-a-ri), a. and n. [= F. vi- 
sionnaire = Sp. Pg. It. visionario ; as vision + 
-ary.] I. a. 1. Apt to behold visions; of pow- 
erful and foreseeing imagination ; imaginative ; 
in a bad sense, apt to receive and act 011 mere 
fancies or whims as if they were realities ; 
given to indulging in day-dreams, reveries, 
fanciful theories, or the like. 
No more these scenes my meditation aid, 
Or lull to rest the visionary maid. 
Pope, Eloisa to Abelard, 1. 162. 
The Sonnet glittered a gay myrtle-leaf 
Amid the cypress with which Dante crowned 
His visionary brow. 
Wordsworth, Misc. Sonnets, ii. 1. 
2. Of or pertaining to visions ; of the nature of 
a vision or a product of the imagination ; ima- 
ginary; in a bad sense, having no real basis; 
not founded on fact or possibility; impracti- 
cable ; impossible : as, a visionary scheme. 
Some things like visionary flights appear ; 
The spirit caught him up, the Lord knows where. 
Dryden, Abs. and Achit., i. 656. 
O Sleep, why dost thou leave me? 
Why thy visionary Joys remove? 
Congreve, Semele, ii. 2. 
Men come into business at first with visionary princi- 
ples. Jefferson, To Madison (Correspondence, II. 325). 
That the project of peace should appear visionary to 
great numbers of sensible men ... is very natural. 
Emerson, War. 
3. Appropriate to or characterized by the ap- 
pearance of visions. 
