venerate v

[L veneratus, fr. vener-, venus love, sexual desire; assoc. with Venus, the Roman goddess of love and beauty, equiv. to the Greek Aphrodite] : to honor (as an icon) with a ritual act of devotion

venereal adj

1 : of or relating to sexual pleasure 2 : resulting from or contracted during sexual intercourse

¹ venus n

[L Venus Venus, the Roman goddess of love and beauty] : a beautiful woman

² Venus n

the planet second from the sun

Venushair n

a delicate maidenhair fern (Adiantum capillus-veneris) that grows chiefly on wet calcareous rocks

Venus's girdle n

an iridescent blue and green ctenophore, Cestum veneris, having a ribbon-shaped, gelatinous body

Venus's looking-glass n

any of several campanulaceous herbs of the genus Specularia, esp. S. Specularia Veneris, having blue or white flowers

vesper n

[late ME, fr. L evening (star), esp. Hesper, fr. Hesperos, Greek god of evening] 1 : the evening star 2 : a bell rung at evening 3 : eveningtide

vespers n

a religious service in the late afternoon or evening

Vesta n

[Vesta Vesta, Roman goddess of the hearth, worshipped in a temple containing an altar on which a sacred fire was kept burning by vestal virgins, akin to the Greek Hestia] : the third largest and one of the four brightest asteroids in the solar system

vestal adj

1 : chaste, pure 2 : a chaste unmarried woman; virgin 3 : a nun

volcanic adj

[fr. L Volcanus, var. of Vulcanus Vulcan, the ancient Roman god of fire and metalworking, identified with the Greek Hephaestus] 1 : of or pertaining to volcanoes 2 : discharged from or produced by volcanoes 3 : suggestive of a volcano: potentially explosive, volatile

volcano n

a mountain or hill having a cuplike crater at the summit, formed around a vent in the earth through which ash and lava are expelled

vulcanian adj

[fr. L Vulcani(us) of Vulcan] 1 : volcanic 2 : of or pertaining to metalworking

vulcanite n

a hard, readily cut and polished rubber used in the manufacture of combs, buttons, and for electrical insulation

vulcanize v

to treat rubber with sulfur while under moderate heat in order to render it nonplastic and give it greater elasticity, strength, etc.: sometimes a large amount of sulfur and high heat are used to make it very hard, as in the case of vulcanite