Vir"u*lent*ly, adv. In a virulent manner.
Vi"rus (?), n. [L., a slimy liquid, a poisonous liquid, poison, stench;
akin to Gr. &?; poison, Skr. visha. Cf. Wizen, v. i.] 1. (Med.) (a)
Contagious or poisonous matter, as of specific ulcers, the bite of
snakes, etc.; — applied to organic poisons. (b) The special contagion,
inappreciable to the senses and acting in exceedingly minute
quantities, by which a disease is introduced into the organism and
maintained there.
The specific virus of diseases is now regarded as a microscopic living
vegetable organism which multiplies within the body, and, either by its
own action or by the associated development of a chemical poison,
causes the phenomena of the special disease.
2. Fig.: Any morbid corrupting quality in intellectual or moral
conditions; something that poisons the mind or the soul; as, the virus
of obscene books.
||Vis (?), n. 1. Force; power.
||
2. (Law) (a) Physical force. (b) Moral power.
Principle of vis viva (Mech.), the principle that the difference
between the aggregate work of the accelerating forces of a system and
that of the retarding forces is equal to one half the vis viva
accumulated or lost in the system while the work is being done. — Vis
impressa [L.] (Mech.), force exerted, as in moving a body, or changing
the direction of its motion; impressed force. — Vis inertiæ. [L.] (a)
The resistance of matter, as when a body at rest is set in motion, or a
body in motion is brought to rest, or has its motion changed, either in
direction or in velocity. (b) Inertness; inactivity. Vis intertiæ and
inertia are not strictly synonymous. The former implies the resistance
itself which is given, while the latter implies merely the property by
which it is given. — Vis mortua [L.] (Mech.), dead force; force doing
no active work, but only producing pressure. — Vis vitæ, or Vis vitalis
[L.] (Physiol.), vital force. — Vis viva [L.] (Mech.), living force;
the force of a body moving against resistance, or doing work, in
distinction from vis mortua, or dead force; the kinetic energy of a
moving body; the capacity of a moving body to do work by reason of its
being in motion. See Kinetic energy, in the Note under Energy. The term
vis viva is not usually understood to include that part of the kinetic
energy of the body which is due to the vibrations of its molecules.
||Vi"sa (?), n. [F.] See Vis&?;.
||
Vi"sa, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Visaed (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Visaing.] To
indorse, after examination, with the word visé, as a passport; to visé.
Vis"age (?; 48), n. [F. visage, from L. visus a seeing, a look, fr.
videre, visum, to see. See Vision.] The face, countenance, or look of a
person or an animal; — chiefly applied to the human face. Chaucer. "A
visage of demand." Shak.
His visage was so marred more than any man.
Isa. lii. 14.
Love and beauty still that visage grace.
Waller.
Vis"age (?; 48), v. t. To face. [Obs.] Chaucer.
Vis"aged (?), a. Having a visage. Shak.
Vis"ard (?), n. A mask. See Visor.
Vis"ard, v. t. To mask.
||Vis`-a-vis" (?), n. [F., opposite, face to face.] 1. One who, or that
||which, is face to face with another; esp., one who faces another in
||dancing.
||
2. A carriage in which two persons sit face to face. Also, a form of
sofa with seats for two persons, so arranged that the occupants are
face to face while sitting on opposite sides.
Vis`-a-vis", adv. Face to face.
||Vis*ca"cha (?), ||Viz-ca"cha (&?;), n. [Sp.] (Zoöl.) A large
||burrowing South American rodent (Lagostomus trichodactylus) allied to
||the chinchillas, but much larger. Its fur is soft and rather long,
||mottled gray above, white or yellowish white beneath. There is a
||white band across the muzzle, and a dark band on each cheek. It
||inhabits grassy plains, and is noted for its extensive burrows and
||for heaping up miscellaneous articles at the mouth of its burrows.
||Called also biscacha, bizcacha, vischacha, vishatscha.
||
||Vis"ce*ra (?), n., pl. of Viscus.
||
Vis"cer*al (?), a. [Cf. F. viscéral, LL. visceralis.] 1. (Anat.) Of or
pertaining to the viscera; splanchnic.