V E G 
antiquiss. yra, hurra, in gyrum agitare. Serenius.] To 
turn about. 
Nigh river’s mouth, where wind 
Veers oft, as oft he steers and shifts her sail. Milton. 
To VEER, v. a. To let out.—As it is a great point of 
art, when our matter requires it, to enlarge and veer out all 
sail; so to take it in and contract it, is of no less praise when 
the argument doth ask it. 13. Jonson. —To turn; to change. 
I see the haven nigh at hand. 
To which I mean my weary course to bend; 
Veer the main-sheet, and bear up with the land. Spenser. 
VEERE, or Ter Veere (in English Campvere ), a 
small town of the Netherlands, in the province of Zealand, 
situated on the north-east side of the island of Walcheren, on 
a narrow channel between the two arms of the Scheldt, near 
their mouth; 4 miles north-north-east of Middleburg. 
VEE'RING, s. Act of turning or changing.—It is a 
double misfortune to a nation given to change, when they 
have a sovereign that is prone to fall in with all the turns 
and veerings of the people. Addison. 
VEGA (Lopez de la, or Lope-Felix de Vega-Carpio), a 
celebrated and voluminous Spanish poet, was born of a 
noble family at Madrid, in the year 1562. Having been 
educated in the university of Alcala, he occupied several 
honourable posts, and served on board the grand armada 
destined against England. After the death of his second 
wife, he took holy orders at Toledo, and obtained admission 
into the congregation of priests at Madrid; acting as pre¬ 
sident, and professing himself as one of the third order of 
Franciscans. By favour of Pope Urban VIII. he was 
honoured with the insignia of the knights of Malta, and 
with the title of doctor of theology. He died in 1635, at 
the age of 73. He was eminently distinguished as a poet, 
and regarded as the father of the Spanish drama, excelling, 
as some have asserted, all poets, ancient and modern, in this 
kind of composition. His “ Theatre” occupies twenty-five 
volumes, each of which contains twelve plays of various 
descriptions. One of his biographers says of him, that 
** the inundation of Vega’s fancy seems to have been no 
more than a deluge of very ordinary matter, in which there 
is little to be praised but an easy eloquence of language, and 
a faculty of dramatising, after a manner, stories of every 
kind. Three hundred pieces could not possibly have been 
composed otherwise. Nor was this the principal portion of 
literary labour; for he has himself affirmed, that upon a 
calculation it would appear, that he wrote five leaves of MS. 
for every day of his life.” The high degree of admiration 
he inspired in his own country appeared from the numerous 
eulogies of which he was the subject after his death. Moreri. 
Gen. Biog. 
VEGA, a small town of the north-west of Spain, in Leon; 
45 miles west of Astorga.-—2. A settlement of New Granada, 
in the government of Mariquita; 12 leagues west of "anta 
Fe.—3. A settlement of Mexico, in the intendancy of Val¬ 
ladolid. There are several other insignificant settlements of 
this name. 
VEGA LA, Real, a large and fertile valley in the island 
of St. Domingo. It is watered by the Yaque on thi west 
side, and by the Yuna to the east, and it projects to the 
head of the bay of Samana. 
VEGA, Conception de la, an ancient city and bish¬ 
opric of St. Domingo, in the north-east part of the island 
on the road from St. Domingo city to Daxabon. 
VEGEL, a small town in the south-west of Spain, in the 
province of Seville, between Cadiz and Gibraltar, near the 
mouth of the Barbato; 27 miles south-south-east of Cadiz. 
VEGESACK, a small town in the north-west of Germany 
in the territory of the imperial town of Bremen; 10 miles 
north-west of Bremen. 
VEGETABI'LITY; s. Vegetable nature; the quality of 
growth without sensation.—The coagulating spirits of salts, 
and lapidifical juice of the sea, entering the parts of the 
plant, overcome its vcgetability, and convert it unto a 
lapideous substance. Brown. 
- Vol. XXIV. No. 1640. 
V E G 341 
VE'GETABLE, s. [vcgetabilis, school Lat.; vegetable, 
Fr.] Any thing that has growth without sensation, as 
plants. — Vegetables are organized bodies, consisting of 
various parts, containing vessels furnished with different 
juices, and taking in nourishment from without, usually by 
means of a root fixed to the earth, or to some other body, 
as in the generality of plants; sometimes by means of pores 
distributed over the whole surface, as in sub-marine plants. 
Hill. r 
VE'GETABLE, adj. [ycgetabilis, Lat.] Belonging to a 
plant. 
The vegetable world, each plant and tree. 
From the fair cedar on the craggy brow, 
To creeping moss. Prior. 
Having the nature of plants. 
Amidst them stood the tree of life. 
High eminent, blooming ambrosial fruit 
Of vegetable gold. Milton. 
VE'GETAL, adj. [ vegetal , Fr.] Having power to cause 
growth. Obsolete. —Necessary concomitants of this vegetal 
faculty are life, and his privation death. Burton. 
VE'GETAL, s. A vegetable.—Your minerals, vegctals, 
and animals. B. Jonson. 
To VE'GETATE, v. n. [vegeto, Latin.] To grow as 
plants; to shoot out; to grow without sensation. 
See dying vegetables life sustain ; 
See life dissolving vegetate again. 
VEGETATION, s. [from vegeto, Lat.] 
producing the growth of plants. 
The sun, deep-darting to the dark retreat 
Of vegetation , sets the steaming power 
At large. 
The power of growth without sensation.—These pulsations 
F attribute to a plastic nature, or vital principle, as the vege¬ 
tation of plants must also be. Ray. 
VEGETATIVE, adj. [ vegetatif, Fr.] Having the 
quality of growing without life.—Creatures vegetative and 
growing, have their seeds in themselves. Ralegh. —Having 
the power to produce growth in plants.—The nature of 
plants doth consist in having a vegetative soul, by which 
they receive nourishment and growth, and are enabled to 
multiply their kind. Wilkins. —Homer makes deities of the 
vegetative faculties, and virtues of the field. Broome. 
VEGETATIVENESS, s. The quality of producing 
growth. 
VE'GETE, adj. [vegetus, Latin.] Vigorous; active; 
spritely.—He had lived a healthful and vegete age till his last 
sickness. Bp. Taylor. 
VE'GETIVE, adj. [vegeto, Lat.] Vegetable; having the 
nature of plants. 
Nor rent off, but cut off ripe bean with a knife. 
For hindering stalke of hir vegctivc life. Tusser. 
Capable of growth ; growing. 
Man- 
First v egetive, then feels, and reasons last. Dry den. 
VE'GETIVE, s. A vegetable. 
Hence vegetives receive their fragrant birth. 
And clothe the naked bosom of the earth. Sandys. 
The tree still panted in th’ unfinish'd part, 
Not wholly vegetive; and heav’d her heart. Dry den. 
VE'GETOUS, adj. [yegetus, Lat.] Lively ; spritely ; 
vegete.-—If she be fair, young, and vegetous, no sweetmeats 
ever drew more flies. B. Jonson. 
VEGJAH, orBAYJAH, a town of Tunis, in Africa, sup¬ 
posed by Shaw to be the ancient Vacca. It carries on a 
considerable trade with the interior; 45 miles west of Tunis. 
VEGLIA, an island in the Adriatic, at the north-west 
Corner of the gulf of Quarnero, now belonging to Austria, 
and included in the government of Trieste, circle of Fiume. 
Its area is about 210 square miles; its population about 
10 , 000 . 
3 Q VEGLIA, 
Pope. 
The power of 
Thomson. 
