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A local twitching, or convulsive motion, of a muscular fiber, especially of the face.

Quickness of motion; swiftness; speed; celerity; rapidity; as, the velocity of wind; the velocity of a planet or comet in its orbit or course; the velocity of a cannon ball; the velocity of light.

ing to a worm or worms; resembling a worm; shaped like a worm; especially, resembling the motion or track of a worm; as, the vermicular, or peristaltic, motion of the intestines. See Peristaltic. "A twisted form vermicular." Cowper.

lar lines or impressions resembling the tracks of worms, or appearing as if formed by the motion of worms.

The act or operation of moving in the manner of a worm; continuation of motion from one part to another; as, the vermiculation, or peristaltic motion, of the intestines.

Resembling a worm in form or motions; vermicular; as, the vermiform process of the cerebellum. Vermiform appendix (Anat.), a slender blind process of the cæcum in man and some other animals; -- called also vermiform appendage, and vermiform process. Small solid bodies, such as grape seeds or cherry stones, sometimes lo…

Turning round; whirling; rotary; revolving; as, vertiginous motion. Some vertiginous whirl of fortune. De Quincey.

To affect with vibratory motion; to set in vibration. Breath vocalized, that is, vibrated or undulated, may . . . impress a swift, tremulous motion. Holder. Star to star vibrates light. Tennyson.

Adapted to, or used in, vibratory motion; having the power of vibrating; vibratory; as, the vibratile organs of insects.

The act of vibrating, or the state of being vibrated, or in vibratory motion; quick motion to and fro; oscillation, as of a pendulum or musical string. As a harper lays his open palm Upon his harp, to deaden its vibrations. Longfellow.

; vibratory. "A vibrative motion." Sir I. Newton.

An ink-distributing roller in a printing machine, having an additional vibratory motion.

Consisting in, or causing, vibration, or oscillation; vibrating; as, a vibratory motion; a vibratory power.

s of motile bacteria characterized by short, slightly sinuous filaments and an undulatory motion; also, an individual of this genus.

An arrow, having a rotary motion, formerly used with the crossbow. Cf. Vireton. Gower.

Etym: [L.] (Mech.), force exerted, as in moving a body, or changing the direction of its motion; impressed force. -- Vis inertiæ. Etym: [L.] (a) The resistance of matter, as when a body at rest is set in motion, or a body in motion is brought to rest, or has its motion changed, either in direction or in velocity.…

Easily rolling or turning; easily set in motion; apt to roll; rotating; as, voluble particles of matter.

Of or pertaining to the will; subject to, or regulated by, the will; as, the voluntary motions of an animal, such as the movements of the leg or arm (in distinction from involuntary motions, such as the movements of the heart); the voluntary muscle fibers, which are the agents in voluntary motion.

r, organisms, about one fiftieth of an inch in diameter, found rolling through water, the motion being produced by minute colorless cilia. It has been considered as belonging to the flagellate Infusoria, but is now referred to the vegetable kingdom, and each globule is considered a colony of many individuals. The commo…

A mass of fluid, especially of a liquid, having a whirling or circular motion tending to form a cavity or vacuum in the center of the circle, and to draw in towards the center bodies subject to its action; the form assumed by a fluid in such motion; a whirlpool; an eddy.