<B>vegetation, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>plant life; growing plants. <BR> <I>Ex. There is not much vegetation in deserts.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>the act or process of vegetating; growth of plants. <DD><B> 3. </B>(Figurative.) an existence similar to that of a vegetable; dull, empty, or stagnant life. <DD><B> 4. </B>(Pathology.) an abnormal growth occurring on some part of the body. </DL>
<A NAME="vegetational">
<B>vegetational, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> of or having to do with vegetation. <BR> <I>Ex. [He] ... recognized the role of precipitation in determining the various vegetational types (Harbaugh and Goodrick).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="vegetative">
<B>vegetative, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>growing as plants do. <BR> <I>Ex. a weed so vegetative as to infest the whole land.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>of plants or plant life. <BR> <I>Ex. a vegetative season.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>(Botany.) concerned with growth and development rather than reproduction. The roots, stems, and leaves of plants are vegetative organs. <DD><B> 4. </B>causing or promoting growth in plants; productive; fertile. <BR> <I>Ex. vegetative mold.</I> <DD><B> 5a. </B>of or having to do with the unconscious or involuntary functions of the body. <BR> <I>Ex. the vegetative processes of the body, such as growth and repair.</I> <DD><B> b. </B>having only unconscious or involuntary functions of the body. <BR> <I>Ex. The obligation of the physician to the comatose, vegetative, or developmentally disabled patient does not depend upon the prospect for recovery (Time).</I> <DD><B> 6. </B>(Figurative.) having very little action, thought, or feeling. adv. <B>vegetatively.</B> noun <B>vegetativeness.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="vegetativemultiplication">
<B>vegetative multiplication,</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>artificially induced asexual reproduction by which cuttings, branches, and other parts are made to grow independently of the parent plant. <DD><B> 2. </B><B>=vegetative reproduction.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="vegetativepole">
<B>vegetative pole,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> the part of an egg's surface located opposite to the animal pole and usually containing the principal mass of yolk. </DL>
<A NAME="vegetativereproduction">
<B>vegetative reproduction,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> asexual reproduction, as by means of budding and fission. </DL>
<A NAME="vegete">
<B>vegete, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Rare.) healthy; vigorous. <BR> <I>Ex. a vegete countenance, a vegete mind.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="vegetism">
<B>vegetism, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> vegetal condition or quality. </DL>
<B>vehemence, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> vehement nature or quality; strong feeling; forcefulness; violence. <BR> <I>Ex. The two brothers argued loudly and with vehemence. For eighteen months the controversy raged; while the Queen, with persistent vehemence, opposed the Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary (Lytton Strachey).</I> (SYN) fervor, ardor. </DL>
<A NAME="vehemency">
<B>vehemency, </B>noun. <B>=vehemence.</B></DL>
<A NAME="vehement">
<B>vehement, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>having or showing strong feeling; caused by strong feeling; eager; passionate. <BR> <I>Ex. loud and vehement quarrels, vehement partisanship.</I> (SYN) ardent, fervid. <DD><B> 2. </B>acting with or displaying strong feeling or excitement. <BR> <I>Ex. a vehement devotee of modern music.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>performed with unusual force or violence; forceful; violent. <BR> <I>Ex. applause twice as vehement as usual. He finished the job with a vehement burst of energy. I announce a life that shall be copious, vehement, spiritual, bold (Walt Whitman).</I> <DD><B> 4. </B>with great strength or violence. <BR> <I>Ex. vehement deluges of rain.</I> adv. <B>vehemently.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="vehicle">
<B>vehicle, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1a. </B>any means of carrying, conveying, or transporting. <BR> <I>Ex. The rockets launched to carry astronauts to the moon are space vehicles.</I> <DD><B> b. </B>a carriage, wagon, sled, train, automobile, or other conveyance having wheels or runners and used on land. <DD><B> 2. </B>(Figurative.) a means or medium by which something is communicated, shown, or done. <BR> <I>Ex. Language is the vehicle of thought.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>the means by which a substance or property, such as sound or heat, is conveyed or transmitted from one point to another. <DD><B> 4. </B>a substance serving as a means for easier use or application of another substance mixed with it: <DD><B> a. </B>a liquid into which pigment is mixed to apply color to a surface. <BR> <I>Ex. Linseed oil is a vehicle for paint.</I> <DD><B> b. </B>a medium, especially a liquid, in which strong or unpalatable drugs or medicines are administered. </DL>
<A NAME="vehicular">
<B>vehicular, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>of or having to do with vehicles. <BR> <I>Ex. vehicular traffic, vehicular accidents, a vehicular tunnel.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>of the nature of or serving as a vehicle. <BR> <I>Ex. All languageis vehicular and ... is good for conveyance (Emerson).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="veil">
<B>veil, </B>noun, verb.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>a piece of very thin material worn, especially by women, to protect or hide the face, or as an ornament, now especially worn attached to a hat. <BR> <I>Ex. a bridal veil.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>a piece of linen, or the like, worn as part of a nun's headdress, and falling over the head and shoulders. <DD><B> 3. </B>(Figurative.) <DD><B> a. </B>the secluded life of a nun. <DD><B> b. </B>the vows made by a woman either as a novice, when she takes the white veil, or as a nun, when she pronounces the irrevocable vows and assumes the black veil. <DD><B> 4. </B>(Figurative.) anything that screens or hides. <BR> <I>Ex. a veil of deception. A veil of clouds hid the sun.</I> <DD><B> 5. </B>a piece of fabric serving as a curtain or hanging. <DD><B> 6. </B>(Biology.) a veillike membrane or membranous appendage or part, serving as a cover or screen; velum. <DD><B> 7. </B>(Dialect.) a caul. <DD><I>v.t. </I> <B>1a. </B>to cover with a veil. <BR> <I>Ex. a woman closely veiled. Moslem women used to veil their faces before going into public.</I> <DD><B> b. </B>to enclose or hang with a veil or curtain. <DD><B> 2. </B>to bestow the veil of a nun upon (a woman). <DD><B> 3. </B>(Figurative.) to cover, screen, or hide. <BR> <I>Ex. Fog veiled the shore. The spy veiled his plans in secrecy. The most barefaced action seeks to veil itself under some show of decency (William H. Prescott).</I> (SYN) conceal, mask. <DD><I>v.i. </I> <B>1. </B>to put on or wear a veil. <DD><B> 2. </B>(Photography.) to become dark; darken. <BR><I>expr. <B>take the veil,</B> </I>to become a nun. <BR> <I>Ex. She never took the veil, but lived and died in severe seclusion, and in the practice of the Roman Catholic religion (Scott).</I> adj. <B>veillike.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="veiled">
<B>veiled, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>covered with or wearing a veil. <BR> <I>Ex. the veiled figure of a ghost.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>(Figurative.) <DD><B> a. </B>concealed, covered, or hidden, as if by a veil. <BR> <I>Ex. a magician's veiled hand.</I> <DD><B> b. </B>not clearly expressed; not openly declared or stated. <BR> <I>Ex. a veiled threat, veiled insults.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="veiling">
<B>veiling, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B><B>=veil.</B> <DD><B> 2. </B>material for veils. <DD><B> 3. </B>(Figurative.) the action or fact of covering or concealing with a veil or of becoming blurred or dimmed as if covered by a veil. </DL>
<A NAME="veilingluminance">
<B>veiling luminance,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> the dissipation of light by water. <BR> <I>Ex. When one is driving in a fog at night, the headlights seem unable to penetrate the fog because so much of their light is scattered back to the eye by tiny droplets of water. The same phenomenon, known as veiling luminance, makes it difficult to use artificial light to see under water (Scientific American).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="veilless">
<B>veilless, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> without a veil. </DL>
<A NAME="veiltail">
<B>veiltail, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> any one of a variety of goldfish having long, translucent fins. </DL>
<A NAME="vein">
<B>vein, </B>noun, verb.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1a. </B>one of the blood vessels or tubes that carry the blood to the heart from all parts of the body. <DD><B> b. </B>any blood vessel. <DD><B> 2. </B>the rib of a leaf; one of the strands or bundles of vascular tissue forming the principal framework of a leaf; nerve or nervure. <DD><B> 3. </B>one of the ribs that strengthen the wing of an insect. <DD><B> 4a. </B>a small natural channel within the earth through which water trickles or flows. <DD><B> b. </B>a flow of water through such a channel. <BR> <I>Ex. a vein of water.</I> <DD><B> 5. </B>(Geology.) <DD><B> a. </B>a crack or seam in rock filled with a material, especially metallic ore, different from the containing rock. <DD><B> b. </B>a deposit, as of ore or coal, having a more or less regular development in length, width, and depth; lode. <BR> <I>Ex. a vein of copper.</I> <DD><B> 6. </B>a streak or stream of a different material or texture from the main substance. <BR> <I>Ex. a vein of gristle in the meat.</I> <DD><B> 7. </B>any streak or marking of a different shade or color in wood, marble, or glass. <DD><B> 8. </B>(Figurative.) a strain or blend of some quality in conduct, writing, speech, or other activity. <BR> <I>Ex. a vein of criticism, comedy written in a witty vein.</I> <DD><B> 9. </B>(Figurative.) a special character or disposition; state of mind; mood. <BR> <I>Ex. a vein of cruelty, a joking vein. In the midst of a vein of thought ... I was interrupted (Washington Irving).</I> <DD><I>v.t. </I> <B>1. </B>to mark (with lines or streaks) in a manner suggesting veins. <DD><B> 2. </B>to cover with, spread out over, or run through (something) the way veins do. <BR> <I>Ex. Many rivers vein the lowlands.</I> noun <B>veiner.</B> adj. <B>veinlike.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="veined">
<B>veined, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> having or showing veins. <BR> <I>Ex. veined marble, a veined leaf.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="veining">
<B>veining, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the formation or arrangement of veins or veinlike markings on or in something. </DL>
<A NAME="veinless">
<B>veinless, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> having no veins. </DL>
