V
vacabonde, a wandering beggar, a ‘vagabond’; ‘Fraternitye of Vacabondes’, Awdeley (title of book, 1565). Norm. F. vacabond, ‘vagabond’ (Moisy); F. ‘vacabonds, vagabonds, rogues’ (Cotgr.). See Dict. (s.vv. Vagabond and Vagrant).
vacate, to annul, to make void, to make of no authority; ‘That after-act vacating the authority of the precedent’, King Charles (Johnson); to render vain, to frustrate, Dryden, Don Sebastian, ii. 1 (Dorax). Med. L. vac(u)are, ‘inane, irritum et vacuum efficere’ (Ducange), see Rönsch, Vulgata, 171.
vade, to vanish, pass away; ‘Their vapour vaded’, Spenser, F. Q. iii. 9. 20; ‘How ever gay their blossome or their blade Doe flourish now, they into dust shall vade’, id., v. 2. 40; Ruines of Rome, xx; Shaks. Sonnets, liv. 14; to fade, ‘Upon her head a chaplet stood of never vading greene’, Niccols, Induction, Mirror for Mag. 559 (Nares); Richard II, i. 2. 20.
vah, an interjection; ‘No, vah! Fie, I scorn it’, Dekker, Shoemakers’ Holiday, v. 1 (Eyre).
vail, to lower, to let fall; ‘She vailed her eyelids’, Venus and Ad. 956; Hamlet, i. 2. 70; to bow, to stoop, to do homage, Pericles, iv, Prol. 29. ME. avale, to lower (Gower, C. A. viii. 1619). Anglo-F. avaler, to lower (Gower, Mirour, 10306).
vails, pl., profits or perquisites that arise to servants besides their salary or wages. Pericles, ii. 1. 163; Dryden, Juvenal, Sat. iii. 311. In prov. use, see EDD. (s.v. Vail, 2). Vail is a shortened form for avail. ME. avayle, ‘profectus, proventus, emolumentum’ (Prompt. EETS. 17).
valance, a fringe of drapery; ‘Rich cloth of tissue and vallance of black silk’, Strype, Eccles. Mem., Funeral Solemnities of Henry VIII; a part of bed-hangings, ‘Valenzana del letto, the valances of a bed’, Florio (ed. 1598). Hence valanced, fringed, used fig. of a beard, Hamlet, ii. 2. 442. See Dict.
valew, valour. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 6. 29; Harington, tr. Ariosto, xiii. 39. F. ‘valuë, worth, goodness’ (Cotgr.).
valiant, worth, amounting to in value; ‘Four hundred a year valiant, worth £400 a year’, Middleton, A Trick to catch, i. 1 (Witgood). F. vaillant, ‘a mans whole estate or worth, all his substance, means, fortunes’ (Cotgr.). Cp. Med. L. valens, ‘valor, pretium’ (Ducange).