*vill*

{ } a. (Her.) Notched with an angle like that inclosed by a carpenter's bevel; -- said of a partition line of a shield. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖prop. n. [ Named from Bougainville, the French navigator. ] (Bot.) A genus of plants of the order Nyctoginaceæ, from tropical South America, having the flowers surrounded by large bracts. [ 1913 Webster ]

prop. n. (Geography) The capital city of Congo. Population (2000) = 937, 580. [ PJC ]

n. [ F. cavillation, L. cavillatio. ] Frivolous or sophistical objection. [ Obs. ] Hooker. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ or } n. One who cavils. [ 1913 Webster ]

Cavilers at the style of the Scriptures. Boyle. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ or } a. [ L. cavillosus. ] Characterized by caviling, or disposed to cavil; quibbing. [ R. ]

-- Cav"il*ous*ly, adv. [R.] -- Cav"il*ous*ness, n. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Old Law) A half vill, consisting of five freemen or frankpledges. Blackstone. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. small genus of low deciduous shrubs; the bush honeysuckles.
Syn. -- genus Diervilla. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

adv. In an evil manner; not well; ill. [ Obs. ] “Good deeds evilly bestowed.” Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. favilla sparkling or glowing ashes. ] Of or pertaining to ashes. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Light and favillous particles. Sir T. Browne. [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. Fovillæ [ Dim. fr. L. fovere to cherish. ] (Bot.) One of the fine granules contained in the protoplasm of a pollen grain. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ F. ] A city hall or townhouse. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. Uncivilly. [ Obs. ] Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

p. a. Turned into, or reduced to, a village. [ Obs. ] W. Browne. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. A wildflower (Mirabilis multiflora) having vibrant deep pink tubular evening-blooming flowers; found in sandy and desert areas from Southern California to Southern Colorado and into Mexico.
Syn. -- desert four o'clock, Colorado four o'clock, Mirabilis multiflora. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

2. A leafy wildflower (Mirabilis longiflora) having fragrant slender white or pale pink trumpet-shaped flowers; found in the Southwestern US and Northern Mexico.
Syn. -- sweet four o'clock, Mirabilis longiflora. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

prop. n. Herman Melville, American novelist, author of Moby Dick; b. 1819, d. 1891.
Syn. -- Herman Melville. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

v. t. To exceed in villainy. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } n. [ See Pulvil. ] A kind of perfume in the form of a powder, formerly much used, -- often in little bags. [ 1913 Webster ]

Smells of incense, ambergris, and pulvillios. Addison. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n.; pl. Pulvilli [ L., a little cushion. ] (Zool.) One of the minute cushions on the feet of certain insects. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ F., fr. Vau-de-vire, a village in Normandy, where Olivier Basselin, at the end of the 14th century, composed such songs. ] [ Written also vaudevil. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. A kind of song of a lively character, frequently embodying a satire on some person or event, sung to a familiar air in couplets with a refrain; a street song; a topical song. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A theatrical piece, usually a comedy, the dialogue of which is intermingled with light or satirical songs, set to familiar airs. [ 1913 Webster ]

The early vaudeville, which is the forerunner of the opera bouffe, was light, graceful, and piquant. Johnson's Cyc. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. a variety show when performed live in a theater (see above); as, to play in vaudeville; a vaudeville actor. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. [ OF. ville, vile, a village, F. ville a town, city. See Villa. ] A small collection of houses; a village. “Every manor, town, or vill.” Sir M. Hale. [ 1913 Webster ]

Not should e'er the crested fowl
From thorp or vill his matins sound for me. Wordsworth. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ A word of various significations in English, law; as, a manor; a tithing; a town; a township; a parish; a part of a parish; a village. The original meaning of vill, in England, seems to have been derived from the Roman sense of the term villa, a single country residence or farm; a manor. Later, the term was applied only to a collection of houses more than two, and hence came to comprehend towns. Burrill. The statute of Exeter, 14 Edward I., mentions entire-vills, demivills, and hamlets. [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. Villas [ L. villa, LL. also village, dim. of L. vicus a village: cf. It. & F. villa. See Vicinity, and cf. Vill, Village, Villain. ] A country seat; a country or suburban residence of some pretensions to elegance. Dryden. Cowper. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F., fr. L. villaticus belonging to a country house or villa. See Villa, and cf. Villatic. ] A small assemblage of houses in the country, less than a town or city. [ 1913 Webster ]

Village cart, a kind of two-wheeled pleasure carriage without a top. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Village, Hamlet, Town, City. In England, a hamlet denotes a collection of houses, too small to have a parish church. A village has a church, but no market. A town has both a market and a church or churches. A city is, in the legal sense, an incorporated borough town, which is, or has been, the place of a bishop's see. In the United States these distinctions do not hold. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. An inhabitant of a village. [ 1913 Webster ]

Brutus had rather be a villager
Than to repute himself a son of Rome
Under these hard condition. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Villages; a district of villages. [ Obs. ] “The maidens of the villagery.” Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. vilein, F. vilain, LL. villanus, from villa a village, L. villa a farm. See Villa. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. (Feudal Law) One who 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. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

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 they become noble. Jer. Taylor. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ Villains were of two sorts; villains regardant, that is, annexed to the manor (LL. adscripti glebae); and villains in gross, that is, annexed to the person of their lord, and transferable from one to another. Blackstone. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A baseborn or clownish person; a boor. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Pour the blood of the villain in one basin, and the blood of the gentleman in another, what difference shall there be proved? Becon. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A vile, wicked person; a man extremely depraved, and capable or guilty of great crimes; a deliberate scoundrel; a knave; a rascal; a scamp. [ 1913 Webster ]

Like a villain with a smiling cheek. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Calm, thinking villains, whom no faith could fix. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ F. vilain. ] Villainous. [ R. ] Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To debase; to degrade. [ Obs. ] Sir T. More. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Written also villanous. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. Base; vile; mean; depraved; as, a villainous person or wretch. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Proceeding from, or showing, extreme depravity; suited to a villain; as, a villainous action. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Sorry; mean; mischievous; -- in a familiar sense. “A villainous trick of thine eye.” Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Villainous judgment (O. E. Law), a judgment that casts reproach on the guilty person. [ 1913 Webster ]

--- Vil"lain*ous*ly, adv. Vil"lain*ous*ness, n. [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. Villainies [ OE. vilanie, OF. vilanie, vilainie, vileinie, vilanie, LL. villania. See Villain, n. ] [ Written also villany. ] 1. The quality or state of being a villain, or villainous; extreme depravity; atrocious wickedness; as, the villainy of the seducer. “Lucre of vilanye.” Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

The commendation is not in his wit, but in his villainy. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Abusive, reproachful language; discourteous speech; foul talk. [ Archaic ] [ 1913 Webster ]

He never yet not vileinye ne said
In all his life, unto no manner wight. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

In our modern language, it [ foul language ] is termed villainy, as being proper for rustic boors, or men of coarsest education and employment. Barrow. [ 1913 Webster ]

Villainy till a very late day expressed words foul and disgraceful to the utterer much oftener than deeds. Trench. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. The act of a villain; a deed of deep depravity; a crime. [ 1913 Webster ]

Such villainies roused Horace into wrath. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

That execrable sum of all villainies commonly called a slave trade. John Wesley. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A little villa. [ R. ] Gay. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A villain. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OF. villenage, vilenage. See Villain. ] 1. (Feudal Law) 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. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

I speak even now as if sin were condemned in a perpetual villanage, never to be manumitted. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

Some faint traces of villanage were detected by the curious so late as the days of the Stuarts. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Baseness; infamy; villainy. [ Obs. ] Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ See Villanelle. ] A ballad. [ Obs. ] Cotton. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n.; pl. Villanelle [ It., a pretty country girl. ] (Mus.) An old rustic dance, accompanied with singing. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ F. ] A poem written in tercets with but two rhymes, the first and third verse of the first stanza alternating as the third verse in each successive stanza and forming a couplet at the close. E. W. Gosse. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Dim. of villa; formed on the analogy of the French. ] A small villa. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Villanized; p. pr. & vb. n. Villanizing ] To make vile; to debase; to degrade; to revile. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Were virtue by descent, a noble name
Could never villanize his father's fame. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who villanizes. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

a. adv., n., See Villainous, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. See Villainy. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. villaticus belonging to a country house. See Village. ] Of or pertaining to a farm or a village; rural. “Tame villatic fowl.” Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Feudal Law) See Villain, 1. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ See Villanage. ] (Feudal Law) Villanage. Blackstone. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Of or pertaining to a villein. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n., pl. of Villus. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Villus + -form. ] Having the form or appearance of villi; like close-set fibers, either hard or soft; as, the teeth of perch are villiform. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. (Bot.) See Villous. [ 1913 Webster ]