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A religious service performed in the evening preceding a feast. Vigils, or Watchings, of flowers (Bot.), a peculiar faculty belonging to the flowers of certain plants of opening and closing their petals as certain hours of the day. [R.]

The state of a villain, or serf; base servitude; tenure on condition of doing the meanest services for the lord. [In this sense written also villenage, and villeinage.] I speak even now as if sin were condemned in a perpetual villanage, never to be manumitted. Milton. Some faint traces of villanage were detected by the…

ropriate employment; calling; occupation; trade; business; profession. He would think his service greatly rewarded, if he might obtain by that means to live in the sight of his prince, and yet practice his own chosen vocation. Sir. P. Sidney.

s or its own accord; spontaneous; acting of one's self, or of itself; free. Our voluntary service he requires. Milton. She fell to lust a voluntary prey. Pope.

One who enters into, or offers for, any service of his own free will.

a vow or promise; hence, especially, one devoted, given, or addicted, to some particular service, worship, study, or state of life. "You are already love's firm votary." Shak. 'T was coldness of the votary, not the prayer, that was in fault. Bp. Fell. But thou, my votary, weepest thou Emerson.

bsolutely or conditionally, wholly or in part, for a longer or shorter time, to some act, service, or condition; a devotion of one's possessions; as, a baptismal vow; a vow of poverty. "Nothing . . . that may . . . stain my vow of Nazarite." Milton. I pray thee, let me go and pay my vow. 2 Sam. xv. 7. I am combined by…

That for which one labors; meed; reward; stipulated payment for service performed; hire; pay; compensation; -- at present generally used in the plural. See Wages. "My day's wage." Sir W. Scott. "At least I earned my wage." Thackeray. "Pay them a wage in advance." J. Morley. "The wages of virtue." Tennyson. By Tom Thumb…

A compensation given to a hired person for services; price paid for labor; recompense; hire. See Wage, n., 2. The wages of sin is death. Rom. vi. 23. Wages fund (Polit. Econ.), the aggregate capital existing at any time in any country, which theoretically is unconditionally destined to be paid out in wages. It was form…

e horse of a cavalry soldier; especially, a strong, powerful, spirited horse for military service; a charger. -- War paint, paint put on the face and other parts of the body by savages, as a token of going to war. "Wash the war paint from your faces." Longfellow. -- War song, a song of or pertaining to war; especiall…

Military service; military life; contest carried on by enemies; hostilities; war. The Philistines gathered their armies together for warfare, to fight with Israel. I Sam. xxviii. 1. This day from battle rest; Faithful hath been your warfare. Milton.

Worn with military service; as, a warworn soldier; a warworn coat. Shak.

e wavelike color markings on the wings. -- Wave offering, an offering made in the Jewish services by waving the object, as a loaf of bread, toward the four cardinal points. Num. xviii. 11. -- Wave of vibration (Physics), a wave which consists in, or is occasioned by, the production and transmission of a vibratory sta…

ost High." Dan vii. 25. (d) To waste the strength of; as, an old man worn out in military service. -- To wear the breeches. See under Breeches. [Colloq.]

ch is supposed to presage foul weather. -- Weather bureau, a popular name for the signal service. See Signal service, under Signal, a. [U.S.] -- Weather cloth (Naut.), a long piece of canvas of tarpaulin used to preserve the hammocks from injury by the weather when stowed in the nettings. -- Weather door. (Mining) Se…

Once a week; by hebdomadal periods; as, each performs service weekly.

n 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 . . . Wild work produces oft, and most in dreams. Milton. The composition or d…

To perform acts of homage or adoration; esp., to perform religious service. Our fathers worshiped in this mountain; and ye say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. John iv. 20. Was it for this I have loved . . . and worshiped in silence Longfellow.

A clerk of a certain rank in the service of the late East India Company, who, after serving a certain number of years, became a factor. Writer of the tallies (Eng. Law), an officer of the exchequer of England, who acted as clerk to the auditor of the receipt, and wrote the accounts upon the tallies from the tellers' bi…

yeomanry cavalry. [Eng.] Yeomanry cavalry, certain bodies of volunteer cavalry liable to service in Great Britain only. [Eng.]