Dictionary
An American Dictionary of the English Language
Revised and enlarged (Goodrich & Porter)
Springfield, Mass. · G. & C. Merriam · 1865
- Entries
- 95,912
- Pages
- 1,538
- Illustrations
- 2,133
Look up a word as the writers of the time used it.
Voice'ful, a. p. 1482Having a voice, or vocal quality; vocal. Beheld the Iliad and Odyssey Rise to the swelling of the voiceful sea. Coleridge.Voice'less, a. p. 1482Having no voice, utterance, or vote. I live and die unheard, With a most voiceless thought. Byron.Void, a. p. 1482Empty; vacant; not occupied; not filled. I'll get me to some place more void. Shak. I chain him in my study, that, at void hours, I may run over the story of his country. Massinger. 2. Being without…Void, n. p. 1482An empty space; a vacuum. Pride, where wit fails, steps in to our defense, And fills up all the mighty void of sense. Pope.Void, v. t. p. 1482To make or leave vacant or empty; to quit; to leave. Bid them come down, Or void the field. Shak. 2. To throw, emit, or send out; to evacuate; as, to void excrements. “A watchful application of mind…Void, v. i. p. 1482To be emitted. [Rare.] Wiseman.Void'a-ble, a. p. 1482Capable of being voided or evacuated. 2. (Law.) Capable of being avoided, or of being adjudged void, invalid, and of no force; capable of being avoided or confirmed. Such administration is not void…Void'ance, n. p. 1482The act of voiding or emptying; ejection; especially, ejection from a benefice. 2. The state of being void; vacancy, as of an incumbent in a benefice. 3. Evasion; subterfuge. [Obs.] Bacon.Void'ed, p. a. p. 1482(Her.) Having the inner part cut away, or left vacant, a narrow border being left at the sides, the color of the field being seen in the vacant space: — said of a charge or ordinary.Void'er, n. p. 1482One who, or that which, voids, or empties, vacates, or annuls. 2. A tray, or basket, used to receive or convey that which is voided or cleared away from a given place; especially, one for carrying…Void'ing, p. a. p. 1482Receiving what is ejected; as, a voiding lobby.Void'ing, n. p. 1482The act of one who, or that which, voids. 2. That which is voided; that which is ejected or evacuated; a remnant; a fragment. [Rare.] Rowe.Void’ing-knife, n. p. 1482A knife used for gathering up fragments of food to put them into a voider.Void'ness, n. p. 1482The state or quality of being void; emptiness; vacuity; destitution; nullity; inefficacy; want of substantiality.Voir dire p. 1482(Law.) An oath administered to a witness, either before or after being sworn in chief, requiring him to speak the truth, or make true answers in reference to matters inquired of, to ascertain his…Voi'ture, n. p. 1482A kind of carriage. Arbuthnot.Vo-lā'ciōūs, a. p. 1482Apt or fit to fly. [Rare.]Vō'lant, a. p. 1482Passing through the air upon wings, or as if upon wings; flying; hence, passing from place to place; current. The English silver was now current, and our gold volant in the pope's court. Fuller. 2.…Vō-lān’te, n. p. 1482A large, heavy carriage, with two wheels, used in Cuba.Vŏl'a-ry, n. p. 1482A volery. See VOLERY. [Obs.]Vŏl'a-tile, a. p. 1482Passing through the air on wings, or by the buoyant force of the atmosphere; flying; having the power to fly. [Obs.] 2. Capable of wasting away, or of easily passing into the aériform state. ☞…Vŏl'a-tile, n. p. 1482A winged animal. [Obs.] Browne.Vŏl'a-tile-ness or Vŏl'a-til'i-ty, n. p. 1482The quality of being volatile; disposition to exhale or evaporate; that property of a substance which disposes it to rise and float in the air, and thus to be dissipated; as, the volatility of…Vŏl'a-til-iz'a-ble, a. p. 1482Capable of being volatilized.Vŏl/a-tĭl/ĭ-zā'tion, n. p. 1482The act or process of volatilizing, or rendering volatile.Vŏl'a-til-īze, v. t. p. 1482To render volatile; to cause to exhale or evaporate; to cause to pass off in vapor. “The water . . . dissolving the oil, and volatilizing it by the action.” Newton.Vŏl'borth-īte, n. p. 1482(Min.) A mineral of a green or gray color, consisting chiefly of vanadic acid, oxide of copper, lime, and water. Dana.Vol-cān'ic, a. p. 1482Of, or pertaining to, a volcano, or to volcanoes; as, volcanic heat. 2. Produced by a volcano; as, volcanic tufa. 3. Changed or affected by the heat of a volcano. Volcanic bomb, a detached mass of…Vŏl'can-ic'i-ty, n. p. 1482The state or quality of being volcanic; volcanic power. [Rare.]Vŏl'can-īsm, n. p. 1482Volcanic power or action; volcanicity.Vŏl'can-ist, n. p. 1482One versed in the history and phenomena of volcanoes. 2. One who believes in the effects of eruptions of fire in the formation of mountains.Vol-cān'i-ty, n. p. 1482The state of being volcanic, or of volcanic origin; volcanicity. [Rare.]Vŏl'can-i-zā'tion, n. p. 1482The act of volcanizing, or the state of being volcanized; the process of undergoing volcanic heat, and being affected by it.Vōl'can-ize, v. t. p. 1482To subject to, or cause to undergo, volcanic heat, and to be affected by its action. [Rare.]Vol-cā'no, n. p. 1482(Geol.) A mountain from which lava, steam, sulphur gases, and the like, are ejected; as Vesuvius, in Italy, and Hecla, in Iceland;—popularly called a burning mountain.Vōle, n. p. 1482A deal at cards that draws all the tricks. Swift. 2. (Zoöl.) An animal of the rat or mouse kind, of the genus Arvicola. The water-vole, or water-rat of Europe, is A. amphibious, and inhabits the…Vōle, v. i. p. 1483To play a vole, at cards; to take all the tricks.Volée, n. p. 1483(Mus.) A rapid flight of notes.Vōl'er-y, n. p. 1483A flight of birds. [Rare.] Locke. 2. A large bird-cage, in which the birds have room to fly; an aviary; a volary.Vōl'ge, n. p. 1483The common sort of people; the crowd. [Obs. and rare.] Fuller.Vōl'i-ta-ble, a. p. 1483Capable of being volatilized; evaporating; volatile. [Obs.]Vŏl/i-tā'tion, n. p. 1483The act of flying; flight. [Rare.] Browne.Vo-li'tient, a. p. 1483Exercising the will; willing, or having power to will.Vo-li′tion, n. p. 1483The act of willing or choosing; the act of forming a purpose; the exercise of the will. Volition is the actual exercise of the power which the mind has of considering, or forbearing to consider, an…Vo-lĭ'tion-al, a. p. 1483Belonging or relating to the volition. “The volitional impulse.” Bacon.Vŏl'i-tive, a. p. 1483Having the power to will. They not only perfect the intellectual faculty, but the volitive. Dale. 2. Of, or pertaining to, the will; originating in the will. 3. (Gram.) Used in expressing a wish or…Vŏl'ley, n. p. 1483A flight of shot; the discharge of many small arms at once. Each volley tells that thousands cease to breathe. Byron. 2. A burst or emission of many things at once; as, a volley of words. Fiery darts…Vŏl'ley, v. t. p. 1483To discharge with a volley.Vŏl'ley, v. i. p. 1483To be thrown out or discharged at once; to be discharged in a volley, or as if in a volley; making a volley or volleys. “Volleying discharges, peal after peal.” De Quincey. Cannon to right of them…Vŏl'leyed, p. a. p. 1483Discharged with a sudden burst, or as if in a volley; as, volleyed thunder.Vōl'ēōw, v. t. p. 1483To baptize;—applied contemptuously by the Reformers. [Obs.] Tyndale.Vŏl'ōw-er, n. p. 1483One who volows, or baptizes. [Obs.]Vōlt, n. p. 1483(Man.) A round or circular tread; a gait of two treads made by a horse going sideways round a center. 2. (Fencing.) A sudden movement or leap to avoid a thrust.Vōl'ta, n. p. 1483(Mus.) A turning; a time; — chiefly used in phrases signifying that the part is to be repeated one, two, or more times.Vōl'tā-e-lēc'tric, a. p. 1483Of, or pertaining to, voltaic electricity, or galvanism.Vŏl'tā-e-lee-trŏm'e-ter, n. p. 1483An instrument for the exact measurement of electric currents.Vol-täg'ra-phy, n. p. 1483The act or art of copying in metals deposited by electrolytic action, a form or pattern which is made the negative electrode in electrotypy.Vol-tā'ic, a. p. 1483Of, pertaining to, originated by, or named in honor of, Volta, who first devised apparatus for developing electric currents by chemical action, and established this branch of electric science; as…Vŏl'ta-ïzm, n. p. 1483That form of electricity which is developed by the chemical action between metals and different liquids; also, the branch of science which treats of this form of electricity; — called also galvanism…Vol-tăm'e-ter, n. p. 1483An instrument for measuring the voltaic electricity passing through it, by its effect in decomposing water.