Vondsira to Voyageur
Vondsira
(Vond*si"ra) n. (Zoöl.) Same as Vansire.
Voodoo
(Voo"doo) n.
1. See Voodooism.
2. One who practices voodooism; a negro sorcerer.
Voodoo
(Voo"doo), a. Of or pertaining to voodooism, or a voodoo; as, voodoo incantations.
Voodooism
(Voo"doo*ism) n. [Probably (through Creole French vaudoux a negro sorcerer) fr. F. Vaudois
Waldensian, because the Waldenses were accused of sorcery.] A degraded form of superstition and
sorcery, said to include human sacrifices and cannibalism in some of its rites. It is prevalent among the
negroes of Hayti, and to some extent in the United States, and is regarded as a relic of African barbarism.
Voracious
(Vo*ra"cious) a. [L. vorax, - acis, fr. vorare to devour; akin to Gr. meat, food, to devour,
Skr. gar. Cf. Devour.] Greedy in eating; very hungry; eager to devour or swallow; ravenous; gluttonous; edacious; rapacious; as,
a voracious man or appetite; a voracious gulf or whirlpool. Dampier. — Vo*ra"cious*ly, adv. — Vo*ra"cious*ness,
n.
Voracity
(Vo*rac"i*ty) n. [L. voracitas: cf. F. voracité.] The quality of being voracious; voraciousness.
Voraginous
(Vo*rag"i*nous) a. [L. voraginosus, fr. vorago an abyss, fr. vorare to swallow up.] Pertaining
to a gulf; full of gulfs; hence, devouring. [R.] Mallet.
Vortex
(Vor"tex) n.; pl. E. Vortexes L. Vortices [L. vortex, vertex, -icis, fr. vortere, vertere, to turn.
See Vertex.]
1. 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.
2. (Cartesian System) A supposed collection of particles of very subtile matter, endowed with a rapid
rotary motion around an axis which was also the axis of a sun or a planet. Descartes attempted to account
for the formation of the universe, and the movements of the bodies composing it, by a theory of vortices.
3. (Zoöl.) Any one of numerous species of small Turbellaria belonging to Vortex and allied genera.
See Illustration in Appendix.
Vortex atom (Chem.), a hypothetical ring- shaped mass of elementary matter in continuous vortical
motion. It is conveniently regarded in certain mathematical speculations as the typical form and structure
of the chemical atom. — Vortex wheel, a kind of turbine.
Vortical
(Vor"ti*cal) a. Of or pertaining to a vortex or vortexes; resembling a vortex in form or motion; whirling; as,
a vortical motion. — Vor"ti*cal*ly, adv.
Vorticel
(Vor"ti*cel) n. [Cf. F. vorticelle. See Vortex.] (Zoöl.) A vorticella.
Vorticella
(Vor`ti*cel"la) n.; pl. E. Vorticellas L. Vorticellæ [NL., dim. fr. L. vortex. See Vortex.] (Zoöl.)
Any one of numerous species of ciliated Infusoria belonging to Vorticella and many other genera of the
family Vorticellidæ. They have a more or less bell-shaped body with a circle of vibrating cilia around the
oral disk. Most of the species have slender, contractile stems, either simple or branched.
Vorticose
(Vor"ti*cose`) a. [L. vorticosus.] Vortical; whirling; as, a vorticose motion.
Vortiginous
(Vor*tig"i*nous) a. [Cf. Vertiginous.] Moving rapidly round a center; vortical. [R.] Cowper.
