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.
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.Vŏl'ta-plăst, n. p. 1483A form of voltaic or galvanic battery, suitable for use in electrotyping. Francis.Vŏl'ta-tȳpe, n. p. 1483The same as ELECTROTYPE, q. v.Vŏl'tā, v. p. 1483imperative. [It., from voltare, to turn, from Lat. volvere, volutum. See VOLT.] (Mus.) Turn, that is, turn over the leaf. Volti subito (Mus.), turn over quickly.Voltigeur, n. p. 1483A tumbler; a leaper, or vaulter. 2. (Mil.) A light infantry soldier, in distinction from a grenadier, the latter being usually a man of the greater stature, the former being the shorter. ☞ Voltigeurs…Vōlt'zite, n. p. 1483(Min.) A rose-red, yellowish, or brownish mineral, occurring in implanted spherical globules, and consisting chiefly of sulphuret of zinc and oxide of zinc; — called also voltzine. Dana.Vo-lū'bi-late or Vōl'ū-bi-le, a. p. 1483Turning, or whirling; voluble; winding. Volubilate stem (Bot.), a stem that climbs by winding or twining round another body.Vŏl/ū-bĭl’ĭ-ty, n. p. 1483The state or quality of being voluble; as, (a.) The capacity of being rolled; aptness to roll; as, the volubility of a bowl. (b.) The act of rolling. “Irregular volubility.” Hooker. (c.) Ready motion…Vŏl'ū-ble, a. p. 1483Easily rolling or turning; rotating; easily set in motion; apt to roll; as, voluble particles of matter. “This less voluble earth.” Milton. 2. Moving with ease and smoothness in uttering words; of…Vŏl'ū-bly, adv. p. 1483In a voluble, rolling, or fluent manner.Vŏl'ūme, n. p. 1483A roll; a scroll; a written document put up for keeping or use, in a roll-like form, after the manner of the ancients. [Obs.] 2. Hence, a book; a tome; a collection of printed sheets bound together…Vŏl'ūmed, a. p. 1483Having the form of a volume or roll; as, volumed mist. 2. Of bulk or volume; massive; great. The distant torrent's rushing sound Tells where the volumed cataract doth roll. Byron.Vŏl/ū-mēt'rie, a. p. 1483(Analytical Chem.) Performed by measured volumes of standard solutions of reagents; as, volumetric analysis.Vŏl'ū-mĕt'rīe-al-ly, adv. p. 1483In a volumetric manner.Vo-lū'mi-noŭs, a. p. 1483Consisting of many coils or complications. But ended foul in many a scaly fold Voluminous and vast. Milton. I must go down into depths and shy recesses of time, over which dusky draperies are…Vo-lū'mi-noŭs-ly, adv. p. 1483In a voluminous manner; in many volumes; very copiously.Vo-lū'mi-noŭs-ness, n. p. 1483The state or quality of being voluminous or bulky.Vŏl'ū-mĭst, n. p. 1483One who writes a volume; an author. [Obs.] Milton.Vŏl'un-ta-rĭ-ly, adv. p. 1483In a voluntary manner; in the exercise of volition; spontaneously; of one's own will; without being moved, influenced, or impelled, by others. To be agents voluntarily in our own destruction is…Vŏl'un-ta-ri-ness, n. p. 1483The state or quality of being voluntary, or endowed with the power of choosing; spontaneousness.Vŏl'un-ta-ry, a. p. 1483Proceeding from the will; produced in or by an act of choice. That sin or guilt pertains exclusively to voluntary action is the true principle of orthodoxy. N. W. Taylor. 2. Unconstrained by the…