Emily Dickinson Lexicon

valve (-s), n. [adaptation < L. valva, leaf of a door.] (webplay: close, door, lid, shuts).

1. Shell; case; pericarp; outer coat; seed vessel; covering of a capsule; leaflet of the calyx and corol in a plant; [fig.] bloom; blossom; flower.
2. Door; access; covering; portal; partition; one-way outlet; uni-directional communication; [fig.] eyelid; [metaphor] vault; concrete burial container.

van (-s), n. [Shortening of “vanguard” < OFr avangarde.]

1. Vanguard; front of an army; first line of a group; foremost division of a fleet in sailing or in battle.
2. Flock; group of creatures.

Van Dieman's Land, proper n. [ED's variant spelling of Van Diemen's Land; Dutch < Diem, river in the Netherlands.]

Tasmania; British penal colony; island southeast of Australia; territory named after Anthony Van Diemen, governor of Dutch East Indies; [fig.] zero; abyss; oblivion; nothingness; infinity; underworld; place down under; earth's lower hemisphere; spirit world for the dead.

Vandyke ('s), proper n. [Dutch, van, from + dyke, the dike.]

Sir Anthony Van Dyck (1599-1641); Flemish painter; Baroque portrait and landscape artist; [fig.] master creator.

vane (-'s), n. [southern variation of fane, < common Germanic.] (webplay: showing, way).

1. Climate indicator; [metonymy] weather; temperature; meteorological conditions; wind direction.
2. Pointer; weather predictor; moving figure on the roof of a barn that indicates wind direction.
3. Compass; guide; pathfinder; direction indicator.

vanish (-ed, -es), v. [OFr evaniss.] (webplay: depart, land, rising sun, sense, sight).

1. Disappear; exit; [fig.] die; expire; perish; fade away.
2. Flee; emigrate; fly away; leave a scene.
3. Transform; change into another season of the year.
4. Sink; slip away; dive downward.
5. Become invisible.

vanished, verbal adj. [see vanish, v.] (webplay: away, light, lost).

1. Gone; finished; magically disappearing; no longer present.
2. Lost; [fig.] dead; deceased.
3. Bygone; from a past era; [fig.] outmoded; outdated; [metonymy] deceased; pertaining to someone long dead.

vanity, n. [OFr vanite < L. vānus.] (webplay: come, idle, once).

1. Conceit; self-indulgence; pampered embellishment; excessive ornamentation.
2. Emptiness; futility.

vanquish (-ed), v. [OFr vencus, mod. Fr. vaincre, conquer, overcome.] (webplay: away, defeat, victor).

1. Conquer; overcome; defeat.
2. Woo; win; ravish; seduce; successfully court; [fig.] pollinate; receive pollen from.
3. Overwhelm with emotion.

vanquished, verbal adj. [see vanquish, v.]

Subdued; suppressed; overwhelmed; defeated; [fig.] dying; near to death.