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n. 1. a. A practice or habit considered to be evil, degrading, or immoral: the vices of smoking and drinking. b. Wicked or depraved conduct or habits; corruption: "sharpers, desperadoes, pirates, and criminals steeped in vice" (Carl Holliday). 2. Prostitution, the sale of illegal drugs, and certain other forms of usually nonviolent criminal behavior. 3. a. A slight personal failing; a foible: the vice of untidiness. b. A flaw or imperfection; a defect: "Lady Hester remarked on the vice in his looks" (Edna O'Brien). 4. a. Vice A character representing generalized or particular vice in English morality plays. b. A jester or buffoon. [Middle English, from Old French, from Latin vitium.] |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
n. & v. |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
n. A heavy clamp, usually mounted on a workbench and operated by a screw or lever, used in carpentry or metalworking to hold a piece in position. tr.v. vised, vis·ing, vis·es also viced or vic·ing or vic·es To hold or compress in or as if in a vise. [Middle English vis, screwlike device, from Old French, screw, from Latin vītis, vine (from its spiral wrappings); see wei- in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.]  (click for a larger image) vise |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
