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Varying
(Va"ry*ing), a. & n. from Vary.
Varying hare (Zoöl.), any hare or rabbit which becomes white in winter, especially the common hare of
the Northern United States and Canada.
Vas
(||Vas) n.; pl. Vasa [L., a vessel. See Vase.] (Anat.) A vessel; a duct.
||Vas deferens; pl. Vasa deferentia. [L. vas vessel + deferens carrying down.] (Anat.) The excretory
duct of a testicle; a spermatic duct.
Vascular
(Vas"cu*lar) a. [L. vasculum a small vessel, dim. of vas vessel: cf. F. vasculaire. See Vase,
and cf. Vessel.]
1. (Biol.) (a) Consisting of, or containing, vessels as an essential part of a structure; full of vessels; specifically
(Bot.), pertaining to, or containing, special ducts, or tubes, for the circulation of sap. (b) Operating by
means of, or made up of an arrangement of, vessels; as, the vascular system in animals, including the
arteries, veins, capillaries, lacteals, etc. (c) Of or pertaining to the vessels of animal and vegetable
bodies; as, the vascular functions.
2. (Bot.) Of or pertaining to the higher division of plants, that is, the phænogamous plants, all of which
are vascular, in distinction from the cryptogams, which to a large extent are cellular only.
Vascular plants (Bot.), plants composed in part of vascular tissue, as all flowering plants and the
higher cryptogamous plants, or those of the class Pteridophyta. Cf. Cellular plants, Cellular. — Vascular
system (Bot.), the body of associated ducts and woody fiber; the fibrovascular part of plants. — Vascular
tissue (Bot.), vegetable tissue composed partly of ducts, or sap tubes. — Water vascular system
(Zoöl.), a system of vessels in annelids, nemerteans, and many other invertebrates, containing a circulating
fluid analogous to blood, but not of the same composition. In annelids the fluid which they contain is
usually red, but in some it is green, in others yellow, or whitish.
Vascularity
(Vas`cu*lar"i*ty) n.; pl. Vascularities (Biol.) The quality or state of being vascular.
Vasculose
(Vas"cu*lose`) n. (Bot.) One of the substances of which vegetable tissue is composed,
differing from cellulose in its solubility in certain media.
Vasculum
(||Vas"cu*lum) n.; pl. Vascula [L., a small vessel.]
1. (Bot.) Same as Ascidium, n., 1.
2. A tin box, commonly cylindrical or flattened, used in collecting plants.
Vase
(Vase) n. [F. vase; cf. Sp. & It. vaso; fr. L. vas, vasum. Cf. Vascular, Vessel.]
1. A vessel adapted for various domestic purposes, and anciently for sacrificial uses; especially, a vessel
of antique or elegant pattern used for ornament; as, a porcelain vase; a gold vase; a Grecian vase. See
Illust. of Portland vase, under Portland.
No chargers then were wrought in burnished gold,
Nor silver vases took the forming mold. Pope. 2. (Arch.) (a) A vessel similar to that described in the first definition above, or the representation of
one in a solid block of stone, or the like, used for an ornament, as on a terrace or in a garden. See
Illust. of Niche. (b) The body, or naked ground, of the Corinthian and Composite capital; — called also
tambour, and drum.
Until the time of Walker vase was made to rhyme with base,, case, etc., and it is still commonly so
pronounced in the United States. Walker made it to rhyme with phrase, maze, etc. Of modern English
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