UNIT n.
f numeration; one taken in the abstract; the number represented by 1. The term is used in distinction from concrete, or determinate, unit, that is, a unit in which the kind of thing is expressed; a unit of measure or value; as 1 foot, 1 dollar, 1 pound, and the like. -- Complex unit (Theory of Numbers), an imaginary n…
VACUUM n.
A space entirely devoid of matter (called also, by way of distinction, absolute vacuum); hence, in a more general sense, a space, as the interior of a closed vessel, which has been exhausted to a high or the highest degree by an air pump or other artificial means; as, water boils at a reduced temperature in a vacuum.…
VASCULAR a.
higher division of plants, that is, the phænogamous plants, all of which are vascular, in distinction from the cryptogams, which to a large extent are cellular only. Vascular plants (Bot.), plants composed in part of vascular tissue, as all flowering plants and the higher cryptogamous plants, or those of the class Pter…
VIS n.
] (Mech.), living force; the force of a body moving against resistance, or doing work, in distinction from vis mortua, or dead force; the kinetic energy of a moving body; the capacity of a moving body to do work by reason of its being in motion. See Kinetic energy, in the Note under Energy. The term vis viva is not usu…
VOCAL a.
ibrations during the act of using the voice. -- Vocal music, music made by the voice, in distinction from instrumental music; hence, music or tunes set to words, to be performed by the human voice. -- Vocal tube (Anat.), the part of the air passages above the inferior ligaments of the larynx, including the passages t…
VOLUNTARY a. 2 definitions
will; as, the voluntary motions of an animal, such as the movements of the leg or arm (in distinction from involuntary motions, such as the movements of the heart); the voluntary muscle fibers, which are the agents in voluntary motion.
WORLDLY a.
Pertaining to this world or life, in contradistinction from the life to come; secular; temporal; devoted to this life and its enjoyments; bent on gain; as, worldly pleasures, affections, honor, lusts, men. With his soul fled all my worldly solace. Shak.