Vi"ti*ate (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Vitiated (?); p. pr. & vb. n.
Vitiating.] [L. vitiatus, p. p. vitiare to vitiate, fr. vitium a fault,
vice. See Vice a fault.] [Written also viciate.] 1. To make vicious,
faulty, or imperfect; to render defective; to injure the substance or
qualities of; to impair; to contaminate; to spoil; as, exaggeration
vitiates a style of writing; sewer gas vitiates the air.
A will vitiated and growth out of love with the truth disposes the
understanding to error and delusion.
South.
Without care it may be used to vitiate our minds.
Burke.
This undistinguishing complaisance will vitiate the taste of readers.
Garth.
2. To cause to fail of effect, either wholly or in part; to make void;
to destroy, as the validity or binding force of an instrument or
transaction; to annul; as, any undue influence exerted on a jury
vitiates their verdict; fraud vitiates a contract.
Vi`ti*a"tion (?), n. [L. vitiatio.] The act of vitiating, or the state
of being vitiated; depravation; corruption; invalidation; as, the
vitiation of the blood; the vitiation of a contract.
The vitiation that breeds evil acts.
G. Eliot.
Vi*tic"u*lose` (?), a. [L. viticula, dim. of vitis vine.] (Bot.) Having
long and slender trailing stems.
Vit`i*cul"tur*al (?; 135), a. Of or pertaining to viticulture.
Vit"i*cul`ture (?), n. [L. vitis vine + E. culture.] The cultivation of
the vine; grape growing.
Vit`i*cul"tur*ist, n. One engaged in viticulture.
||Vit`i*li"go (?), n. [L., a kind of tetter, fr. vitium blemish, vice.]
||(Med.) A rare skin disease consisting in the development of smooth,
||milk-white spots upon various parts of the body.
||
Vit`i*lit"i*gate (?), v. i. [L. vitilitigare to quarrel disgracefully;
vitium vice + litigare to quarrel.] To contend in law litigiously or
cavilously. [Obs.]
Vit`i*lit`i*ga"tion (?), n. Cavilous litigation; cavillation. [Obs.]
Hudibras.
Vi`ti*os"i*ty (?), n. [L. vitiositas. See Vicious.] Viciousness;
depravity.
The perverseness and vitiosity of man's will.
South.
Vi"tious (?), a., Vi"tious*ly, adv., Vi"tious*ness, n. See Vicious,
Viciously, Viciousness.
||Vi"tis (?), n. [L., a vine.] (Bot.) A genus of plants including all
||true grapevines.
||
Vi"to*e (?), a. (Zoöl.) See Durukuli.
||Vi*trel"la (?), n. [NL., dim. of L. vitrum glass.] (Zoöl.) One of the
||transparent lenslike cells in the ocelli of certain arthropods.
||
Vit`re-o-e*lec"tic (?), a. [See Vitreous, and Electric.] (Physics)
Containing or exhibiting positive, or vitreous, electricity.
Vit"re*ous (?), a. [L. vitreous, from vitrum glass; perhaps akin to
videre to see (see Vision). Cf. Varnish.] 1. Consisting of, or
resembling, glass; glassy; as, vitreous rocks.
2. Of or pertaining to glass; derived from glass; as, vitreous
electricity.
Vitreous body (Anat.), the vitreous humor. See the Note under Eye. —
Vitreous electricity (Elec.), the kind of electricity excited by
rubbing glass with certain substances, as silk; positive electricity; —
opposed to resinous, or negative, electricity. — Vitreous humor.
(Anat.) See the Note under Eye. — Vitreous sponge (Zoöl.), any one of
numerous species of siliceous sponges having, often fibrous, glassy
spicules which are normally six-rayed; a hexactinellid sponge. See
Venus's basket, under Venus.
Vit"re*ous*ness, n. The quality or state of being vitreous.
Vi*tres"cence (?), n. The quality or state of being vitreous;
glassiness, or the quality of being vitrescent; capability of
conversion into glass; susceptibility of being formed into glass.
Kirwan.
Vi*tres"cent (?), a. [See Vitreous.] Capable of being formed into
glass; tending to become glass.
Vi*tres"ci*ble (?), a. [Cf. F. vitrescible.] That may be vitrified;
vitrifiable.
Vit"ric (?), a. [L. vitrum glass.] Having the nature and qualities of
glass; glasslike; — distinguished from ceramic.
Vit`ri*fac"tion (?), n. [Cf. Vitrification.] The act, art, or process
of vitrifying; also, the state of being vitrified.
Vit`ri*fac"ture (?; 135), n. [L. vitrum glass + facere, factum, to
make.] The manufacture of glass and glassware.
Vit"ri*fi`a*ble (?), a. [Cf. F. vitrifiable.] Capable of being
vitrified, or converted into glass by heat and fusion; as, flint and
alkalies are vitrifiable.