Emily Dickinson Lexicon

VEN'TURE, v.t.

1. To expose to hazard; to risk; as, to venture one's person in a balloon.
2. To put or send on a venture or chance; as, to venture a horse to the West Indies.

VEN'TUR-ED, pp.

Put to the hazard; risked.

VEN'TUR-ER, n.

One who ventures or puts to hazards.

VEN'TURE-SOME, a.

Bold; daring; intrepid; as, a venturesome boy.

VEN'TURE-SOME-LY, adv.

In a bold, daring manner.

VEN'TUR-ING, n.

The act of putting to risk; a hazarding.

VEN'TUR-ING, ppr.

Putting to hazard; daring.

VEN'TUR-OUS, a.

Daring; bold; hardy; fearless; intrepid; adventurous; as a venturous soldier. With vent'rous arm / He pluck'd, he tasted. – Milton.

VEN'TUR-OUS-LY, adv.

Daringly; fearlessly; boldly. – Bacon.

VEN'TUR-OUS-NESS, n.

Boldness; hardiness; fearlessness; intrepidity. The event made them repent of their venturousness.

VEN'UE, or VISNE, n. [L. vicinia; Norm. visne.]

In law, a neighborhood or near place; the place where an action is laid. In certain cases, the court has power to change the venue. – Cyc. The twelve men who are to try the cause, must be of the same venue where the demand is made. – Blackstone.

VEN'UE, n.

A thrust. [See Veney.]

VEN'U-LITE, n.

A petrified shell of the genus Venus.

VE'NUS, n. [L.; W. Gwener, from gwen, white, fair, the feminine of gwyn, white, fair, that affords happiness; also gwyn, rage, violent impulse of the mind, lust, smart; gwynàu, to whiten; gwynt, wind, L. ventus; gwynawg, full of rage; gwent, an open country; gwenu, to smile; gwenwyn, poison, L. venenum, Eng. venom; gwenwynaw, to poison, to fret or irritate. These affinities lead to the true origin of these words. The primary sense of the root is to shoot or rush, as light or wind. From light is derived the sense of white, fair, Venus, or it is from opening, parting; and from rushing, moving, comes wind, and the sense of raging, fury, whence L. venenum, poison, that which frets or causes to rage. These words all coincide with L. venio, which signifies to rush, to fall, to happen; venor, to hunt, &c. The Greeks had the same idea of the goddess of love, viz. that her name signified fairness, whiteness, and hence the fable that she sprung from froth, whence her Greek name Αφροδιτη, from αφρος, froth. But Venus may be from lust or raging.]

1. In mythology, the goddess of beauty and love; that is, beauty or love deified; just as the Gaelic and Irish diana, swiftness, impetuosity, is denominated the goddess of hunting.
2. In astronomy, one of the inferior planets, whose orbit is between the earth and Mercury; a star of brilliant splendor.
3. In the old chimistry, a name given to copper.

VE-NUS'S-COMB, n. [VE-NUS'S COMB.]

A plant of the genus Scandix; shepherd's needle . – Lee.

VENUS'S-FLY'-TRAP, n. [VENUS'S FLY'-TRAP.]

A plant, Dionæa muscipula.

VE-NUS'S-LOOK'ING-GLASS, n. [VE-NUS'S LOOK'ING-GLASS.]

A plant of the genes Campanula.

VE-NUS'S-NA'VEL-WORT, n. [VE-NUS'S NA'VEL-WORT.]

A plant of the genus Cynoglossum.

VE-NUST', a. [L. venustus.]

Beautiful. [Not used.]

VE-RA'CIOUS, a. [L. verax, from verus, true.]

1. Observant of truth; habitually disposed to speak truth.
2. True. [Little used.] – Pinkerton.

VE-RA'CIOUS-LY, adv.

Truthfully.

VE-RAC'I-TY, n. [It. veracità; from L. verax, from verus, true.]

1. Habitual observance of truth, or habitual truth; as, a man of veracity. His veracity is not called in question. The question of the court is, whether you know the witness to be a man of veracity. We rely on history, When we have confidence in the veracity and industry of the historian. "The veracity of facts," is not correct language. Truth is applicable to men and to facts; veracity to men only, or to sentient beings.
2. Invariable expression of truth; as, the veracity of our senses . – Kames.

VE-RAN'DA, n.

An Oriental word denoting a kind of open portico, formed by extending a sloping roof beyond the main building.

VER-A'TRI-A, or VE-RAT'RI-NA, n. [or VE-RA'TRINE; L. veratrum.]

A vegetable alkaloid, the principal medicinal active principle of Veratrum album, and Veratrum sabadilla, discovered in 1819, by Pelletier and Caventou. This alkaloid is remarkable for its sternutatory powers.

VERB, n. [L. verbum; Fr. verbe; Sp. and It. verbo; Ir. fearb; probably from the root of L. fero.]

1. In grammar, a part of speech that expresses action, motion, being, suffering, or a request or command to do or forbear any thing. The verb affirms, declares, asks or commands; as, I write; he runs; the river flows; they sleep; we see; they are deceived; depart; go; come; write; does he improve? When the action expressed by a verb is exerted on an object, or terminates upon it, the act is considered as passing to that object, and the verb is called transitive; as, I read Livy. When the act expressed by the verb, terminates in the agent or subject, the verb is called intransitive; as, I run; I walk; I sleep. When the agent and object change places, and the agent is considered as the instrument by which the object is affected, the verb is called passive; as, Goliath was slain by David.
2. A word. – South.