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holds lands by a base, or servile, tenure, or in villenage; a feudal tenant of the lowest class, a bondman or servant. [In this sense written also villan, and villein.] If any of my ansectors was a tenant, and a servant, and held his lands as a villain to his lord, his posterity also must do so, though accidentally the…

An albuminous body, belonging to the class of globulins, obtained from yolk of egg, of which it is the chief proteid constituent, and from the seeds of many plants. From the latter it can be separated in crystalline form.

n to a peculiar pattern of scrollwork, consisting of convolved undulations. It is used in classical architecture. Oxf. Gloss.

plying books had brought the New Testament in the vulgar tongue within the reach of every class. Bancroft.

The quality or state of being vulgar; mean condition of life; the state of the lower classes of society. Sir T. Browne.

all U. Etymologically it is most related to v and u. See V, and U. Some of the uneducated classes in England, especially in London, confuse w and v, substituting the one for the other, as weal for veal, and veal for weal; wine for vine, and vine for wine, etc. See Guide to Pronunciation, §§ 266-268.…

Articles of merchandise; the sum of articles of a particular kind or class; style or class of manufactures; especially, in the plural, goods; commodities; merchandise. "Retails his wares at wakes." Shak. "To chaffer with them and eke to sell them their ware." Chaucer. It the people of the land bring ware or any victual…

In the United States navy, a first-class petty officer in charge in a fireroom. He "tends" water to the boilers, sees that fires are properly cleaned and stoked, etc. There is also a rating of chief water tender, who is a chief petty officer.

The person whose name stands lowest on the list of the classical tripos; -- so called after a person (Wedgewood) who occupied this position on the first list of 1828. [Cant, Cambridge Univ., Eng.] C. A. Bristed. Fox wedge. (Mach. & Carpentry) See under Fox. -- Spherical wedge (Geom.), the portion of a sphere included…

the canonical books and of all composition pretending to literary standing. It employs a classical or academic diction, and a more condensed and sententious style than Mandarin, and differs also in the doubling and arrangement of words.

Of or pertaining to A. G. Werner, The German mineralogist and geologist, who classified minerals according to their external characters, and advocated the theory that the strata of the earth's crust were formed by depositions from water; designating, or according to, Werner's system.

rect questions, to ask for, or refer to, an individual person or thing among several of a class; as, which man is it which woman was it which is the house he asked which route he should take; which is best, to live or to die See the Note under What, pron., 1. Which of you convinceth me of sin John viii. 46.…

s of willow largely grown in the neighborhood of Shanghai, extensively used by the poorer classes of Chinese as a substitute for tea. McElrath. -- Willow thrush (Zoöl.), a variety of the veery, or Wilson's thrush. See Veery. -- Willow warbler (Zoöl.), a very small European warbler (Phylloscopus trochilus); -- called…

The class of ancient Hebrew writings which deal reflectively with general ethical and religious topics, as distinguished from the prophetic and liturgical literature, and from the law. It is comprised chiefly in the books of Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiasticus, Ecclesiastes, and Wisdom of Solomon. The "wisdom" (Hokhmah) of t…

lleges, the lowest appointee of the junior year; sometimes, one especially popular in his class, without reference to scholarship. Formerly, it was a custom for classmates to present to this person a wooden spoon with formal ceremonies. -- Wooden ware, a general name for buckets, bowls, and other articles of domestic…

e word must cousin be to the working. Chaucer. Working beam. See Beam, n. 10. -- Working class, the class of people who are engaged in manual labor, or are dependent upon it for support; laborers; operatives; -- chiefly used in the plural. -- Working day. See under Day, n. -- Working drawing, a drawing, as of the wh…

A gummy substance of the pentosan class, present in woody tissue, and yielding xylose on hydrolysis; wood gum.

An unfermentable sugar of the pentose class, C5H10O5, formed by the hydrolysis of xylan; wood sugar.

A common man, or one of the commonly of the first or most respectable class; a freeholder; a man free born.

logy which relates to the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct.