What a brazen-faced varlet art thou !
Shak.
3. In a pack of playing cards, the court card now called the knave, or
jack. [Obs.]
Var"let*ry (?), n. [Cf. OF. valeterie the young unmarried nobles.] The
rabble; the crowd; the mob.
Shall they hoist me up, And show me to the shouting varletry Of
censuring Rome.
Shak.
Var"nish (?), n. [OE. vernish, F. vernis, LL. vernicium; akin to F.
vernir to varnish, fr. (assumed) LL. vitrinire to glaze, from LL.
vitrinus glassy, fr. L. vitrum glass. See Vitreous.]
1. A viscid liquid, consisting of a solution of resinous matter in an
oil or a volatile liquid, laid on work with a brush, or otherwise. When
applied the varnish soon dries, either by evaporation or chemical
action, and the resinous part forms thus a smooth, hard surface, with a
beautiful gloss, capable of resisting, to a greater or less degree, the
influences of air and moisture.
According to the sorts of solvents employed, the ordinary kinds of
varnish are divided into three classes: spirit, turpentine, and oil
varnishes. Encyc. Brit
2. That which resembles varnish, either naturally or artificially; a
glossy appearance.
The varnish of the holly and ivy.
Macaulay.
3. An artificial covering to give a fair appearance to any act or
conduct; outside show; gloss.
And set a double varnish on the fame The Frenchman gave you.
Shak.
Varnish tree (Bot.), a tree or shrub from the juice or resin of which
varnish is made, as some species of the genus Rhus, especially R.
vernicifera of Japan. The black varnish of Burmah is obtained from the
Melanorrhœa usitatissima, a tall East Indian tree of the Cashew family.
See Copal, and Mastic.
Var"nish, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Varnished (?); p. pr. & vb. n.
Varnishing.] [Cf. F. vernir, vernisser. See Varnish, n.]
1. To lay varnish on; to cover with a liquid which produces, when dry,
a hard, glossy surface; as, to varnish a table; to varnish a painting.
2. To cover or conceal with something that gives a fair appearance; to
give a fair coloring to by words; to gloss over; to palliate; as, to
varnish guilt. "Beauty doth varnish age." Shak.
Close ambition, varnished o'er with zeal.
Milton.
Cato's voice was ne'er employed To clear the guilty and to varnish
crimes.
Addison.
Var"nish*er (?), n. 1. One who varnishes; one whose occupation is to
varnish.
2. One who disguises or palliates; one who gives a fair external
appearance. Pope.
Var"nish*ing, n. The act of laying on varnish; also, materials for
varnish.
Var"ta*bed (?), n. [Armen., a doctor, master, preceptor.] (Eccl.) A
doctor or teacher in the Armenian church. Members of this order of
ecclesiastics frequently have charge of dioceses, with episcopal
functions.
||Va*ru"na (v*r"n), n. [Skr. Varua.] (Hindu Myth.) The god of the
||waters; the Indian Neptune. He is regarded as regent of the west, and
||lord of punishment, and is represented as riding on a sea monster,
||holding in his hand a snaky cord or noose with which to bind
||offenders, under water.
||
Var"vel (?), n. [F. vervelle.] In falconry, one of the rings secured to
the ends of the jesses. [Written also vervel.]
Var"veled (?), a. Having varvels, or rings. [Written also varvelled,
and vervelled.]
In heraldry, when the jesses attached to the legs of hawks hang loose,
or have pendent ends with rings at the tips, the blazon is a hawk (or a
hawk's leg) jessed and varveled.
Va"ry (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Varied (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Varying.]
[OE. varien, F. varier, L. variare, fr. varius various. See Various,
and cf. Variate.]
1. To change the aspect of; to alter in form, appearance, substance,
position, or the like; to make different by a partial change; to
modify; as, to vary the properties, proportions, or nature of a thing;
to vary a posture or an attitude; to vary one's dress or opinions.
Shall we vary our device at will, Even as new occasion appears?
Spenser.
2. To change to something else; to transmute; to exchange; to
alternate.
Gods, that never change their state, Vary oft their love and hate.
Waller.
We are to vary the customs according to the time and country where the
scene of action lies.
Dryden.
3. To make of different kinds; to make different from one another; to
diversity; to variegate.
God hath varied their inclinations.
Sir T. Browne.
God hath here Varied his bounty so with new delights.
Milton.
4. (Mus.) To embellish; to change fancifully; to present under new
aspects, as of form, key, measure, etc. See Variation, 4.
Va"ry (?), v. i. 1. To alter, or be altered, in any manner; to suffer a
partial change; to become different; to be modified; as, colors vary in
different lights.
That each from other differs, first confess; Next, that he varies from
himself no less.
Pope.
2. To differ, or be different; to be unlike or diverse; as, the laws of
France vary from those of England.
3. To alter or change in succession; to alternate; as, one mathematical
quantity varies inversely as another.
While fear and anger, with alternate grace, Pant in her breast, and
vary in her face.
Addison.
4. To deviate; to depart; to swerve; — followed by from; as, to vary
from the law, or from reason. Locke.
5. To disagree; to be at variance or in dissension; as, men vary in
opinion.
The rich jewel which we vary for.
Webster (1623).
Va"ry, n. Alteration; change. [Obs.] Shak.
Va"ry*ing, a. & n. from Vary.
Varying hare (Zoöl.), any hare or rabbit which becomes white in winter,
especially the common hare of the Northern United States and Canada.
||Vas (?), n.; pl. Vasa (#). [L., a vessel. See Vase.] (Anat.) A
||vessel; a duct.
||
||Vas deferens; pl. Vasa deferentia. [L. vas vessel + deferens carrying
||down.] (Anat.) The excretory duct of a testicle; a spermatic duct.
||
Vas"cu*lar (?), a. [L. vasculum a small vessel, dim. of vas vessel: cf.
F. vasculaire. See Vase, and cf. Vessel.]
1. (Biol.) (a) Consisting of, or containing, vessels as an essential
part of a structure; full of vessels; specifically (Bot.), pertaining
to, or containing, special ducts, or tubes, for the circulation of sap.
(b) Operating by means of, or made up of an arrangement of, vessels;
as, the vascular system in animals, including the arteries, veins,
capillaries, lacteals, etc. (c) Of or pertaining to the vessels of
animal and vegetable bodies; as, the vascular functions.
2. (Bot.) Of or pertaining to the higher division of plants, that is,
the phænogamous plants, all of which are vascular, in distinction from
the cryptogams, which to a large extent are cellular only.
Vascular plants (Bot.), plants composed in part of vascular tissue, as
all flowering plants and the higher cryptogamous plants, or those of
the class Pteridophyta. Cf. Cellular plants, Cellular. — Vascular
system (Bot.), the body of associated ducts and woody fiber; the
fibrovascular part of plants. — Vascular tissue (Bot.), vegetable
tissue composed partly of ducts, or sap tubes. — Water vascular system
(Zoöl.), a system of vessels in annelids, nemerteans, and many other
invertebrates, containing a circulating fluid analogous to blood, but
not of the same composition. In annelids the fluid which they contain
is usually red, but in some it is green, in others yellow, or whitish.
Vas`cu*lar"i*ty (?), n.; pl. Vascularities (&?;). (Biol.) The quality
or state of being vascular.
Vas"cu*lose` (?), n. (Bot.) One of the substances of which vegetable
tissue is composed, differing from cellulose in its solubility in
certain media.
||Vas"cu*lum (?), n.; pl. Vascula (#). [L., a small vessel.] 1. (Bot.)
||Same as Ascidium, n., 1.
||
2. A tin box, commonly cylindrical or flattened, used in collecting
plants.
Vase (vs or väz; 277), n. [F. vase; cf. Sp. & It. vaso; fr. L. vas,
vasum. Cf. Vascular, Vessel.] 1. A vessel adapted for various domestic
purposes, and anciently for sacrificial uses; especially, a vessel of
antique or elegant pattern used for ornament; as, a porcelain vase; a
gold vase; a Grecian vase. See Illust. of Portland vase, under
Portland.
No chargers then were wrought in burnished gold, Nor silver vases took
the forming mold.
Pope.
2. (Arch.) (a) A vessel similar to that described in the first
definition above, or the representation of one in a solid block of
stone, or the like, used for an ornament, as on a terrace or in a
garden. See Illust. of Niche. (b) The body, or naked ground, of the
Corinthian and Composite capital; — called also tambour, and drum.
Until the time of Walker (1791), vase was made to rhyme with base,,
case, etc., and it is still commonly so pronounced in the United
States. Walker made it to rhyme with phrase, maze, etc. Of modern
English practice, Mr. A. J. Ellis (1874) says: "Vase has four
pronunciations in English: vz, which I most commonly say, is going out
of use, väz I hear most frequently, vz very rarely, and vs I only know
from Cull's marking. On the analogy of case, however, it should be the
regular sound."