<B>vigesimal, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B><B>=twentieth.</B> <DD><B> 2. </B>in or by twenties. </DL>
<A NAME="vigia">
<B>vigia, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> an indication on a hydrographic chart of the presence of a rock, shoal, or danger to navigation. </DL>
<A NAME="vigil">
<B>vigil, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>the act of keeping awake during the usual hours of sleep for some purpose; act of watching; watch. <BR> <I>Ex. All night the mother kept vigil over the sick child.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>a night spent in prayer. <DD><B> 3. </B>the eve, or the day and night, before a solemn religious festival or holy day, especially when observed as a fast. <DD><B> 4. </B>wakefulness or a period of wakefulness due to inability to sleep. <BR> <I>Ex. Worn out by the labours and vigils of many months (Macaulay).</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>vigils,</B> </I>the devotions, prayers, or services said or sung on the night before a religious festival. <BR> <I>Ex. I have seen the sublime Cathedral of Amiens on the night of Allhallows, when the vigils ... were sung there (Kenelm E. Digby).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="vigilance">
<B>vigilance, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>watchfulness, alertness, or caution. <BR> <I>Ex. Constant vigilance is necessary in order to avoid accidents in driving. The cat watched the mousehole with vigilance.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>(Pathology.) abnormal wakefulness; sleeplessness; insomnia. </DL>
<A NAME="vigilancecommittee">
<B>vigilance committee,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (U.S.) <DD><B> 1. </B>a self-appointed and unauthorized group of citizens to maintain order and punish criminals in a community where law enforcement is imperfectly or insufficiently organized. In the 1800's, vigilance committees were common in frontier territories of the United States. <DD><B> 2. </B>(formerly) a self-appointed organization of Southern white citizens whose aim was to intimidate, suppress, and terrorize Negroes, abolitionists, and carpetbaggers. </DL>
<A NAME="vigilant">
<B>vigilant, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> keeping steadily on the alert; attentively or closely observant; watchful, wide-awake, or cautious. <BR> <I>Ex. The dog kept vigilant guard over the baby.</I> (SYN) wary, sharp. adv. <B>vigilantly.</B> noun <B>vigilantness.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="vigilante">
<B>vigilante, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (U.S.) a member of a vigilance committee. </DL>
<A NAME="vigilantism">
<B>vigilantism, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the policies or actions of a vigilante or vigilance committee. <BR> <I>Ex. Langdon Street is identified ... with anti-intellectual vigilantism (Harper's).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="vigils">
<B>vigils, </B>noun pl.<DL COMPACT><DD> See under <B>vigil.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="vigintennial">
<B>vigintennial, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> occurring once in twenty years. <BR> <I>Ex. [The planets'] vigintennial conjunction is due a few months hence (Glasgow Herald).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="vigintillion">
<B>vigintillion, </B>noun, adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>(in the U.S., Canada, and France) 1 followed by 63 zeros. <DD><B> 2. </B>(in Great Britain and Germany) 1 followed by 120 zeros. </DL>
<A NAME="vigneron">
<B>vigneron, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a cultivator of grapevines; winegrower. <BR> <I>Ex. [He] told me about the wonderful year of 1893, when conditions had been so favorable that the vignerons were able to start picking grapes on August 16th (New Yorker).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="vignette">
<B>vignette, </B>noun, verb, <B>-gnetted,</B> <B>-gnetting.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>a decorative design on a page of a book, especially on or just before the title page, or at the beginning or end of a chapter. <DD><B> 2. </B>a literary sketch; short verbal description. <BR> <I>Ex. "Dinner at Eight" in its original state is an episodic work, really a series of vignettes of the guests at the party and their relationship to each other (New York Times).</I> <DD><B> 3a. </B>an engraving, drawing, photograph, or the like, that shades off gradually at the edge. <DD><B> b. </B>any picture or view of small, pleasing, and delicate proportion. <DD><B> 4. </B>(Obsolete.) a decorative ornamentation of vine leaves, branches, and tendrils, as in architecture. <DD><I>v.t. </I> <B>1. </B>to make a vignette of. <DD><B> 2. </B>to finish (a photograph or portrait) in the manner of a vignette. </DL>
<B>vignettist, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> an artist or engraver who produces vignettes. </DL>
<A NAME="vigor">
<B>vigor, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1a. </B>active physical strength or force; flourishing physical condition. <BR> <I>Ex. A brief rest restored the traveler's vigor.</I> <DD><B> b. </B>the time or condition of greatest activity or strength, especially in the life of a person; healthy energy or power. <BR> <I>Ex. The vigor of a person's body lessens as he grows old.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>(Figurative.) mental activity, energy, or power; moral strength or force. <BR> <I>Ex. the vigor of a personality. The principal argued with vigor that the new school should have a library.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>(Figurative.) a powerful or active force of conditions, qualities, or agencies; intensity of effect, especially in artistic or literary works. <BR> <I>Ex. A succinct style lends vigor to writing.</I> <DD><B> 4a. </B>strong or energetic action, especially in administration or government. <DD><B> b. </B>the use or exercise of power and action by a ruler or government official. <DD><B> 5. </B>(Figurative.) legal or binding force; validity. <BR> <I>Ex. a law in full vigor.</I> <DD> Also, (especially British,) <B>vigour.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="vigorish">
<B>vigorish, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (U.S. Slang.) <DD><B> 1. </B>the percentage of money from bets kept by a bookmaker as his commission or profit. <BR> <I>Ex. Despite the small vigorish, bookmakers find baseball their No. 1 sport (Time).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>the interest collected by a loan shark. </DL>
<A NAME="vigoroso">
<B>vigoroso, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Music.) vigorous; with energy. </DL>
<A NAME="vigorous">
<B>vigorous, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>full of vigor; strong and active in body and mind; full of strength or active force. <BR> <I>Ex. He keeps himself vigorous by taking exercise. At forty-five he was so vigorous that he made his way to Scotland on foot (John R. Green).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>characterized by, done with, or acting with vigor or energy; energetic. <BR> <I>Ex. Doctors wage a vigorous war against disease.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>(Figurative.) powerful; forcible. <BR> <I>Ex. an able, vigorous and well-informed statesman (Edmund Burke). His vigorous understanding and his stout English heart (Macaulay).</I> adv. <B>vigorously.</B> noun <B>vigorousness.</B> </DL>
<B>vihara, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a Buddhist temple or monastery. </DL>
<A NAME="viiic">
<B>VIIIC, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the antihemophilic factor. </DL>
<A NAME="viking">
<B>Viking</B> or <B>viking, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> one of the daring Scandinavian pirates who raided the coastal towns and river ports of Europe from the 700's to the 900's A.D., often establishing settlements there. The Vikings were great warriors and explorers who conquered parts of England, France, Russia, and other countries and explored distant lands that may have included North America. </DL>
<A NAME="vil">
<B>vil.,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> village. </DL>
<A NAME="vila">
<B>vila, </B>noun, pl. <B>-las</B> or <B>-le.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a nymph or fairy of the woods, fields, and streams in Slavic folklore, often described as deciding the destiny of newborn children and warning people that they are about to die. </DL>
<A NAME="vilayet">
<B>vilayet, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> one of the provinces or main governmental divisions of Turkey. Also, <B>eyalet.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="vile">
<B>vile, </B>adjective, <B>viler,</B> <B>vilest.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>very bad. <BR> <I>Ex. a vile absurdity. The weather today was vile--rainy, windy, and cold.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>foul; disgusting; obnoxious. <BR> <I>Ex. A vile smell hung in the air around the garbage dump.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>evil; low; immoral. <BR> <I>Ex. vile habits, vile language, a vile criminal.</I> <DD><B> 4. </B>poor; mean; lowly. <BR> <I>Ex. The king's son stooped to the vile tasks of the kitchen.</I> <DD><B> 5. </B>of little worth or account; trifling. <BR> <I>Ex. the vile weeds in the field.</I> adv. <B>vilely.</B> noun <B>vileness.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="vilification">
<B>vilification, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the action of vilifying or fact of being vilified. <BR> <I>Ex. She defends her lovers from the vilification of the chroniclers (Atlantic).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="vilifier">
<B>vilifier, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a person who vilifies or defames. </DL>
<A NAME="vilify">
<B>vilify, </B>transitive verb, <B>-fied,</B> <B>-fying.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>to speak evil of; revile; slander. <BR> <I>Ex. Dissatisfied men are apt to vilify whatever government is in power.</I> (SYN) disparage, defame. <DD><B> 2. </B>(Obsolete.) <DD><B> a. </B>to lower in worth or value. <DD><B> b. </B>to make morally vile; degrade. <DD><B> c. </B>to dirty or defile. <DD><B> 3. </B>(Obsolete.) to regard as worthless; despise. </DL>
<A NAME="vilipend">
<B>vilipend, </B>transitive verb.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>to regard as having little value or consequence; treat contemptuously. <BR> <I>Ex. A youth ... vilipends the conversation and advice of his seniors (Scott).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>to speak with contempt; abuse; vilify. <BR> <I>Ex. to vilipend a rival.</I> noun <B>vilipender.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="vill">
<B>vill, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a territorial unit under the European feudal system, corresponding to the modern township. <DD><B> 2. </B><B>=village.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="villa">
<B>villa, </B>noun, adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1a. </B>a house in the country or suburbs, sometimes at the seashore. A villa is usually a large or elegant residence. <BR> <I>Ex. Magnificent villas are found throughout Italy.</I> <DD><B> b. </B>(originally) a country estate, including the land, residence, barns, and other farm buildings. <DD><B> 2. </B>any house, usually in the suburbs. <DD><I>adj. </I> of, having to do with, or like a villa. <BR> <I>Ex. villa style.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="villadom">
<B>villadom, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>suburban villas or their residents collectively. <DD><B> 2. </B>(Figurative.) a smug, narrow-minded, and moderately prosperous suburban society. </DL>
