Search the Dictionary

Indigo red, a product of the decomposition, or oxidation, of indican. It is sometimes found in the sediment of pathological urines. It is soluble in ether or alcohol, giving the solution a beautiful red color. Also called indigrubin.

The quality or state of being useful; usefulness; production of good; profitableness to some valuable end; as, the utility of manure upon land; the utility of the sciences; the utility of medicines. The utility of the enterprises was, however, so great and obvious that all opposition proved useless. Macaulay.…

Capable of being utilized; as, the utilizable products of the gas works.

lso used adjectively) indicating derivation from, or relation to, valerian or some of its products, as valeric acid; as in valerolactone, a colorless oily liquid produced as the anhydride of an hydroxy valeric acid.

by maintaining a purchasing fund, making loans to producers to enable them to hold their products, etc.; -- used chiefly of such action by Brazil.

ng empty, visionary, unreal, or unsubstantial; fruitless desire or effort; trifling labor productive of no good; empty pleasure; vain pursuit; idle show; unsubstantial enjoyment. Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher. Eccl. i. 2. Vanity possesseth many who are desirous to know the certainty of things to come. Sir P. S…

consisting of a simple or branched mass of cellular tissue, or educed to a single cell. Reproduction effected variously. Divided into Algæ, which contain chlorophyll or its equivalent, and which live upon air and water, and Fungi, which contain no chlorophyll, and live on organic matter. (Lichens are now believed to be…

metimes applied to vegetable albumen and gluten, from their resemblance to similar animal products.

-- Virtual image. (Optics) See under Image. -- Virtual moment (of a force) (Mech.), the product of the intensity of the force multiplied by the virtual velocity of its point of application; -- sometimes called virtual work. -- Virtual velocity (Mech.), a minute hypothetical displacement, assumed in analysis to facil…

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…

isual ray, a line from the eye, or point of sight. -- Visual white (Physiol.), the final product in the action of light on visual purple. It is reconverted into visual purple by the regenerating action of the choroidal epithelium. -- Visual yellow (Physiol.), a product intermediate between visual purple and visual wh…

A unit of electric measurement equal to the product of a volt 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.

Lying unused; unproductive; worthless; valueless; refuse; rejected; as, waste land; waste paper. But his waste words returned to him in vain. Spenser. Not a waste or needless sound, Till we come to holier ground. Milton. Ill day which made this beauty waste. Emerson.

. 11. -- Wave of vibration (Physics), a wave which consists in, or is occasioned by, the production and transmission of a vibratory state from particle to particle through a body. -- Wave surface. (a) (Physics) A surface of simultaneous and equal displacement of the particles composing a wave of vibration. (b) (Geom.…

One who raises sheep for the production of wool. -- Wool"grow`ing, n.

That which is produced as the result of labor; anything accomplished by exertion or toil; product; performance; fabric; manufacture; in a more general sense, act, deed, service, effect, result, achievement, feat. To leave no rubs or blotches in the work. Shak. The work some praise, And some the architect. Milton. Fancy…

Any written composition; a pamphlet; a work; a literary production; a book; as, the writings of Addison.

The fancied production of an organism of one kind by an organism of another. Huxley.

A yellow oil having a geraniumlike odor, produced as a side product in making phorone; -- called also xylite oil.

Amount yielded; product; -- applied especially to products resulting from growth or cultivation. "A goodly yield of fruit doth bring." Bacon.