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the sauce of civil entertainment; and without some such tincture of urbanity, good humor falters. L'Estrange.

Born of the same mother, but by a different father. Walter Pope, uterine brother to Dr. Joh. WilkiWood.

e act of vacillating; a moving one way and the other; a wavering. His vacillations, or an alternation of knowledge and doubt. Jer. Taylor.

es. It is represented in heraldry by a series of small shields placed close together, and alternately white and blue. Fairholt. No vair or ermine decked his garment. Sir W. Scott. Counter vair (Her.), a fur resembling vair, except in the arrangement of the patches or figures.

Having the capacity of varying or changing; capable of alternation in any manner; changeable; as, variable winds or seasons; a variable quantity.

To alter; to make different; to vary.

ng; a partial change in the form, position, state, or qualities of a thing; modification; alternation; mutation; diversity; deviation; as, a variation of color in different lights; a variation in size; variation of language. The essences of things are conceived not capable of any such variation. Locke.…

Changed; altered; various; diversified; as, a varied experience; varied interests; varied scenery. -- Va"ried*ly, adv. The varied fields of science, ever new. Cowper.

To change the aspect of; to alter in form, appearance, substance, position, or the like; to make different by a partial change; to modify; as, to vary the properties, proportions, or nature of a thing; to vary a posture or an attitude; to vary one's dress or opinions. Shall we vary our device at will, Even as new occas…

wear; as, to veer, or wear, a vessel. To veer and haul (Naut.), to pull tight and slacken alternately. Totten. -- To veer away or out (Naut.), to let out; to slacken and let run; to pay out; as, to veer away the cable; to veer out a rope.

vision. { 1. Acrogens. -- Plants usually with distinct stems and leaves, existing in two alternate conditions, one of which is nonsexual and sporophoric, the other sexual and oöphoric. Divided into Vascular Acrogens, or Pteridophyta, having the sporophoric plant conspicuous and consisting partly of vascular tissue, as…

als having, a micaceous structure. They are hydrous silicates, derived generally from the alteration of some kind of mica. So called because the scales, when heated, open out into wormlike forms.

To have the constituent particles move to and fro, with alternate compression and dilation of parts, as the air, or any elastic body; to quiver.

A limited reciprocating motion of a particle of an elastic body or medium in alternately opposite directions from its position of equilibrium, when that equilibrium has been disturbed, as when a stretched cord or other body produces musical notes, or particles of air transmit sounds to the ear. The path of the particle…

Regular change or succession from one thing to another; alternation; mutual succession; interchange. God made two great lights . . . To illuminate the earth and rule the day In their vicissitude, and rule the night. Milton.

oem written in tercets with but two rhymes, the first and third verse of the first stanza alternating as the third verse in each successive stanza and forming a couplet at the close. E. W. Gosse.

A greenish chloritic mineral common in certain igneous rocks, as diabase, as a result of alternation.

and an ampere. For direct current it is a measure of power and is the same as a watt; for alternating current it is a measure of apparent power.

A soft, earthy, dark-colored rock or clay derived from the alteration of basalt.

-- Wandering Jew (Bot.), any one of several creeping species of Tradescantia, which have alternate, pointed leaves, and a soft, herbaceous stem which roots freely at the joints. They are commonly cultivated in hanging baskets, window boxes, etc. -- Wandering kidney (Med.), a morbid condition in which one kidney, or,…