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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…

nst resistance, or doing work, in distinction from vis mortua, or dead force; the kinetic energy of a moving body; the capacity of a moving body to do work by reason of its being in motion. See Kinetic energy, in the Note under Energy. The term vis viva is not usually understood to include that part of the kinetic ener…

ous 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 (Physiol.), those functions or actions of the body on which life is directly dependent, as the circulation of the blood, digestion,…

An instrument for measuring power in watts, -- much used in measuring the energy of an electric current.

Fig.: A swelling or excitement of thought, feeling, or energy; a tide; as, waves of enthusiasm. Wave front (Physics), the surface of initial displacement of the particles in a medium, as a wave of vibration advances. -- Wave length (Physics), the space, reckoned in the direction of propagation, occupied by a complete…

Lacking in elements of political strength; not wielding or having authority or energy; deficient in the resources that are essential to a ruler or nation; as, a weak monarch; a weak government or state. I must make fair weather yet awhile, Till Henry be more weak, and I more strong. Shak.

Hence, to cause to languish; to depress or destroy the vigor and energy of. [Prov. Eng. & U. S.] Despots have wilted the human race into sloth and imbecility. Dr. T. Dwight.

the force into the amount of motion along the direction of the force. See Conservation of energy, under Conservation, Unit of work, under Unit, also Foot pound, Horse power, Poundal, and Erg. Energy is the capacity of doing work . . . Work is the transference of energy from one system to another. Clerk Maxwell.…