Vi*role" (?), n. [F., a ferrule. See Ferrule.] (Her.) A ring
surrounding a bugle or hunting horn.
Vi*roled" (?), a. (Her.) Furnished with a virole or viroles; — said of
a horn or a bugle when the rings are of different tincture from the
rest of the horn.
Vi*rose" (?), a. [L. virosus. See Virus.] Having a nauseous odor;
fetid; poisonous. [R.]
Vir*tu" (?; 277), n. [It. virtù virtue, excellence, from L. virtus. See
Virtue.] A love of the fine arts; a taste for curiosities. J. Spence.
An article, or piece, of virtu, an object of art or antiquity; a
curiosity, such as those found in museums or private collections.
I had thoughts, in my chambers to place it in view, To be shown to my
friends as a piece of virtù.
Goldsmith.
Vir"tu*al (?; 135), a. [Cf. F. virtuel. See Virtue.] 1. Having the
power of acting or of invisible efficacy without the agency of the
material or sensible part; potential; energizing.
Heat and cold have a virtual transition, without communication of
substance.
Bacon.
Every kind that lives, Fomented by his virtual power, and warmed.
Milton.
2. Being in essence or effect, not in fact; as, the virtual presence of
a man in his agent or substitute.
A thing has a virtual existence when it has all the conditions
necessary to its actual existence.
Fleming.
To mask by slight differences in the manners a virtual identity in the
substance.
De Quincey.
Principle of virtual velocities (Mech.), the law that when several
forces are in equilibrium, the algebraic sum of their virtual moments
is equal to zero. — Virtual focus (Opt.), the point from which rays,
having been rendered divergent by reflection of refraction, appear to
issue; the point at which converging rays would meet if not reflected
or refracted before they reach it. — Virtual image. (Optics) See under
Image. — Virtual moment (of a force) (Mech.), the product of the
intensity of the force multiplied by the virtual velocity of its point
of application; — sometimes called virtual work. — Virtual velocity
(Mech.), a minute hypothetical displacement, assumed in analysis to
facilitate the investigation of statical problems. With respect to any
given force of a number of forces holding a material system in
equilibrium, it is the projection, upon the direction of the force, of
a line joining its point of application with a new position of that
point indefinitely near to the first, to which the point is conceived
to have been moved, without disturbing the equilibrium of the system,
or the connections of its parts with each other. Strictly speaking, it
is not a velocity but a length. — Virtual work. (Mech.) See Virtual
moment, above.
Vir`tu*al"i*ty (?), n. [Cf. F. virtualité.] 1. The quality or state of
being virtual.