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a bedstead, from the bed to the floor. [Written also valence.] Valance of Venice gold in needlework. Shak.

e favorable situation or opportunity; gain; profit; advantage. [R.] O happy vantage of a kneeling knee! Shak.

the sun. It is greater at the octants, and zero at the quadratures. -- Variation of the needle (Geog. & Naut.), the angle included between the true and magnetic meridians of a place; the deviation of the direction of a magnetic needle from the true north and south line; -- called also declination of the needle.…

(Theobroma). -- Vegetable flannel, a textile material, manufactured in Germany from pine-needle wool, a down or fiber obtained from the leaves of the Pinus sylvestris. -- Vegetable ivory. See Ivory nut, under Ivory. -- Vegetable jelly. See Pectin. -- Vegetable kingdom. (Nat. Hist.) See the last Phrase, below. --…

[Obsoles.] Vendue master, one who is authorized to sell any property by vendue; an auctioneer. [Obsoles.]

viol for the leg], an instrument resembling the viola, but larger, and held between the knees. It is now rarely used. -- Viola da spalla Etym: [It., viol for the shoulder], an instrument formerly used, resembling the viola, and intermediate in size between the viola and the viola da gamba. -- Viola di amore Etym: [I…

f the vital principle. Apart from the phenomena of consciousness, vital actions no longer need to be considered as of a mysterious and unfathomable character, nor vital force as anything other than a form of physical energy derived from, and convertible into, other well- known forces of nature. -- Vital functions (Phy…

One who treks before or first; a pioneer. [South Africa]

ly so, but has a long white or gray beard encircling the face. Called also maha, silenus, neelbhunder, lion-tailed baboon, and great wanderoo. [Written also ouanderoo.]

te of not having; the condition of being without anything; absence or scarcity of what is needed or desired; deficiency; lack; as, a want of power or knowledge for any purpose; want of food and clothing. And me, his parent, would full soon devour For want of other prey. Milton. From having wishes in consequence of our…

Absent; lacking; missing; also, deficient; destitute; needy; as, one of the twelve is wanting; I shall not be wanting in exertion.

ing. -- Warp frame, or Warp-net frame, a machine for making warp lace having a number of needles and employing a thread for each needle. -- Warp knitting, a kind of knitting in which a number of threads are interchained each with one or more contiguous threads on either side; -- also called warp weaving. -- Warp lac…

e 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.

Expending, or tending to expend, property, or that which is valuable, in a needless or useless manner; lavish; prodigal; as, a wasteful person; a wasteful disposition.

he had passed over a small water a poor scholar when first coming to the university, he kneeled. Fuller.

A riding boot for men, the front of which came above the knee; also, a similar shorter boot worn under the trousers.

wheel is set. -- Wheel rope (Naut.), a tiller rope. See under Tiller. -- Wheel stitch (Needlework), a stitch resembling a spider's web, worked into the material, and not over an open space. Caulfeild & S. (Dict. of Needlework). -- Wheel tree (Bot.), a tree (Aspidosperma excelsum) of Guiana, which has a trunk so cur…

g the rolled edge and drawing up the thread; as, to whip a ruffle. In half-whipped muslin needles useless lie. Gay.

The patella, or kneepan. [Obs.] Ainsworth.

d horse (Moxostoma macrolepidotum). -- White swelling (Med.), a chronic swelling of the knee, produced by a strumous inflammation of the synovial membranes of the kneejoint and of the cancellar texture of the end of the bone forming the kneejoint; -- applied also to a lingering chronic swelling of almost any kind. --…