Emily Dickinson Lexicon

VAS'SAL-ED, pp. [or adj.]

Enslaved; subjected to absolute power; as, a vassaled land. – Trumbull.

VAST, a. [L. vastus; Fr. vaste; It. vasto. The primary sense of the root must be to part or spread, as this is connected with the verb to waste.]

1. Being of great extent; very spacious or large; as, the vast ocean; a vast abyss; the vast empire of Russia; the vast plains of Syria; the vast domains of the Almighty.
2. Huge in bulk and extent; as, the vast mountains of Asia; the vast range of the Andes.
3. Very great in numbers or amount; as, a vast army; vast numbers or multitudes were slain; vast sums of money have been expended to gratify pride and ambition.
4. Very great in force; mighty; as, vast efforts; vast labor.
5. Very great in importance; as, a subject of vast concern.

VAST, n.

An empty waste. Through the vast of heav'n it sounded. – Milton. The watery vast. – Pope.

VAST-A'TION, n. [L. vastatio, from vasto, to waste.]

A laying waste; waste; depopulation. [Devastation is generally used.]

VAST-ID'I-TY, n.

Vastness; immensity. [Not English.] – Shak.

VAST'I-TUDE, n.

Vastness; immense extent. – Foster.

VAST'LY, adv.

Very greatly; to a great extent or degree; as, a space vastly extended. Men differ vastly in their opinions and manners.

VAST'NESS, n.

1. Great extent; immensity; as, the vastness of the ocean or of space.
2. Immense bulk and extent; as, the vastness of a mountain.
3. Immense magnitude or amount; as, the vastness of an army, or of the sums of money necessary to support it.
4. Immense importance.

VAST'Y, a.

Being of great extent; very spacious. I can call spirits from the vasty deep. [Little used.] Shak.

VAT, n. [D. vat; Sax. fat; G. fass.]

1. A large vessel or cistern for holding liquors in an immature state; as, vats for wine. Let him produce his vats and tubs, in opposition to heaps of arms and standards. – Addison.
2. A square box or cistern in which hides are laid for steeping in tan.
3. An oil measure in Holland; also, a wine measure.
4. A square hollow place on the back of a calcining furnace, where tin ore is laid to dry. – Cyc.

VAT'I-CAN, n. [L. vates.]

In Rome, the celebrated church of St. Peter; and also, a magnificent palace of the pope; situated at the foot of one of the seven hills on which Rome was built. Hence the phrase, the Thunders of the Vatican, meaning the anathemas or denunciations of the pope.

VAT'I-CIDE, n. [L. vates, a prophet, and cædo, to kill.]

The murderer of a prophet. – Pope.

VA-TIC'IN-AL, a. [L. vaticinor, to prophesy.]

Containing prophecy. – Warton.

VA-TIC'IN-ATE, v.t. [L. vaticinor, from vates, a prophet.]

To prophesy; to foretell; to practice prediction. [Little used.] – Howell.

VA-TIC-IN-A'TION, n.

Prediction; prophecy. – Bentley.

VAU'DE-VIL, n. [vōdevil; Fr.]

A song common among the vulgar, and sung about the streets. A ballad; a trivial strain.

VAULT, n. [Fr. voûte; It. volta, a vault; volto, the face, a visage, and a vault, L. vultus; a derivative of L. volvo, volutus; Sp. voltear, to turn, to tumble.]

1. A continued arch, or an arched roof. Vaults are of various kinds, circular, elliptical, single, double, cross, diagonal, Gothic, &c. – Cyc.
2. A cellar. To banish rats that haunt our vault. – Swift.
3. A cave or cavern. The silent vaults of death, unknown to light. – Sandy.
4. A repository for the dead. – Shak.
5. In the manege, the leap of a horse.

VAULT, v.i. [Sp. voltear; It. voltare; Fr. vautrer.]

1. To leap; to bound; to jump; to spring. Vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself. – Shak. Leaning on his lance, he vaulted on a tree. – Dryden. Lucan vaulted upon Pegasus with all the heat and intrepidity of youth. – Addison.
2. To tumble; to exhibit feats of tumbling or leaping.

VAULT, v.t.

To arch; to form with a vault; or to cover with a vault; as, to vault passage to a court.

VAULT'AGE, n.

Vaulted work; an arched cellar. [Not in use.] – Shak.

VAULT'ED, pp.

1. Arched; concave; as, a vaulted roof.
2. Covered with an arch or vault.
3. adj. In botany, arched like the roof of the mouth, as the upper lip of many ringent flowers. – Martyn.

VAULT'ER, n.

One that vaults; a leaper; a tumbler.

VAULT'ING, ppr.

1. Arching; covering with an arch.
2. Leaping; tumbling; exhibiting feats of leaping.

VAULT'Y, a.

Arched; concave. [Not in use.] – Shak.

VAUNT, n. [Fr. avant.]

The first part. [Not used.] – Shak.