| vain | 1. Having no real substance, value, or importance; empty; void; worthless; unsatisfying. "Thy vain excuse." "Every man walketh in a vain show." (Ps. Xxxix. 6) "Let no man deceive you with vain words." (Eph. V. 6) "Vain pomp, and glory of this world, I hate ye!" (Shak) "Vain visdom all, and false philosophy." (Milton) 2. Destitute of forge or efficacy; effecting no purpose; fruitless; ineffectual; as, vain toil; a vain attempt. "Bring no more vain oblations." (Isa. I. 13) "Vain is the force of man To crush the pillars which the pile sustain." (Dryden) 3. Proud of petty things, or of trifling attainments; having a high opinion of one's own accomplishments with slight reason; conceited; puffed up; inflated. "But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith apart from works is barren?" (James II. 20 (Rev. Ver)) "The minstrels played on every side, Vain of their art." (Dryden) 4. Showy; ostentatious. "Load some vain church with old theatric state." (Pope) Synonym: Empty, worthless, fruitless, ineffectual, idle, unreal, shadowy, showy, ostentatious, light, inconstant, deceitful, delusive, unimportant, trifling. Origin: F. Vain, L. Vanus empty, void, vain. Cf. Vanish, Vanity, Vaunt to boast. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
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| vair | The skin of the squirrel, much used in the fourteenth century as fur for garments, and frequently mentioned by writers of that period in describing the costly dresses of kings, nobles, and prelates. It is represented in heraldry by a series of small shields placed close together, and alternately white and blue. "No vair or ermine decked his garment." (Sir W. Scott) Counter vair, a fur resembling vair, except in the arrangement of the patches or figures. Origin: F. Vair, from OF. Vair, a, L. Varius various, variegated. See Various, and cf. Menivel. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| vaishnava | A worshiper of the god Vishnu in any of his incarnations. Origin: Skr. Vaishniava. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| Val | Symbol for valine and its radicals. (05 Mar 2000) |
| valence | <biochemistry> The number of binding sites on a molecule. <chemistry> A number which reflects an element's ability to combine with other elements <immunology> The number of antigen binding sites an antibody has, or the number of antigenic determinants an antigen has (09 Oct 1997) |
| valence electron | One of the electron's that take part in chemical reactions of an atom. (05 Mar 2000) |
| valency | <chemistry> See Valence. A unit of combining power; a so-called bond of affinity. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| valent | Possessing valence. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Valentin | Gabriel G., German-Swiss physiologist, 1810-1883. See: Valentin's corpuscles, Valentin's ganglion, Valentin's nerve. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Valentin's corpuscles | Small bodies, probably amyloid, found occasionally in nerve tissue. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Valentin's ganglion | A ganglion on the superior alveolar nerve. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Valentin's nerve | <anatomy, nerve> A nerve that connects the pterygopalatine ganglion with the abducens nerve. (05 Mar 2000) |
| valentine | 1. A sweetheart chosen on St. Valentine's Day. 2. A letter containing professions of love, or a missive of a sentimental, comic, or burlesque character, sent on St. Valentine's Day. St. Valentine's Day, a day sacred to St. Valentine; the 14th of February. It was a very old notion, alluded to by Shakespeare, that on this day birds begin to mate. Hence, perhaps, arose the custom of sending love tokens at that time. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| Valentine's position | A supine position on a table with double inclined plane so as to cause flexion at the hips; used to facilitate urethral irrigation. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Valentine's test | The bladder is emptied by passing urine into a series of 3-ounce test tubes, and the contents of the first and the last are examined; the first tube contains the washings from the anterior urethra, the second, material from the bladder, and the last, material from the posterior urethra, prostate, and seminal vesicles. Synonym: Valentine's test. (05 Mar 2000) |