2. Extreme bitterness or malignity of disposition. "Refuted without satirical virulency." Barrow.
The virulence of one declaimer, or the profundities and sublimities of the other.
I. Taylor. Virulent
(Vir"u*lent) a. [L. virulentus, fr. virus poison: cf. F. virulent. See Virus.]
1. Extremely poisonous or venomous; very active in doing injury.
A contagious disorder rendered more virulent by uncleanness.
Sir W. Scott. 2. Very bitter in enmity; actuated by a desire to injure; malignant; as, a virulent invective.
Virulented
(Vir"u*lent*ed), a. Made virulent; poisoned. [Obs.]
Virulently
(Vir"u*lent*ly), adv. In a virulent manner.
Virus
(Vi"rus) n. [L., a slimy liquid, a poisonous liquid, poison, stench; akin to Gr. poison, Skr. visha.
Cf. Wizen, v. i.]
1. (Med.) (a) Contagious or poisonous matter, as of specific ulcers, the bite of snakes, etc.; — applied
to organic poisons. (b) The special contagion, inappreciable to the senses and acting in exceedingly
minute quantities, by which a disease is introduced into the organism and maintained there.
The specific virus of diseases is now regarded as a microscopic living vegetable organism which multiplies
within the body, and, either by its own action or by the associated development of a chemical poison,
causes the phenomena of the special disease.
2. Fig.: Any morbid corrupting quality in intellectual or moral conditions; something that poisons the mind
or the soul; as, the virus of obscene books.
Vis
(||Vis) n.
1. Force; power.
2. (Law) (a) Physical force. (b) Moral power.
Principle of vis viva (Mech.), the principle that the difference between the aggregate work of the accelerating
forces of a system and that of the retarding forces is equal to one half the vis viva accumulated or lost
in the system while the work is being done. — Vis impressa [L.] (Mech.), force exerted, as in moving
a body, or changing the direction of its motion; impressed force. — Vis inertiæ. [L.] (a) The resistance of
matter, as when a body at rest is set in motion, or a body in motion is brought to rest, or has its motion
changed, either in direction or in velocity. (b) Inertness; inactivity. Vis intertiæ and inertia are not strictly
synonymous. The former implies the resistance itself which is given, while the latter implies merely
the property by which it is given. — Vis mortua [L.] (Mech.), dead force; force doing no active work,
but only producing pressure. — Vis vitæ, or Vis vitalis [L.] (Physiol.), vital force. — Vis viva [L.]
(Mech.), living force; the force of a body moving against resistance, or doing work, in distinction from
vis mortua, or dead force; the kinetic energy of a moving body; the capacity of a moving body to do work
by reason of its being in motion. See Kinetic energy, in the Note under Energy. The term vis viva is
not usually understood to include that part of the kinetic energy of the body which is due to the vibrations
of its molecules.
Visa
(||Vi"sa) n. [F.] See Vis.
Visa
(Vi"sa), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Visaed ; p. pr. & vb. n. Visaing.] To indorse, after examination,
with the word visé, as a passport; to visé.
