Emily Dickinson Lexicon

VISION-A-RY, a. [Fr. visionnaire.]

1. Affected by phantoms; disposed to receive impressions on the imagination. Or lull to rest the visionary maid. Pope.
2. Imaginary; existing in imagination only; not real; baring no solid foundation; as, a visionary prospect; a visionary scheme or project.

VISION-A-RY, n.

1. One whose imagination is disturbed.
2. One who forms impracticable schemes; one who is confident of success in a project which others perceive to be idle and fanciful. [Visionist, in a like sense, is not used.]

VISION-LESS, a.

Destitute of visions. Mrs. Butler.

VISIT, n.

1. The act of going to see another, or of calling at his house; a waiting on; us, a visit of civility or respect; a visit of ceremony; a short visit; a long visit; a pleasant visit.
2. The act of going to see; as, a visit to Saratoga or to Niagara.
3. A going to see or attending on; as, the visit of a physician.
4. The act of going to view or inspect; as, the visit of a trustee or inspector.

VIS'IT, v.i.

To keep up the interchange of civilities and salutations; to practice going to see others. We ought not to visit for pleasure or ceremony on the sabbath.

VIS'IT, v.t.

1. a as z. [L. visito; Fr. visiter; It. visitare; front L. viso, to go to see; W. gave st, gwesta, to visit, to go about; past, a going, a visit; gibes, that is going or moving. We see the sense is to go, to move to.]
2. To go or come to see; to attend. The physician visits his patient and prescribes. One friend visits another from respect or affection. Paul and Barnabas visited the churches they had planted, to know their state and confirm their faith. Men visit England, France or Italy in their travels.
3. To go or come to see for inspection, examination, correction of abuses, &c.; as, a bishop visits his diocese; a superintendent visits those persons or works which are under his care.
4. To salute with a present. Samson visited his wife with a kid. Judges xv.
5. To go to and to use; as, to visit the springs. To visit in mercy, in Scriptural language, to be propitious; to grant requests; to deliver from trouble; to support and comfort. It is thus God visits Ids people. Gen. xxi. Lech x. Luke xii. To visit with the rod, to punish. Ps. lxxxix. To visit in wrath, or visit iniquity or sins upon, to chastise; to bring judgments on; to afflict. Exod. xx. To visit the fatherless and widow, or the sick and imprisoned, to show them regard and pity, and relieve their wants. Matt. xxv. James i.

VIS'IT, v.t.

In naval affairs, to enter on board a vessel for the purpose of ascertaining her character, without searching her.

VIS'IT-A-BLE, a.

Liable or subject to be visited. All hospital in England, built since the reformation, are visitable by the king or lord chancellor.

VIS-I-TATION, n. [Fr. from L. visito.]

1. The act of visiting. Nothing but peace and gentle visitation. Shak.
2. Object of visit. O flowers! My early visitation and my last. [Unusual.] Milton.
3. In law, the act of a superior or superintending officer, who visits a corporation, college, church or other house, to , examine into the manner in which it is conducted, and see that its laws and regulations are duly observed and executed. In England, the visitation of the diocese belongs to the bishop; parochial visitation belongs peculiarly to the archdeacons.
4. In Scripture, and in a religious sense, the sending of ane- , lions and distresses on men to punish them for their sins, or to prove them. Hence afflictions, calamities and judgments are called Visitations. What will ye do in the day of visitation? Is. x.
5. Communication of divine love; exhibition of divine goodness and mercy. Hooker.

VIS-IT-A'TION, n.

In naval affairs, the act of naval commander who visits or enters on board of a vessel belonging to another nation, for the purpose of ascertaining its character and object but without claiming {unclear} of searching the vessel.

VIS'IT-ED, pp.

Waited on; attended; inspected; subjected to sufferings; favored with relief or mercy.

VIS'IT-ING, n.

The act of going to see or of attending; visitation.

VISIT-ING, ppr.

1. Going or coming to see; attending on, as a physician; inspecting officially; afflicting; showing mercy to.
2. adj. Authorized to visit and inspect; as, a visiting committee

VIS'IT-OR, n. [Fr. visiteur.]

1. One who comes or goes to see another, as in civility or friendship.
2. A superior or person authorized to visit a corporation or any institution, for the purpose of seeing that the laws and regulations are observed, or that the duties and conditions prescribed by the founder or by law, are duly performed and executed. The king is the visitor of all lay corporations. Blackstone.

VIS-IT-O'RI-AL, a. [from visitor; improperly written viitalorial.]

Belonging to a judicial visitor or superintendent. An archdeacon has visitorial power in parishes. Ayliffe.

VI'SIVE, a. [from L. visits.]

Pertaining to the power of seeing; formed in the act of seeing. [Not in use.] Brown.

VIS'NO-MY, n. [a barbarous contraction of physiognomy.]

Face; countenance. [Not in use.] Spenser.

VI'SOR, n.

1. s as z. [Fr. visiere; It. viscera; from L. virus, video; written also visaed, vicar, vizard.]
2. A. head piece or mask used to disfigure and disguise. My weaker government since, makes you pull off the chief-. Sidney. Swarms of knaves the visor quite disgrace. Young.
3. A perforated part of a helmet. Sidney.

VISOR-ED, a.

Wearing a visor; masked; disguised. Milton.

VISTA, n. [It. eight; from L. vista, video.]

A view or prospect through an avenue, as between rows o trees; hence, the trees or other things that form the avenue. The finish'd garden to the view Its vistas opens and its alleys green. Thomson.

VISTI-ANT, n.

One that goes or comes to see another; one who is a guest in the house of a friend. When the visitant comes again he is no more a stranger. South.

VIS'U-AL, a.

s as z. [Fr. visucl; It. visuale; from L. visas.] Pertaining to sight; wed in sight; serving as the instrument of seeing; as, the visual nerve. Bacon. The air, No where so clear, sharpen'd his visual ray. Milton. Visual point, in perspective, a point in the horizontal line, in which all the ocular rays unite. Cyc. Visual rays, lines of light, imagined to come from the object to the eye. Cyc.

VISU-AL-IZE, v.t.

To make visual.

VIS'U-AL-IZ-ED, pp.

Rendered visual. Coleridge.

VITAL, a. [L. vilalis, from vita, life. This must be a contraction of virta, for lico forms vizi, victim; Gr. {foreign}, from {foreign}, contracted.]

1. Pertaining to life, either animal or vegetable; as, vital energies; vital powers.
2. Contributing to life; necessary to life; as, vital air; vital blood.
3. Containing life. Spirits that live throughout, Vital in every part. And rival virtue infus'd, and vital warmth. Milton.
4. Being the seat of life; being that on which life depends. The dart new on, and pierc'd a vital part Pope.
5. Very necessary; highly important; essential. Religion is a business of vital concern. Peace is of vital importance to our country.
6. So disposed as to live. Pythagoras and Hippocrates affirm the birth of the seventh month to be vital. [Little used.] Brown. Vital air, oxygen gas, which is essential to animal life.