VIGNETTE, vin-yet', _n._ any small ornamental engraving, design, or
photograph not enclosed by a definite border: (_orig._) an ornamental
flourish of vine leaves and tendrils on manuscripts and books.--_v.t._ to
treat or produce in such a style.--_ns._ VIGNETT'ER; VIGNETT'ING-GLASS,
-P[=A]'PER, a glass frame, mask, used in printing vignette pictures;
VIGNETT'IST, one who makes vignettes. [Fr.,--_vigne_--L. _vinea_, a vine.]
VIGOUR, vig'ur, _n._ active strength: physical force: vital strength in
animals or plants: strength of mind: energy.--_adj._ VIG'OROUS, strong
either in mind or body.--_adv._ VIG'OROUSLY.--_n._ VIG'OROUSNESS. [Fr.,--L.
_vigor_--_vig[=e]re_, to be strong.]
VIKING, v[=i]'king, _n._ one of the piratical Northmen who in the 8th, 9th,
and 10th centuries ravaged the coasts of western Europe.--_n._
V[=I]'KINGISM, characteristics, acts, &c. of VIKINGS. [Ice. _víkingr_,
(lit.) 'a creeker'--_víkr_ (Swed. _vik_, Eng. _wick_), a bay, and
_-ingr_=Eng. _-ing_.]
VILAYET, vil-a-yet', _n._ the name given to the great provinces into which
the Ottoman empire is divided.
VILD, v[=i]ld, _adj._ (_Spens._) vile, wicked.--_adv._ VILD'LY.
VILE, v[=i]l, _adj._ worthless: mean: morally impure: wicked: (_B._) poor,
cheap.--_adv._ VILE'LY.--_n._ VILE'NESS.--_ns._ VILIFIC[=A]'TION, act of
vilifying: defamatory speech: abuse; VIL'IF[=I]ER.--_v.t._ VIL'IFY, to make
vile: to attempt to degrade by slander: to defame:--_pa.t._ and _pa.p._
vil'if[=i]ed.--_v.t._ VIL'IPEND, to slander, vilify.--_v.i._ to use
vilification. [Fr.,--L. _vilis_.]
VILLA, vil'a, _n._ a country residence or seat: a suburban mansion--also
VILL.--_ns._ VILL'ADOM, villas collectively, people living in them;
VILL'[=A]GE, any small assemblage of houses, less than a town: (_orig._) a
number of houses inhabited by persons near the residence of a proprietor or
farmer: (_law_) a manor, a parish or the outlying part of a parish;
VILL'AGE-COMM[=U]'NITY, a clan of settlers who built their huts on a tract
of land and laid out common fields which they cultivated in common as one
family, the land being divided out every few years into family lots, but
the whole continuing to be cultivated by the community subject to the
established customs as interpreted in the village-council by the sense of
the village elders--the so-called _Mark system_ of Sir Henry Maine;
VILL'[=A]GER, an inhabitant of a village; VILL'[=A]GERY (_Shak._), a
district of villages; VILL'AKIN, VILLANETTE', a little villa.--_adj._
VILLAT'IC (_Milt._), pertaining to a farm. [O. Fr. _ville_ (Fr.
_ville_)--L. _villa_, a country-house, prob. reduced from _vicla_, dim. of
_vicus_, a village; Gr. _oikos_, a house.]
VILLAIN, vil'[=a]n, or vil'in, _n._ a wicked wretch: a man extremely
degraded: in feudal times, a member of the lowest class of unfree
persons.--_ns._ VILL'AIN[=A]GE, VILL'AN[=A]GE, VILL'EIN[=A]GE,
VILL'EN[=A]GE, in feudal times, the tenure of land by villein, i.e. base or
menial services.--_adj._ VILL'AINOUS, like or suited to a villain:
depraved: proceeding from extreme depravity: very bad, mean, vile.--_adv._
VILL'AINOUSLY.--_ns._ VILL'AINOUSNESS; VILL'AINY, the act of a villain:
extreme depravity: an atrocious crime. [Orig. 'a serf attached to a farm,'
O. Fr. _villain_--Low L. _villanus_--L. _villa_.]
VILLANELLE, vil-a-nel', _n._ a poem, of a form borrowed from the French,
consisting of nineteen lines on two rhymes, arranged in six stanzas, the
first five having three, the last four lines. [It. _villanella_--_villano_,
rustic.]
VILLARSIA, vi-l[=a]r'si-a, _n._ a genus of widely distributed aquatic or
marsh plants, of order _Gentianaceæ_--named from the French botanist
Dominique _Villars_ (1745-1814).
VILLEGIATURA, vi-l[.e]j-a-t[=oo]'ra, _n._ country retirement.
[It.,--_villegiare_, to stay at a country-seat--_villa_, a country-seat.]
VILLEIN, another spelling of _villain_ (only in its original meaning).
VILLI, vil'[=i], _n.pl._ (_anat._) fine small fibres covering certain
membranes: (_bot._) fine soft hairs on fruits, flowers, and other parts of
plants:--_sing._ VILL'US.--_adjs._ VILL'IFORM, having the form or
appearance of villi; VILL'[=O]SE, VILL'OUS, covered with long, soft hairs:
formed of minute villi, resembling the pile of velvet.--_n._ VILLOS'ITY,
state of being villous. [L., pl. of _villus_, hair, wool.]