UNDO v.
To bring to poverty; to impoverish; to ruin, as in reputation, morals, hopes, or the like; as, many are undone by unavoidable losses, but more undo themselves by vices and dissipation, or by indolence. That quaffing and drinking will undo you, Shak.
VEHMIC a.
Of, pertaining to, or designating, certain secret tribunals flourished in Germany from the end of the 12th century to the middle of the 16th, usurping many of the functions of the government which were too weak to maintain law and order, and inspiring dread in all who came within their jurisdiction. Encyc. Brit.…
VELVET n.
The soft and highly vascular deciduous skin which envelops and nourishes the antlers of deer during their rapid growth. Cotton velvet, an imitation of velvet, made of cotton. -- Velvet cork, the best kind of cork bark, supple, elastic, and not woody or porous. -- Velvet crab a European crab (Portunus puber). When adu…
VESTIGE n.
ce; a sign; hence, a faint mark or visible sign left by something which is lost, or has perished, or is no longer present; remains; as, the vestiges of ancient magnificence in Palmyra; vestiges of former population. What vestiges of liberty or property have they left Burke. Ridicule has followed the vestiges of Truth,…
VULGAR a.
Hence, lacking cultivation or refinement; rustic; boorish; also, offensive to good taste or refined feelings; low; coarse; mean; base; as, vulgar men, minds, language, or manners. Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar. Shak. Vulgar fraction. (Arith.) See under Fraction.
WAKE n.
f persons with a dead body, often attended with a degree of festivity, chiefly among the Irish. "Blithe as shepherd at a wake." Cowper. Wake play, the ceremonies and pastimes connected with a wake. See Wake, n., 3 (b), above. [Obs.] Chaucer.