vacuous
[VAK-yuh-wus]
1. emptied of or lacking content
2. marked by lack of ideas or intelligence
Synonyms: stupid, inane
Example:
Alyssa was told that her blind date was well-read and articulate, so she was disappointed to discover that he was a vacuous bore.
3. devoid of serious occupation
Synonym: idle
History, rrlated words:
As you might have guessed, "vacuous" shares the same root as "vacuum" - the Latin adjective "vacuus," meaning "empty." This root also gave us the noun "vacuity" (the oldest meaning of which is "an empty space") as well as the verb "evacuate" (originally "to remove the contents of; empty"). Its predecessor, the verb "vacare," is also an ancestor of the words "vacation" and "vacancy" as well as "void." All of these words suggest an emptiness of space, or else a fleeing of people or things from one place to another. "Vacuous" first appeared in English in the middle of the 17th century, literally describing something that was empty, but then acquired its figurative usage, describing one who is lacking any substance of the mind, in the mid-1800s.


vade mecum

• vade
• mecum

[vay-dee-MEE-kuhm; vah-dee-MAY-]
1. A book for ready reference; a manual; a handbook.
2. A useful thing that one regularly carries about.
Examples:
1) The reader who wants honestly to understand it, and not merely read into it his own ideas, needs some kind of vade mecum to provide the necessary background and explain unfamiliar words and allusions and strange turns of thought. (Robert C. Dentan, "Including Uz and Buz", New York Times, November 17, 1968)
2) Roget's Thesaurus, which had come into being as a linguistic example of the Platonic ideal, became instead a vade mecum for the crossword cheat. (Simon Winchester, "Word Imperfect", The Atlantic, May 2001)
Etymology:
"Vade mecum" is from Latin, literally meaning "go with me".


vagary
[VAY-guh-ree; vuh-GER-ee]
An extravagant, erratic, or unpredictable notion, action, or occurrence.
Examples:
1) Her words are a dreadful reminder that much of life's consequences are resultant of vagary and caprice, dictated by the tragedy of the ill-considered action, the irrevocable misstep, the irrevocable moment in which a terrible wrong can seem the only right. (Rosemary Mahoney, "Acts of Mercy?", New York Times, September 13, 1998)
2) Weather is one of the vagaries of blue-water racing, ruling the sport like a malicious jester. (Martin Dugard, "Knockdown")
3) This thing called love was a total mystery to me, but the vagaries of passion and despair that accompanied each devotion kept my life in high drama. (Jane Alexander, "Command Performance")
Etymology:
"Vagary" comes from Latin "vagari" ("to stroll about, to wander"), from "vagus" ("wandering").


vainglory

• vainglorious

[VAYN-glor-ee; vayn-GLOR-ee]
1. Excessive pride in one's achievements, abilities, qualities, etc.
2. Vain display.
Examples:
1) Spurred by the vainglory of being the first person in recent memory to catch a Solovki canal trout on a fly, I fished with newfound intensity. (Fen Montaigne, "Reeling in Russia")
2) As if to underscore the awkward mix of social unease and vainglory on which such claims are based, they are always delivered in the same triumphant tone: 'We have the tallest high-rise flats, the longest wall, the largest community of artists... in Europe.' (Deyan Sudjic, "The race to be a Capital of Culture is a non-starter," The Observer, April 15, 2001)
Etymology, related words:
"Vainglory" is from Middle English "vein glory", ultimately from Latin "vana gloria" ("empty pride"), from "vana" ("empty") and "gloria" ("glory, pride"). The adjective form is vainglorious.


valetudinarian
[val-uh-too-duh-NAIR-ee-un]
A person of a weak or sickly constitution; especially: one whose chief concern is being or becoming a chronic invalid.
Example:
Will complained constantly of his aches, pains, and sniffles; he was a terrible valetudinarian.
History, related words:
It's ironic that hypochondriacs and others who are convinced that their health is fragile often outlive their heartier compatriots. It is also ironic that "valetudinarian," a word for someone who is sickly (or at least thinks he or she is) comes from "valere," a Latin word that means "to be strong" or "to be well." Most of the English offspring of "valere" imply having some kind of strength or force - consider, for instance, "valiant," "prevail," "valor," and "value." But the Latin "valere" also gave rise to "valetudo." In Latin, "valetudo" refers to one's state of health (whether good or bad), but by the time that root had given rise to "valetudinarian" in the early 1700s, English-speaking pessimists had given it a decidedly sickly spin.


vamoose
[vuh-MOOSS]
To depart quickly.
Example:
With Sheriff Barclay and his posse hot on their tails, the bank robbers knew they had better vamoose.
Etymology:
In the 1820s and '30s, the American Southwest was rough-and-tumble territory - the true Wild West. English-speaking cowboys, Texas Rangers, and gold prospectors regularly rubbed elbows with Spanish-speaking vaqueros in the local saloons, and a certain amount of linguistic intermixing was inevitable. One Spanish term that caught on with English speakers was "vamos," which means "let's go." Cowpokes and dudes alike adopted the word, at first using a range of spellings and pronunciations that varied considerably in their proximity to the original Spanish form, but when the dust settled, the version most American English speakers were using was "vamoose."


vanilla
[vuh-NILL-uh]
1. Flavored with vanilla.
2. Lacking distinction : plain, ordinary, conventional.
Example:
The Razorbacks [football team] backed off the blitz and played vanilla defense in the second half... (Scott Cain, "Arkansas Democrat-Gazette", November 16, 2003)
Etymology:
For lexicographers, "vanilla" has more flavor than "chocolate," because it adds a tasty synonym for "plain" to the English menu. The noun "vanilla" was first served up in 1662, but it took almost 200 years for its adjective use to become established for things, like ice and sugar, flavored with vanilla. By the 1970s vanilla was perceived as being the plain flavor of the ice-cream world, and people began using the word itself to describe anything plain, ordinary, or conventional.


vanward

• advanced
• advance
• vanguard
• van

[VAN-werd]
Located in the vanguard.
Synonym: advanced
Example:
[Joint venturing] opportunities now exist for vanward companies in a variety of industries, especially other financial services businesses and retailing. (Vikas Kapoor, "American Banker", February 6, 1998)
Etymology, related words:
The troops at the head of an army are called the "vanguard," and that word can also mean "the forefront of an action or movement." It was "vanguard," rather than "vanward," that led the way on the route into English. "Vanguard" was first documented in English in the 15th century. By the early 17th century, it was sometimes shortened to "van" - a reference might be made to an army's "van and rear." Some 200 years later "vanward" brought up the rear, making its English debut when writers appended "-ward," an adjective suffix meaning "is situated in the direction of," to the shortened "van," thereby creating a word meaning "in the forefront."


vapid

• flat
• dull
• inane
• insipid

[VAP-id]
lacking liveliness, tang, briskness, or force
Synonyms: flat, dull, inane, insipid
Example:
The movie was billed as a gripping summer blockbuster but turned out to be a vapid effort with a slow pace and a poorly written script.
History:
"Then away goes the brisk and pleasant Spirits and leave a vapid or sour Drink." So wrote John Mortimer, an early 18th-century expert on agriculture, orchards, and cider-making, in his book on husbandry. His use was typical for his day, when "vapid" was often used specifically in reference to liquor. The term, which entered English in the 17th century, comes from "vapidus," a Latin word that means "flat-tasting" and may be related to "vapor." These days people referring to wine as "vapid"; the word is used in plenty of other situations, too. "Vapid," along with its synonyms, is often used to describe people and things that lack spirit and character.


vapor
[VAY-per]
1. To rise or pass off in vapor.
2. To emit vapor.
3. To indulge in bragging, blustering, or idle talk.
Example:
Team members vapored all week about how they were going to steamroller the opposing team, but come crunch time they failed to produce.
Etymology, related words, examples:
Speakers of the English language, mindful of the lightness and unsubstantiality of floating air and gas, have put several airy words to good use over the years to describe the act of talking idly or boastfully. The earliest such word is "blow" (as in "he kept blowing about his new job"), which drifted into English sometime about 1400. "Vapor" wafted into the language in 1628, and a little over 200 years later "windbags," later also known as "gasbags," not only blew and vapored but also "gassed" about anything they could.


vaporware
[VAY-per-wair]
A computer-related product that has been widely advertised but has not and may never become available.
Example:
Experts in the computer industry suspected that the vaporware being pushed by the software company was still full of bugs and would never hit the market.
History:
The practice of marketing products before they are available for sale is common to many industries, but especially the computer industry, where technological advancement is rapid and competition cutthroat. Unforeseen glitches occasionally result in the marketing of products that ultimately never see the light of day. Since the 1980s, such phantom computer products have been referred to by the word "vaporware," which is modeled after familiar computer terms such as "software" and "hardware." The word plays on the humorous notion of "vapors" being equated with rumors surrounding the development of a product that appears to be on its way but that never actually materializes.


varicolored

• varicoloured
• varicolor
• varicolour

[VER-ih-kuh-lurd]
Having a variety of colors; of various colors.
Examples:
1) Where a bottleneck of sky showed between the hills, dark and light clouds lay in alternating layers like varicolored liquid that would not mix. (William Gay, "The Long Home")
2) Along with wild hogs, cattle, horses, and dogs, the varicolored wild African jungle fowl was domesticated early in our distant ancestors' spread around the globe. (Buff Orpingtons, "Save the chickens!" Mother Earth News, December 10, 1996)
Etymology:
"Varicolored" is from "vari-" (from Latin "varius" - "various, diversified") + "colored" (from Latin "color" - "color, tint, hue.")


variegated
[VAIR-ee-uh-gay-tid] 1. Having marks or patches of different colors; as, "variegated leaves or flowers". 2. Varied; distinguished or characterized by variety; diversified.
Examples:
1) We spotted variegated hollies, wild mahonia, bergenia, vinca and cotoneaster growing freely between the markers, and as we made our way up and down the fragrant paths, pausing over the monuments to the dead that nestled, neglected, in the tousled undergrowth, we felt like explorers in a haunted jungle. (Caroline Seebohm, "Ambushed by Brussels", New York Times, August 22, 1999)
2) Colours range from golden yellow to blue and include conspicuously variegated examples. (Catherine Fieldman, "Hostas don't bear grudges", Times (London), September 2, 2000)
3) But as no one was being hurt, you were right to sit quietly and marvel at the variegated - and sometimes idiotic - beliefs of humanity. (Randy Cohen, "What Can I Say?", New York Times Magazine, July 11, 1999)
Etymology:
"Variegated" derives from the past participle of Late Latin "variegare", from Latin "varius" ("various") + "agere" ("to do, to make").


vatic

• prophetic
• oracular

[VAT-ik]
Of or characteristic of a prophet or prophecy.
Synonyms: prophetic; oracular.
Examples:
1) [He] needs to be reminded that... his poetry is just that - poetry, not the vatic revelation of spiritual truth. (Ruth Franklin, "Black Milk of Language," New Republic, December 25, 2000)
2) One encounters plenty of vatic pronouncements in the pages devoted to, among others, Muriel Rukeyser, Kenneth Rexroth, William Everson, H. D. and Olson. (William H. Pritchard, "Eliot, Frost, Ma Rainey and the Rest," New York Times, April 2, 2000)
Etymology:
"Vatic" comes from Latin "vates" - "a prophet, a soothsayer, a seer."


vaticination

• vaticinian
• vaticinar
• vaticinatress
• vaticiny
• vatic
• vaticinal

1. Prediction.
Example:
The Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court could make his vaticination - "I will blot out the sun" - because he knew the exact day and hour of a solar eclipse that occurred in the year 528.
2. The act of prophesying.
Etymology:
"Vaticination" is based on the Latin "vates", meaning "prophet". It has endured better than other words of the same origin: "vaticinian" (prophetic), "vaticinar" (prophet), "vaticinatress" (prophetess), and "vaticiny" (prophesy) have all faded into obscurity (although two synonyms of "prophetic," "vatic" and "vaticinal", also keep the "vates" lineage alive today).


vaunted

• boast
• crow
• vaunt
• brag

[VAWN-tud]
Highly or widely praised or boasted about.
Example:
For all her vaunted writing talent, Pauline has yet to find a publisher for her book.
History, synonyms, more examples:
1340 (implied in "vaunting"), from M.Fr. "vanter" ("to praise, speak highly of"), from L.L. "vanitare" ("to boast"), frequentative of L. "vanare" ("to utter empty words"), from "vanus" ("idle, empty").
It's fine to express pride in your accomplishments, but synonyms such as "boast," "brag" ("exaggerate about oneself"), "vaunt," and "crow" may suggest you've overdone it. "Boast," for instance, implies ostentation and exaggeration ("he boasts of every trivial success"), although it can connote justifiable pride ("the town boasts an excellent museum"). "Crow" is ideal for exultant boasting or bragging ("they crowed about winning the championship"). "Vaunt" usually imparts less crudity or naivete than "brag" and more pomp and bombast than "boast" ("the promotional flier vaunts the natural beauty of the area").


veg out

• veg

To spend time relaxing, doing nothing at all.
Examples:
1) After a long day at work, I usually just veg out in front of the TV. 2) I'm going to the mountains to veg out for a few days.
Etymology:
"Veg" is short for "vegetable" (corn, potato, peas, etc.). When you "veg out" you become like a vegetable - without thought or motion.


vegan
vegetarian who does not eat any animal products at all

velocipede

• draisine
• dandy-horse
• hobby-horse
• velocipedist

An early type of bicycle.
Example:
The "Times" reported in June 1819 that "Mrs. Bearham, wife of Mr. Bearham, maltster, of Hunsley, Hants, returning home lately in her cart, the horse took fright at a velocipede and she was thrown out and killed on the spot."
History, synonyms, related words:
It appeared on English roads about 1818: a strange vehicle with two wheels, one behind the other, joined by a horizontal beam on which the rider sat, pushing the contraption along with his feet. This was an early precursor of our modern bicycle, the invention of a German named Karl Drais. The name for the contraption was varied: Drais called it a "Laufmaschine", a running machine; the French described it as a "velocipede", from the Latin words for "swift feet". The English borrowed the French term, but also called it a "draisine" after the German inventor, as well as "dandy-horse" (because it was taken up by the fashionable young men of the period called dandies), or a "hobby-horse" (abbreviated to "hobby"), after the ancient toy of a stick with a horse's head that children would pretend to ride. The machines seemed innocuous enough, but they caused problems. They weren't easy to learn to ride, since nobody had any experience of the art of balancing required. The original Drais version had a brake, but the ripped-off French, English and American versions didn't, which resulted in accidents. Roads, even in towns, were often so rutted that riders took to the pavements (sidewalks), to the terror of pedestrians.
A rider of an early type of bicycle was called "velocipedist".


velocitize

• velocitization

To cause a person to become used to a fast speed.
velocitization - n.
Examples:
1) Safety experts argue that speeding has "velocitizing" effects on drivers, making it harder for them to slow down when conditions change and it's urgent to do so. ("The mentality behind the wheel", The Oregonian, December 10, 2003)
2) He then described a road evil called "driver velocitization". "Our freeways have cables on them to keep people from slamming into each other, but drivers become velocitized. When they enter a rural road from a freeway, for instance, and the speed changes from 65 mph to 55 mph, their perception is that speeding is OK, so they don't slow down," Vitolo said. (Carol McAlice Currie, "Raise the speed limit? That's just plain silliness", Statesman Journal (Salem, OR), April 15, 2003)
3) But the four-speed automatic transmission upshifts and downshifts very smoothly and the car accelerates well at speed and cruises so effortlessly and comfortably that it's very easy to become velocitized and suddenly realize you're driving a steady 80 mph. (Russ DeVault, "Ford Merkur Scorpio a new touring sedan that deserves raves", Atlanta Journal and Constitution, June 13, 1987)
Etymology:
From "velocity" - early 15c., from L. "velocitas" ("swiftness, speed"), from "velox" (gen. "velocis") - "swift", perhaps related to "vehere" ("carry").

venal

• venial

[VEE-nuhl] 1. Capable of being bought or obtained for money or other valuable consideration; held for sale; salable; purchasable. 2. Capable of being corrupted. 3. Marked by or associated with bribery and corrupt dealings.
Examples:
1) Not everything was so venal in this operation, however. Sometimes votes were bought outright, but this was frowned on if the sums were too high. (Kenneth R. Johnston, "The Hidden Wordsworth")
2) The news items accumulate to project an image of French politics as venal, power-mongering, and posing a crazy threat to all those values of humanity and civilization that Picasso's work had always embraced. (Rosalind E. Krauss, "The Picasso Papers")
3) While the enemy in Vietnam was mysterious and, to some Americans, heroic, America's allies in Saigon seemed venal and corrupt, more interested in graft than in combat and unable to rally their people behind a common cause or to create an effective military force. (Charles E. Neu, "After Vietnam")
4) Magistrates were expected to supplement their modest incomes, in theory from personal fortunes, in reality from a variety of venal practices. (Michelle De Kretser, "The Rose Grower")
Etymology, related words:
"Venal" comes from the Latin "venalis", from "venum" ("sale"). It is related to "vendor" and "vending machine". Be careful not to confuse it with "venial" ("easily excused or forgiven").


vendetta
[ven-DET-uh]
1. A feud between different clans or families; blood feud.
2. An often prolonged series of retaliatory, vengeful, or hostile acts or exchange of such acts.
Example:
From the day the ants swarmed over Gram's apple pie in her own kitchen, their eradication took the form of a personal vendetta - she vowed to exterminate them at any cost.
History, related words:
"Vendetta" has been getting even in English since the mid-19th century. English speakers borrowed "vendetta," spelling and all, from Italian, in which it means "revenge." It ultimately traces to the Latin verb "vindicare," which means "to lay claim to" or "to avenge." That Latin word is also in the family tree of many other English terms related to getting even, including "avenge," "revenge," "vengeance," "vindicate," and "vindictive."


venial

• excusable
• pardonable
• venal

[VEE-nee-uhl]
Capable of being forgiven; not heinous.
Synonyms: excusable; pardonable.
Examples:
1) Look less severely on a venial error. (Jean Racine, "Phaedra", translated by Robert Bruce Boswell)
2) His mistake might in other circumstances have seemed a venial one. (Michael Knox Beran, "The Last Patrician")
3) Committing adultery was a mortal sin, while eating meat on Fridays was a venial sin. (Sheryl McCarthy, "O'Connor Proposal for Meatless Day Is Thoughtless," Newsday, August 12, 1996)
Etymology, related words:
"Venial" comes from Latin "venia" ("grace, indulgence, favor"). Venial sins are contrasted with mortal ones. It is not to be confused with "venal", which means "capable of being bought; salable; open to bribery," and comes from Latin "venum" ("sale").


vent

• ventilate
• blow off steam
• blow off
• steam

To express suppressed emotions; to let one's feelings out into the open.
Examples:
1) Don't take his remarks too seriously - he's just venting. 2) Thanks for listening. I really needed to vent.
Etymology:
A "vent" is an opening which allows air or steam to escape, and "ventilate" means "to allow fresh air to enter". So when a person "vents", he cleans his mind and emotions by allowing all the hot, pressurized thoughts and complaints out into the air. Synonym: blow off steam

verbiage

• diction

1. a profusion of words usually of little or obscure content.
Example:
One of the tasks of an editor is to remove verbiage and render a piece concise and coherent.
2. manner of expressing oneself in words.
Synonym: diction.
Etymology:
"Verbiage" descends from Middle French "verbier" ("to chatter"), itself an offspring of "werbler," an Old French word meaning "to trill." The usual sense of the word implies an overabundance of possibly unnecessary words. It is similar to "wordiness", except that it stresses the superfluous words themselves more than the quality that produces them. In other words, a writer with a fondness for "verbiage" might be accused of "wordiness". Some people think the phrase "excess verbiage" is redundant, but that's not necessarily true. In the early 19th century, "verbiage" developed a second sense meaning, simply, "wording", with no suggestion of excess. This second definition has sometimes been treated as an error by people who insist that "verbiage" must always imply excessiveness, but that sense is well-established and can be considered standard.


verbose

• wordy
• verbal

[vuhr-BOHS]
1. Abounding in words; using or containing more words than are necessary; tedious by an excess of words; impaired by wordiness.
2. Given to wordiness.
Synonym: wordy, verbal; as, "a verbose speaker; a verbose argument."
Examples:
1) ... his singular style of flattening verbose politicians with the phrase: "Will you please get to the point." (Paul McCann, "Pioneer of TV debate put end to deference," Times (London), August 8, 2000)
2) One reason I admire Oscar is that he's the least verbose, if sometimes plain to the point of being uninteresting. (Frank Rich, "Conversations with Sondheim," New York Times Magazine, March 12, 2000)
3) Many tombstones have inscriptions that are not only touching but also, by modern standards, verbose. (Francine Prose, "Entering New Castle, Del.," New York Times Magazine, February 27, 2000)
4) The writing style in government publications is often both dry and verbose - a deadly combination.
Etymology, related words:
There's no shortage of words to describe wordiness in English. "Diffuse," "long-winded," "prolix," "redundant," "windy," "repetitive," "loose," "rambling," "digressive," and "circumlocutory" are some that come to mind. Want to express the opposite idea? Try "succinct," "concise," "brief," "short," "summary," "terse," "precise," "compact," "lean," "tight," or "compendious." "Verbose," which falls solidly into the first camp of words, comes from Latin "verbosus," from "verbum," meaning "word." Other descendants of "verbum" include "verb," "adverb," "proverb," "verbal," "verbatim," and "verbicide" (that's the deliberate distortion of the sense of a word).

verboten
[ver-BOH-tun]
1. Forbidden; especially: prohibited by dictate.
2. Something forbidden by authority.
Example:
During the era of prohibition in the United States, when the sale of alcohol was verboten, speakeasies were routinely raided by the authorities and shut down.
Etymology, more examples:
Despite its spelling, the adjective "verboten" has nothing to do with "verb," or any of the other words in the English language related to the Latin "verbum." Rather, "verboten" comes from German, which got it from Old High German "farboten," the past participle of the verb "farbioten," meaning "to forbid." ("Forbid" itself derives from Old English "forbeodan," a relative of "farbioten".) "Verboten," which first appeared in English in 1916, is used to describe things that are forbidden according to a law or a highly regarded authority. There also exists a noun "verboten," meaning "something forbidden by authority" (as in "well-established verbotens"), but this sense is quite rare and is typically entered only in large, unabridged dictionaries.


verbunkos
a dance performed to persuade people to enlist in the Hungarian army


verdant
[VUR-dnt]
1. Covered with growing plants or grass; green with vegetation.
2. Green.
3. Unripe in knowledge, judgment, or experience; unsophisticated; green.
Examples:
1) Drab in winter, then suddenly sodden with alpine runoff, the region turns dazzlingly verdant in spring. (Patricia Albers, "Shadows, Fire, Snow")
2) Dry as the region just outside the delta may be, it would still be covered with grasses, yellowish in the dry season, verdant in the wet. (Niles Eldredge, "Life in the Balance")
3) I was verdant enough to think her Agrippine very fine. (Henry James, "The Theatre Francais")
Etymology:
"Verdant" comes from French "verdoyant", present participle of "verdoyer" ("to be verdant, to grow green"), from Old French "verdoier, verdeier", from "verd, vert" ("green"), from Latin "viridis" ("green"), from "virere" ("to be green").


verdure
[VUR-jur]
Green; greenness; freshness of vegetation; as, "the verdure of the meadows in June."
Examples:
1) A wide expanse of living verdure, cultivated gardens, shady groves, fertile cornfields, flowed round it like a sea. (Motley)
2) The first white settlers in the area started as yeomen, scouring the land of trees and verdure to create and homesteads. (Claude Andrew Clegg III, "An Original Man")
3) The road silent, somnolent yet with a speech of its own, speaking back to them, father and child, through trappings of sun and fretted verdure, speaking of the old mutinies and a fresh crime mounting in the blood. (Edna O'Brien, "Down by the River")
Etymology:
"Verdure" is from Old French "verd" ("green"), from Latin "viridis".


verisimilitude

• verisimilar

1. The appearance of truth; the quality of seeming to be true.
2. Something that has the appearance of being true or real.
Examples:
1) In an attempt to create verisimilitude, in addition to the usual vulgarities, the dialogue is full of street slang. (Wilborn Hampton, "'Sugar Down Billie Hoak': An Unexpected Spot to Find a Father", New York Times, August 1, 1997)
2) For those plays, Ms. Smith interviewed hundreds of people of different races and ages, somehow managing to internalize their expressions, anger and quirks enough to be able to portray them with astonishing verisimilitude. (Sarah Boxer, "An Experiment in Artistic Democracy", New York Times, August 7, 2000)
3) The old man's massive forehead, penetrating eyes and enormous beard lent verisimilitude to this unappealing portrait. ("Charm itself", Economist, October 16, 1999)
Etymology:
"Verisimilitude" comes from Latin "verisimilitudo", from "verisimilis", from "verus" ("true") + "similis" ("like, resembling, similar"). The adjective form is "verisimilar".


verjuice
[VER-joos]
1. the sour juice of crab apples or of unripe fruit (as grapes or apples); an acid liquor made from verjuice
Example:
The other women took to their Bibles and hymnbooks, and looked as sour as verjuice over their reading. (Wilkie Collins, "The Moonstone")
2. acidity of disposition or manner
Etymology:
"Verjuice" has been getting some attention lately - it's "a recent buzzword on the culinary scene". For those of us not on the culinary edge, verjuice is a tart, pale juice pressed from unripe white grapes, ideal for use in sauces and salad dressings. "Verjuice" has been around for centuries and is used in Dijon mustard, but the word (a descendant of Anglo-French "vert", meaning "green", and "jous", meaning "juice") was largely forgotten by English speakers until its "rediscovery" in the early 90s. While it's apparent that "verjuice" has returned to our kitchens, the same can't yet be said of the literary scene. Writers have not generally begun to write of "dispositions of verjuice" the way they did in the past.


vermicular

• vermicelli
• vermiculate

[ver-MIK-yuh-ler]
1. Resembling a worm in form or motion.
2. Marked with irregular fine lines or with wavy impressed lines.
3. Of, relating to, or caused by worms.
Example:
[The painting] 'Evening' shows what was likely a meandering stream that in Criss's treatment is less vermicular than just plain geometric. (Susan Lindt, "Intelligencer Journal" [Lancaster, PA], July 3, 2003)
Etymology, related words:
What does the word "vermicular" have in common with the pasta on your plate? If you're eating vermicelli (a spaghetti-like pasta made in long thin strings) the answer is "vermis," a Latin noun meaning "worm." "Vermis" is the root underlying not only "vermicular" and "vermicelli," but also "vermiculate" (which can mean either "full of worms" or "tortuous") and even "worm" itself.


vernal
[VER-nul]
1. Of, relating to, or occurring in the spring.
2. Fresh or new like the spring; suggestive of youth; vigorous and fresh.
Synonym: youthful
3. (Astron.) Equinox, the time when the sun crosses the equator when proceeding northward.
4. (Astron.) The signs, Aries, Taurus, and Gemini, in which the sun appears between the vernal equinox and summer solstice. 5. (Bot.) Grass, a low, soft grass (anthoxanthum odoratum), producing in the spring narrow spikelike panicles, and noted for the delicious fragrance which it gives to new-mown hay.
Synonym: sweet vernal grass
Examples:
1) I consented and, likewise, I wanted to explore the thicket of your thighs, which to my delight I found heavy with vernal dew.
2) The stream began to murmur by the door, and the fragrance of growing herbs and flowers came softly on the vernal breeze. (Mark Twain, "Life on the Mississippi")
3) This is officially the last of the Zodiacal constellations, though since it now contains the Vernal Equinox it really ought to be the first.
4) Perhaps against expectations the Pastoral receives a performance of radiant, vernal openheartedness. History:
If you want to sound sophisticated this spring, you can do what various learned individuals have done since the 16th century and refer to the spring equinox as the vernal equinox. You might also say that it is not April showers but vernal showers that bring May flowers (with help from the vernal sun, of course). And if you really want to wax poetic, you might compliment your lass's vernal grace or your beau's vernal charm. If you do, and your sweetheart asks where such a word comes from, you can further impress by saying, "'Vernal,' my dear, comes from the Latin 'vernalis,' which is derived from the Latin word for spring, 'ver.'"


vertiginous
1. Affected with vertigo; giddy; dizzy.
2. Causing or tending to cause dizziness.
3. Turning round; whirling; revolving.
4. Inclined to change quickly or frequently; inconstant.
Examples:
1) But up close the building is impossibly steep, vertiginous, hostile. (Neil Baldwln, "Legends of the Plumed Serpent")
2) [H]e did us no good when, without permission, he entered Tibetan air space and flew up over central China, explaining that it was impossible to comply with the authorities' instructions to land because of the vertiginous mountain terrain. (Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones, "Around the World in 20 Days")
3) ... The bouldery ruins of vertiginous cliffs pounded and lashed by the fury of wind and water. (Lena Lencek and Gideon Bosker, "The Beach")
Etymology:
"Vertiginous" derives from Latin "vertigo" ("a turning round, a whirling round; giddiness"), from "vertere" ("to turn"). Related words include "reverse" ("to turn back ("re-") or around"); "subvert" ("to undermine") - from "sub-" ("under") + "vertere" (at root "to turn from under, to overturn"); and "versus" ("against") - from "versus" ("turned towards", hence "facing, opposed"), from the past participle of "vertere".


vet
1. To provide veterinary care for (an animal).
2. To provide (a person) with medical care.
3. To examine carefully; to subject to thorough appraisal; to evaluate.
4. To practice as a veterinarian.
5. Expert in the medical treatment of animals; animal doctor.
Examples:
1) She was the right age (in her fifties), and her personal background had been vetted during the Senate confirmation hearings. (Eleanor Clift and Tom Brazaitis, "Madam President")
2) The "Stasi files law," as it is popularly known, also made it possible to vet parliamentarians for Stasi connections. (John O. Koehler, "Stasi: The Untold Story of the East German Secret Police")
3) Unlike, say, Bob Rubin (the Wall Street investment banker and incoming head of the National Economic Council), who probably needed half a law firm to vet his portfolio, I had no stocks or bonds. (George Stephanopoulos, "All Too Human")
4) The vet left them in the staff room while they tried to discuss Lizzie's future. ("Dogs Today")
Etymology:
"Vet" is short for veterinary or veterinarian, which comes from Latin "veterinarius" ("of or belonging to beasts of burden and draught"), from "veterinus" ("of draught, of beasts of burden"). The earlier sense was "to submit to examination or treatment by a veterinary surgeon", hence "to subject to thorough appraisal".


vice investing

• vice
• investing
• vice investment
• vice investor
• investment
• investor
• vice-based investing
• vice-based
• sinful investing
• sinful
• unethical investing
• unethical

An investment strategy that targets companies selling products related to human vices, such as alcohol, tobacco, gambling, and weapons.
Examples:
1) Ms. Waxler says her basket of vice stocks outperformed the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index by 42 per cent for the five years to Dec. 31. Not only is vice investing more fun, she argues, it's financially sound: the sin stocks have little correlation to the overall market, and the more the economy tanks, the more people need their alcohol, tobacco and pornography. (Carolyn Leitch, "Tired of ethical investing? Profit from vice instead", The Globe and Mail, March 20, 2004)
2) The idea of vice investing has also created a buzz in the literary world. St. Martin's Press is due to release a new book on the subject by Dan Ahrens, manager of the VICE Fund. 'Investing in Vice: The Recession Proof Portfolio of Booze, Bets, Bombs, and Butts,' should be in bookstores nationwide in January 2004. ("Sin Stocks Pay Off!", Business Wire, October 7, 2003)
Etymology:
This phrase, from the Gordon Gekko "greed is good" school of investing, has been in the news of late thanks to the recent publication of two vice investing books: "Stocking Up on Sin" by Caroline Waxler (John Wiley; February, 2004) and "Investing in Vice" by Dan Ahrens (St. Martin's; February, 2004). As the second example citation points out, Ahrens is the manager of the Vice Fund, a mutual fund started in August, 2002 that, according to its prospectus, looks for "companies that derive a significant portion of their revenues from products often considered socially irresponsible".
Synonyms:
vice-based investing (2002)
sinful investing (2003)
unethical investing (2002); the latter being the proper linguistic and financial opposite of "ethical investing" (1980).


vice versa

• vice
• versa

When people use this Latin term, they mean, "exactly the same, but the other way round."
Example:
Martha comes to visit me once a year, and vice versa. That way we get to see each other twice a year.

vicious circle

• vicious
• circle
• Vicious spiral
• spiral

[VISH-us-SER-kul]
1. An argument or definition that assumes as true something that is to be proven or defined.
2. A chain of events in which the response to one difficulty creates a new problem that aggravates the original difficulty.
Example:
Lower profits lead to spending cuts, which cause falling sales, in a vicious circle.
History:
"Vicious circle" originally referred to a circular argument, that is, an argument that assumes the conclusion as one of its premises. That sense was first documented around the end of the 18th century. Approximately 50 years later, "vicious circle" acquired the now more common "chain of events" sense as people began to think of the circle as a metaphorical circle rather than a circular argument. Today, "vicious cycle" is a common variant for the "chain of events" sense. "Vicious spiral," in which the ill effects are cumulative as well as self-aggravating, puts in an occasional appearance as well.


vicissitude

• the vicissitudes of life
• vicissitudes of life
• vicissitudes
• life
• alternation
• inconstancy
• fluctuation

[vuh-SISS-uh-tood, vih-SIS-ih-tood; -tyood]
1. Regular change or succession from one thing to another; alternation; mutual succession; interchange.
2. Irregular change; revolution; mutation.
3. A change in condition or fortune; an instance of mutability in life or nature (especially successive alternation from one condition to another).
Synonyms: alternation, inconstancy, fluctuation.
Examples:
1) This man had, after many vicissitudes of fortune, sunk at last into abject and hopeless poverty. (Thomas Macaulay)
2) Max had rescued his father's gold watch through every vicissitude, but as it didn't go I took it to a watchmaker. (Edith Anderson, "Love in Exile: An American Writer's Memoir of Life in Divided Berlin")
3) It has come about that this writer, who at the beginning might have appeared in unique occupation of a marginal and peripheral world, is instead writing from the center of a historical vicissitude, utterly contemporary. (Elizabeth Hardwic, "Meeting V. S. Naipaul")
Etymology, history, a related phrase:
"Vicissitude" comes from Latin "vicissitudo", from "vicissim", in turn, probably from "vices" ("changes, alternations"); it has been a part of the English language since the 16th century. In contemporary usage, it most often occurs in the plural - vicissitudes.
"Change is not made without inconvenience, even from worse to better," wrote British theologian Richard Hooker in the 16th century. That observation may shed some light on "vicissitude," a word that can refer simply to the fact of change, or to an instance of it, but that often refers specifically to hardship or difficulty brought about by change. To survive "the vicissitudes of life" is thus to survive life's ups and downs, with special emphasis on the downs. "Vicissitude" is a descendant of the Latin noun "vicis," meaning "change" or "alternation," and it has been a part of the English language since the 16th century. In contemporary usage, it most often occurs in the plural.

victim of artifice

• artifice victim
• victim of the artifice
• the victim of the artifice
• victim
• artifice

Also: (the) victim of the artifice
The victim of crimes of artifice.
Example:
The young matron, the editorialist said, "in the end became the victim of the artifice of Louis Wilson, the reckless destroyer of an entire family".


video jockey

• VJ
• video
• jockey
• veejay

A person who introduces and plays music videos; somebody who plays videos, especially music videos, especially on television; television presenter of videos; the TV counterpart of disc jockey; one who announces, plays, and provides commentary on videotaped programs, especially music videos, as on television or at a discotheque; video performance artists who create live visuals on all kind of music.
Example:
VJCentral.com (<http://vjcentral.com>) is the internets most popular VJ community and actively promotes the scene via its forums and community.
Synonyms: VJ, veejay (circa 1981)
History:
"Video Jockey" or "VJ" ("veejay") is a term coined in the early 1980s to describe the fresh faced youth who introduced the music videos on MTV.


vilipend

• contemn
• disparage

1. to hold or treat as of little worth or account
Synonym: contemn
Example: As a women's movement pioneer, Susan B. Anthony fought against the dictums of those who would vilipend women by treating them as second-class citizens.
2. to express a low opinion of
Synonym: disparage
Etymology:
"Vilipend" first appeared in English in the 15th century and comes to us through French from the Latin roots "vilis", meaning "cheap" or "vile", plus "pendere", meaning "to weigh", "to estimate", or "to cause to hang". These roots work in tandem to form a meaning of "to deem to be of little worth". Both of those roots have weighed in heavily as a source of common English words. Other "vilis" offspring include "vile" and "vilify", while "pendere" has spawned such terms as "append", "expend", and "suspend".


vim

• vivacity
• spirit
• dash
• energy
• snap

[VIM]
Power; force; energy; spirit; activity; vigor.
Synonyms: vivacity, spirit, dash, energy, snap.
Examples:
1) The 76-year-old retired Malaysian schoolteacher displayed so much vim during a recent hike through a national park in Sarawak, astonished rangers began calling her a "recycled teenager." (Choong Tet Sieu, "The Power to Go On and On," Asiaweek, July 28, 2000)
2) The publishing business seems to be showing new vim. Figures recently released by the Association of American Publishers, which monitors about 100 large firms, reveal much better performance in the first quarter of 1983 than in the first quarter of 1982. (Judith Applebaum, "Permission to Play," New York Times, May 29, 1983)
3) I am taken aback by Janet's voice. I am surprised by its sound, soft, tentative in its tone, a voice without the vim and vigor of her muscular writing style. (Lauren Slater, "One nation, under the weather," Salon, July 5, 2000)
Etymology:
"Vim" is from Latin "vis" ("strength").


vindicate
1. avenge
2. to free from allegation or blame
3. a) confirm, substantiate; b) to provide justification or defense for
Synonym: justify
Example:
The latest discovery appeared to vindicate the scientist's theory about the origins of the universe.
Etymology, subsidiary meanings:
It's not surprising that the two earliest senses of "vindicate", which has been used in English since at least the mid-16th century, are "to set free, deliver" (a sense that is now obsolete) and "to avenge". "Vindicate" derives from the Latin "vindicatus", the past participle of the verb "vindicare", meaning "to set free, avenge, lay claim to". "Vindicare", in turn, derives from "vindex", a noun meaning "claimant, avenger". Other descendants of "vindicare" in English include such vengeful words as "avenge" itself, "revenge", "vengeance", "vendetta", and "vindictive". Closer cousins of "vindicate" are "vindicable" ("capable of being vindicated") and the archaic "vindicative" ("punitive").


virago
[vuh-RAH-go; vuh-RAY-go]
1. A woman of extraordinary stature, strength, and courage.
2. A woman regarded as loud, scolding, ill-tempered, quarrelsome, or overbearing.
Examples:
1) The intrepid heroines range from Unn the Deep Minded, the Viking virago who colonized Iceland, to Sue Hendrikson, a school dropout who became one of the great experts on amber, fossils and shipwrecks. (Ann Prichard, "Coffee-table: Africa, cathedrals, animals, 'Sue,'" USA Today, November 28, 2001)
2) This virago, this madwoman, finally got to me, and I was subjected to the most rude, the most shocking violence I can remember. (Jos? Lim?n, "An Unfinished Memoir")
Etymology:
"Virago" comes from Latin "virago" ("a man-like woman, a female warrior, a heroine"), from "vir" ("a man").


virtu
[vuhr-TOO; vir-] 1. Love of or taste for fine objects of art. 2. Productions of art (especially fine antiques). 3. Artistic quality.
Examples:
1) The Italian humanist Giovanni Pontano described these objects as "statues, pictures, tapestries, divans, chairs of ivory, cloth interwoven with gems, many-coloured boxes and coffers in the Arabian style, crystal vases and other things of this kind . . . [whose] sight . . . is pleasing and brings prestige to the owner of the house." They all spoke to the wealth, taste and virtu of their owner. (John Brewer, "The Pleasures of the Imagination")
2) Divans, Persian rugs, easy chairs, books, statuary, articles of virtu and bric-a-brac are on every side, and the whole has the appearance of a place where one could dream his life away. ("Mark Twain's Summer Home", The New York Times, September 10, 1882)
Etymology:
"Virtu" comes from Italian "virtù" ("virtue, excellence"), from Latin "virtus" ("excellence, worth, goodness, virtue").


vituperate

• berate
• revile

[vy-TOO-puh-rayt]
1. To use harsh condemnatory language.
2. To abuse or censure severely or abusively.
Synonym: berate
Example:
The author was vituperated by many critics in the media for lifting material from other sources without properly attributing them.
Etymology, related words, synonyms:
"Vituperate" first appeared in English in the mid-16th century. It derives from the past participle of the Latin verb "vituperare," which was formed as a combination of two Latin words: the noun "vitium," meaning "fault," and the verb "parare," meaning "to make or prepare." ("Parare" helped give us a number of other English words, such as "prepare," "separate," "apparatus," and even "emperor.") "Vituperate" possesses several close synonyms, including "berate" and "revile." "Berate" usually refers to scolding that is drawn out and abusive. "Revile" means to attack or criticize in a way prompted by anger or hatred. "Vituperate" adds to the meaning of "revile" by stressing an attack that is particularly violent in nature.


vituperation

• vituperator
• vituperate
• vituperative

[vy-too-puh-RAY-shuhn, -tyoo-]
1. The act or an instance of speaking abusively to or about.
2. Sustained and severely abusive language.
Examples:
1) It was a bitter attack on those who had sneered at his father, an astonishingly poised performance for a twenty-six-year-old, and an early demonstration of Bron's gift for vituperation. (Geoffrey Wheatcroft, "Bron and His 'Affec. Papa,'" The Atlantic, May 2001)
2) Everybody was very nice except the Liberal women - who have a repertoire of vituperation that I cannot believe to be equalled anywhere. (Bonnie Kime Scott (Editor), "Selected Letters of Rebecca West")
3) Ratifying Wylie's vituperations against the homemaker, feminists have scorned the domestic role and exhorted other women to join them in forsaking it as unworthy of their talents. (F. Carolyn Graglia, "Domestic Tranquility")
Etymology, related words:
"Vituperation" comes from Latin "vituperatio", from the past participle of "vituperare" - "to blame," from "vitium" ("a fault") + "parare" ("to prepare"). The verb form is "vituperate"; the related adjective is "vituperative". One who vituperates is a vituperator.


vlog

• vlogging
• vlogger
• vlog
• video blogger
• video
• blogger
• video blogging
• blogging
• blog
• vlogosphere
• video weblog
• weblog
• phlog
• moblog

A video weblog: a web-based diary containing short pieces of video instead of text.
Related words:
vlogging (noun), vlogger (noun), vlog (verb)
Examples:
1) Mr Garfield posts about two vlogs a week, on everything from beer and local human interest stories to an off-beat daily report from the recent Democratic convention. (The Guardian, 7th August 2004)
2) In the beginning there was blogging. Then came vlogging, or video-blogging. And now these online video diaries are spawning the broadcasting stars of the future. (The Observer, 9th October 2005)
3) As with other parts of the Internet, the topics for vloggers are as diverse as the people who vlog - from cooking lessons or political protests to a single dad showing how to change a diaper. (Lexington Herald-Leader, 15th October 2005)
History, related words:
People who previously used their blog to write endlessly about everything that mattered to them in life, can now take their web-based commentary to the next level. Ardent bloggers can now become vloggers - by filming and broadcasting their work in a video weblog, or vlog.
Many vlogs have an amateur, experimental feel, with vloggers capturing moments from their everyday lives such as family birthdays, weddings, nativity plays and local festivals. Others have attracted a surprisingly large audience, such as the vlog Rocketboom.com <http://www.rocketboom.com>, a daily, three-minute spoof news bulletin which has turned its creator Amanda Congdon <http://www.amandacongdon.com> into an online celebrity.
Like blog before it, vlog has rapidly spawned a range of derivatives. Vloggers are of course those who participate in the activity, otherwise known as video bloggers. The participle noun vlogging has been coined to describe the activity of video blogging, and there is also evidence for a verb vlog which can be used both transitively and intransitively. Based on the noun blogosphere, a term coined in the late nineties to refer to a social network of bloggers, the recent coinage vlogosphere now refers to the vlogging community.
Though people have been experimenting with video blogs for a number of years, the vlogosphere has expanded significantly in the past year, with sites like the Yahoo videoblogging group <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/videoblogging/> enabling vloggers to network and share tips. The recent launch of the video-enabled i-Pod seems likely to energize vlogging even more, with podcasters <New-Words/050516-podcasting.htm> already experimenting with the concept of vodcasting, the creation of Internet-based video programmes which people can subscribe to and download on request.
Vlog, short for video weblog, is of course based on the term "blog", a contraction of the word "weblog" which first appeared in 1998. Other recent variations on the same theme include "phlog", referring to a photo blog, and "moblog", a blog which can be updated via a mobile phone.

vlogger

• web logger
• web
• logger
• vlogging
• vlog
• blogger
• moblogging
• mob logging
• mob
• logging
• moblog
• moblogger
• mob log
• log
• mob logger
• logger
• audio blogging
• audio
• audio blogger
• audio blog
• video blogging
• video blog
• video blogger
• video
• video weblogging
• video weblogger
• video weblog
• web logging
• weblogging
• weblogger
• weblog
• web log
• vlogging
• vlog
• lifelog
• lifelogger
• lifelogging
• life log
• life
• life logging
• life logger
• life caching
• life cach
• life
• cach
• caching

virtual web logfile rotater/parser; video weblogging
Example:
1) "Vlogger" is a little piece of code he wrote to handle dealing with large amounts of virtualhost logs.
2) In its most basic form, vlogging does not require very hi-tech equipment: a digital video camera, a high-speed connection and a host are all that is needed. ("Guardian", 7 Aug. 2004)
3) Jeff Jarvis, an early champion of vlogging and founder of BuzzMachine.com, a blog that deals with politics and the media, sees great potential in the phenomenon. "Vlogs are a weird, new kind of way that people can document their lives," says Jarvis. ("Time", 19 Apr. 2004)
Etymology, related words:
First we had "web logger", or "blogger" (<http://quinion.com?A27V>), for a person who creates Web pages called "blogs", that contain diary entries detailing their activities, interests or thoughts on life. The concept was extended by adding photographs (often taken using the camera functions of mobile phones, so it's often called "moblogging"), then sound (which some call "audio blogging", though there doesn't seem to be a common abbreviation for it). In the past year or so, some bloggers have experimented with video, taking advantage of cheap digital camcorders to provide a kind of continuing television news report on personal events. Obviously enough, this is called "video blogging" or "video weblogging", "vlogging" for short, with the person creating the "vlog" being the "vlogger". Many observers feel that it will be slow to catch on, because the tools are relatively expensive, video demands too much bandwidth to transmit, and - above all - too few potential vloggers have the technical skills to make watchable recordings. An extension of blogging is to collect, display and store all types of digital information about one's life in a single place for one's family and friends to access. Such a collection has been called a "lifelog", though trendwatching.com recently dubbed it "life caching".

vociferous

• clamorous
• strident
• obstreperous
• boisterous
• noisy

[voh-SIF-uh-rus]
Making a loud outcry; marked by or given to vehement insistent outcry.
Synonym: noisy.
Examples:
1) The students launched a vociferous protest upon learning the college was planning to fire the popular professor.
2) Claudio has work to do and I have a vociferous son demanding a story. (Ariel Dorfman, "Heading South, Looking North: A Bilingual Journey)
3) The local heroes received meals, heard speeches, were presented with flags, and were accompanied to railroad stations by vociferous crowds. (Jeffry D. Wert, "A Brotherhood of Valor")
History, more synonyms, difference:
"Vociferous" derives from the Latin "vociferari" ("to shout, to cry out"), from "vox" ("voice") + "ferre" ("to carry"). But other English words can be used to describe those who compel attention by being loud and insistent. "Vociferous" implies a vehement shouting or calling out, but to convey the insistency of a demand or protest, "clamorous" might be a better choice. You could also use "strident" to suggest harsh and discordant noise in a protest, or "obstreperous" to imply loud, unruly and aggressive resistance to restraint. But someone who is noisy and turbulent due to high spirits rather than dissatisfaction might more aptly be called "boisterous" instead of "vociferous."


voice lift

• voice
• lift
• voice-lift

Cosmetic vocal cord surgery designed to make a person's voice sound younger. Also: voice-lift.
Examples:
1) Let's say you don't like the sound of your voice. Well, we've all heard about face-lifts. What about a voice-lift? It's a new medical procedure which has some people really excited, but in this edition of "Dr. Tim on Call," Medical Editor Dr. Tim Johnson sends up a warning that people have to be very cautious before having elective surgery on their vocal cords. (Diane Sawyer, "Dr. Tim on Call", Good Morning America, April 22, 2004)
2) A new vanity surgery has reared its smooth, unlined head: the voice lift. After all, what good does it do to have Nicole's nose, a baby-smooth brow, Salma Hayek's bustline, feet surgically reshaped for Manolos, blindingly white teeth and thighs lipo'd free of fat if you sound like Grandpa Simpson? When I heard about the voice lift, I involuntarily yelled, "No - they can't be raising the bar yet again!" And then I immediately regretted it. Using the vocal cords, I learned, is precisely what makes the voice age in the first place. "Idiot," I said to myself, silently. (Beth Teitell, "'Voice lift' sounds like trouble to me", The Boston Herald, April 21, 2004)
3) After the tummy tuck, the forehead tightener, the nose job and the jowl trim, something still might be giving away your age: your voice. For patients who think their trembly, raspy or wispy words don't match their newly firm face and figure, there's a procedure that claims to make them sound younger too: the voice lift. (Joann Loviglio, "Yet another age-fighting strategy: Surgery for a younger voice", The Associated Press, April 18, 2004)
History:
Cosmetic voice surgery has been around for a few years and is normally used to treat people who have lost the ability to speak due to illness or injury. (Surgeons typically plump up the cords with implants or injections of fat or collagen.) But it was inevitable that someone would ask to have their vocal cords tweaked for purely cosmetic reasons, and the "voice lift" was born.

volant

• volley

[VOH-lunt]
1. Having the wings extended as if in flight - used of a heraldic bird.
2. Flying or capable of flying.
Example:
Archaeopteryx, a dinosaur with well-developed wings, had wing feathers with a structure and arrangement like that of modern volant birds - indicating it could fly.
3. Quick, nimble.
Etymology, explanations, related words:
English picked up "volant" from Middle French. The term survives in Modern French as well, both as an adjective having essentially the same meaning as the English term, and as a noun with several meanings (among them "shuttlecock"). The influence of French can be seen doubly in the heraldic sense of "volant": in heraldic contexts, the adjective "volant" almost always appears after the noun - a syntax picked up from French along with the meaning. For instance, a coat of arms or a military decoration might feature an "eagle volant." Ultimately, "volant" comes from the Latin verb "volare," meaning "to fly." Another word that came to English through Middle French from "volare" is "volley," which refers to things flying back and forth through the air.


volplane
[VAHL-playn]
1. To glide in or as if in an airplane.
2. Of an airplane; to descend gradually in controlled flight.
3. To fly in a glider.
Example:
An eagle soared and volplaned gracefully across the sky.
History:
"Vol plane," meaning "gliding flight," was a phrase first used by 19th-century French ornithologists to describe downward flight by birds; it contrasted with "vol a voile" ("soaring flight"). Around the time Orville and Wilbur Wright were promoting their latest "aeroplane" in France, the noun and the verb "volplane" soared to popularity in America as a term describing the daring dives by aviators. ("Fly" magazine reported in 1910 that "the French flyers are noted for their thrilling spirals and vol planes from the sky.") The avian-to-aviator generalization was fitting, since the Wright brothers had studied the flight of birds in designing their planes.


volte-face

• volte
• face
• about-face
• reversal
• policy change
• policy
• change

[vawlt-FAHSS; vawl-tuh-]
An about-face; a reversal, as in policy or opinion.
Examples:
1) The provisional government's volte-face on holding special elections in June instead of October took everybody by surprise.
2) I was eventually eased out of the organisation, but not before British policy had performed a volte-face on Cyprus, the colony had gained independence, and yesterday's political wisdoms had suddenly been repudiated. (George Urban, "Radio Free Europe and the Pursuit of Democracy")
3) In a sudden volte-face, he seemed to accept the agreement; then, when the besieged forces came out to embark, he had their barges held in port. (Richard Eder, "Just Wild About Horatio," New York Times, November 7, 1999)
4) [S]uddenly confronted with the imminent ruin of Angela Lyne, his former mistress, who is drinking herself to death out of loneliness, he does the first real volte-face of his life by returning to her. (L.E. Sissman, "Evelyn Waugh: The Height of His Powers," The Atlantic, March 1972)
Etymology:
Today, English speakers can choose between "volte-face" and the more English-sounding "about-face", but that wasn't always the case. Although foot soldiers have been stepping smartly to the command "To the right about face! Forward march!" for centuries, "about-face" didn't appear as a figurative noun meaning "a reversal of attitude, behavior, or point of view" until the 20th century. On the other hand, we've been using the noun "volte-face" with this meaning since at least 1819. "Volte- face" came to us by way of French from Italian "voltafaccia" (from "voltare", "volta", Italian for "to turn", and "faccia", meaning "face", from Vulgar Latin "facia").


voluble
[VOL-yuh-buhl]
1. Characterized by a ready flow of speech.
2. Easily rolling or turning; rotating.
3. (Botany) Having the power or habit of turning or twining.
Examples:
1) Rostow was voluble, exuberant and full of good and sometimes foolish ideas. (Kai Bird, "The Color of Truth")
2) Two glasses of wine made him voluble and three made him bellicose, sentimental and sometimes slurred. ("How Nixon turned into Tricky Dicky," Daily Telegraph, March 9, 1999)
3) He listened patiently and with quiet amusement to my enthusiasm. Indeed, this turned out to be our pattern: I, more ignorant but more voluble, would babble on, while he would offer an occasional objection or refinement. (Phillip Lopate, "Totally, Tenderly, Tragically")
4) Her tongue, so voluble and kind, It always runs before her mind. (Matthew Prior, "Truth and Falsehood")
Etymology:
"Voluble" derives from Latin "volubilis" - "revolving, rolling, fluent," from "volvere" - "to roll."


volume
1. A roll; a scroll; a written document rolled up for keeping or for use, after the manner of the ancients. 2. Hence, a collection of printed sheets bound together, whether containing a single work, or a part of a work, or more than one work; a book; a tome; especially, that part of an extended work which is bound up together in one cover. 3. Anything of a rounded or swelling form resembling a roll; a turn; a convolution; a coil. 4. Dimensions; compass; space occupied, as measured by cubic units, that is, cubic inches, feet, yards, etc.; mass; bulk. 5. (Mus.) Amount, fullness, quantity, or caliber of voice or tone.
Examples:
1) It was a fundamental work in four volumes.
2) An odd volume of a set of books bears not the value of its proportion to the set.
3) So glides some trodden serpent on the grass, and long behind wounded volume trails.
4) We saw undulating billows rolling their silver volumes.
5) The volume of an adult elephant's body is more than you think.
6) The gas expanded to twice its original volume.
7) It is cheaper to buy it in bulk.
8) He received a volume of correspondence.
9) He used a large book as a doorstop.
10) Mix one volume of the solution with ten volumes of water.
11) The kids played their music at full volume.
Etymology:
"Volume" is from the Latin "volvere", meaning "to roll up." Ancient books were written on sheets of paper (firstly of papyrus, and afterward of parchment) which were fastened together lengthwise to form one sheet and rolled upon a staff into a volume (volumen), like a window shade.

voluptuary
[vuh-LUHP-choo-er-ee]
1. (Noun) A person devoted to luxury and the gratification of sensual appetites; a sensualist.
2. (Adjective) Voluptuous; luxurious.
Examples:
1) Colette used to begin her day's writing by first picking fleas from her cat, and it's not hard to imagine how the methodical stroking and probing into fur might have focused such a voluptuary's mind. (Diane Ackerman, "O Muse! You Do Make Things Difficult!" New York Times, November 12, 1989)
2) Though depicted as a decadent voluptuary, she remained celibate for more than half of her adult life. (Michiko Kakutani, "Cleopatra Behind Her Magic Mirror," New York Times, June 5, 1990)
Etymology:
"Voluptuary" derives from Latin "voluptarius" ("devoted to pleasure"), from "voluptas" ("pleasure").


volvoid
[VOHL-voyd]
(n.)
1. a white, moderately affluent, suburban professional who is politically liberal. Examples:
1) Rockwell's Vermont still exists, but recent events have shown another side of the state - a Vermont that can seem so progressive and Volvoid that National Review calls it "the American Sweden". (Ted Widmer, "Vermont Life", The New York Times, February 15, 2004)
2) Id like to call readers attention to the recent Wall Street Journal column of one Mark Steyn, inventor of the phrase bike-path leftist. Its not easy to invent a good pithy phrase: Weybridge writer Bo Knepp deserves more recognition than he ever got for his invention of the word Volvoid, a neologism which requires no translation or interpretation. ("The Bike-Path Left," http://www.addisoncountygop.org/)
2. a Volvo driver
3. (adj.) of or relating to Volvos or Volvo drivers
Example:
The papers report with regularity the battles that ensue, usually in Volvoid ghettos like Waitsfield, when someone does anything that reflects a little industry, thought, or creativity. (James R. Hogue, letter to the editor, The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT), November 23, 1999)
Etymology:
This sense (2, 3) dates to about 1988.


votary

• adherent
• devotee
• supporter

[VOH-tuh-ree]
1. One who is devoted, given, or addicted to some particular pursuit, subject, study, or way of life.
2. A devoted admirer.
3. A devout adherent of a religion or cult.
4. A dedicated believer or advocate.
Synonyms: adherent, devotee, supporter.
Examples:
1) When she held out her hand to receive the glass, she had more the air of a full-grown Bacchante, celebrating the rites of Bacchus, than a votary at the shrine of Hygeia. (Pamela Neville-Sington, "Fanny Trollope")
2) Perhaps most amazingly, votaries of "diversity" insist on absolute conformity. (Tony Snow, "Lifestyle police: Enough already," USA Today, June 10, 1996)
3) It must be remembered that undisguised atrocities on a stupendous scale. .. would be too strong for the stomach of even the most brutalized people, and would tend to bring war into discredit with all but its monomaniac votaries. ("The Idea of a League of Nations," The Atlantic, February 1919)
Etymology:
"Votary" comes from Latin "votum" ("vow"), from the past participle of "vovere" ("to vow, to devote"). Related words include "vow" and "vote", originally a "vow", hence a prayer or ardent wish, hence an expression of preference, as for a candidate.


vouchsafe
[vouch-SAYF]
1. a) to grant or furnish often in a gracious or condescending manner; b) to give by way of reply;
Example:
If he passed near enough to speak ... a 'Morning, Miss Grey,' or some such brief salutation, was usually vouchsafed. (Anne Bronte, "Agnes Grey")
2. to grant as a privilege or special favor
Example:
He hoped to actually witness an eagle catching a fox. This was not vouchsafed to him on that first trip. . . . (John Derbyshire, "Washington Times", January 4, 2004)
History, more examples:
Shakespeare fans are well acquainted with "vouchsafe." The word, which was borrowed with its present meaning from Anglo-French in the 14th century, pops up fairly frequently in the Bard's work. (60 times, to be exact!) "Vouchsafe me yet your picture for my love," beseeches Proteus of Silvia in "The Two Gentlemen of Verona". "Vouchsafe me raiment, bed, and food," King Lear begs his daughter Regan.


vulcanize

• Vulcanization
• Vulcan
• Hephaestus

[VUL-kuh-nyze]
To treat rubber or rubberlike material chemically to give useful properties (as elasticity or strength).
Example:
The American inventor Charles Goodyear is said to have discovered how to vulcanize rubber quite accidentally.
History, related words:
Vulcanization involves heating rubber in combination with sulfur. The Roman god Vulcan (whose Greek counterpart is Hephaestus) was the god of fire and of skills that used fire, such as metalworking. So when Charles Goodyear discovered that high heat would result in stronger rubber, he called the process "vulcanization" after the god of fire. Goodyear stumbled upon the idea in 1839 and acquired a patent for it in 1844, but the labels "vulcanize" and "vulcanization" didn't appear in print until 1846.


vulnerary
[VUL-nuh-rair-ee]
Used for or useful in healing wounds.
Example:
Native Americans prized the herb echinacea for its vulnerary properties, using it to treat burns and snakebite as well as arrow wounds.
Etymology, related words:
"Vulnus" in Latin means "wound." You might think, then, that the English adjective "vulnerary" would mean "wounding, causing a wound." And, indeed, "vulnerary" has been used that way, along with two obsolete adjectives, "vulnerative" and "vulnific." But for the lasting and current use of "vulnerary," we took our cue from the Roman scholar Pliny the Elder. In his "Natural History", he used the Latin adjective "vulnerarius" to describe a plaster, or dressing, for healing wounds. And that's fine - the suffix "-ary" merely indicates that there is a connection, which, in this case, is to wounds. (As you may have already suspected, "vulnerable" is related; it comes from the Latin verb "vulnerare," which means "to wound.")


vulpine
1. of, relating to, or resembling a fox
2. foxy, crafty
Example:
The stranger's vulpine smile revealed his cunning mind and greedy heart, and Hazel knew instantly that she shouldn't trust him.
Etymology:
In "Walden" (1854), Henry David Thoreau described foxes crying out "raggedly and demoniacally" as they hunted through the winter forest, and he wrote, "Sometimes one came near to my window, attracted by my light, barked a vulpine curse at me, and then retreated". Thoreau's was far from the first use of "vulpine"; English writers have been applying that adjective to the foxlike or crafty since the 15th century. Its Latin parent is the adjective "vulpinus", which itself comes from the noun "vulpes", meaning "fox".