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Active quality or power; capacity or power adequate to the production of a given effect; energy; strength; potency; efficacy; as, the virtue of a medicine. Jesus, immediately knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of him, turned him about. Mark v. 30. A man was driven to depend for his security against misundersta…

Extremely poisonous or venomous; very active in doing injury. A contagious disorder rendered more virulent by uncleanness. Sir W. Scott.

perty by which it is given. -- Vis mortua Etym: [L.] (Mech.), dead force; force doing no active work, but only producing pressure. -- Vis vitæ, or Vis vitalis Etym: [L.] (Physiol.), vital force. -- Vis viva Etym: [L.] (Mech.), living force; the force of a body moving against resistance, or doing work, in distinction…

indicated the relation of the subject of the verb to the action which the verb expresses. Active voice (Gram.), that form of the verb by which its subject is represented as the agent or doer of the action expressed by it. -- Chest voice (Phon.), a kind of voice of a medium or low pitch and of a sonorous quality ascrib…

Nimble; light and quick; active; rapid. "His volant touch." Milton.

tion; the points beneath volcanoes where the causes producing volcanic phenomena are most active. -- Volcanic glass, the vitreous form of lava, produced by sudden cooling; obsidian. See Obsidian. -- Volcanic mud, fetid, sulphurous mud discharged by a volcano. -- Volcanic rocks, rocks which have been produced from th…

To be exited or roused up; to be stirred up from a dormant, torpid, or inactive state; to be active. Gentle airs due at their hour To fan the earth now waked. Milton. Then wake, my soul, to high desires. Keble.

lizard (Varanaus salvator) native of India. It frequents the borders of streams and swims actively. It becomes five or six feet long. Called also two-banded monitor, and kabaragoya. The name is also applied to other aquatic monitors.

Any one of several species of shrews having fringed feet and capable of swimming actively. The two common European species (Crossopus fodiens, and C. ciliatus) are the best known. The most common American water shrew, or marsh shrew (Neosorex palustris), is rarely seen, owing to its nocturnal habits.…

provides. Dryden. Wealth comprises all articles of value and nothing else. F. A. Walker. Active wealth. See under Active.

Swift; nimble; agile; strong and active. [Obs. or Poetic] 'T is full wight, God wot, as is a roe. Chaucer. He was so wimble and so wight. Spenser. They were Night and Day, and Day and Night, Pilgrims wight with steps forthright. Emerson.

Active; nimble.[Obs.] Spenser.

The characteristic of being winsome; attractiveness of manner. J. R. Green.

m. Wyclif (Luke xv. 16). An I had but a belly of any indifferency, I were simply the most active fellow in Europe. My womb, my womb, my womb undoes me. Shak.

Active or moving power. [Obs.] Spenser.

Eager; brisk; quick; active. [Obs.] "Her song . . . loud and yern." Chaucer.

ate ardor in the pursuit of anything; eagerness in favor of a person or cause; ardent and active interest; engagedness; enthusiasm; fervor. "Ambition varnished o'er with zeal." Milton. "Zeal, the blind conductor of the will." Dryden. "Zeal's never-dying fire." Keble. I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but…

One of an active and hardy body of soldiers in the French service, originally Arabs, but now composed of Frenchmen who wear the Arab dress.