One-Letter Words, a Dictionary (18 page)

V IN PRINT AND PROVERB

1. (in literature)
V and Other Poems
(1991) collects the work of Tony Harrison.

2. (in literature)
“V is the vase.”
—Victor Hugo, quoted in
ABZ
by Mel Gooding

3. (in music)
Haydn’s Symphony 88 is known as “The
Letter V Symphony.”

4.
n.
A written representation of the letter.

5.
n.
A device, such as a printer’s type, for reproducing the letter.

IT ALL ADDS UP

6.
n.
(informal)
A five-dollar bill.

7.
n.
The twenty-second in a series.

8.
n.
A Roman numeral for five.
I have lost a Roman numeral somewhere. V for the vee between.—William H. Gass,
The Tunnel
The Roman numeral representing five, symbolized by the letter V, derives from the shape of the space between the open thumb and fingers. The Roman numeral for ten, the letter X, is actually two V’s.
—Michael S. Schneider,
A Beginner’s Guide to Constructing the Universe: Mathematical Archetypes of
Nature, Art, and Science

9.
n.
With a line over it,
a Roman numeral for 5,000.

10.
n.
In mathematics, the sign of the triangle (representing an angle); the sign of the compass.

MISCELLANEOUS

11.
n.
Any spoken sound represented by the letter.
The sound vibration of the consonant V means
“descending light.”
—Joseph E. Rael,
Tracks of Dancing Light: A Native American Approach to Understanding Your Name

12.
n.
The twenty-second letter of the alphabet.
I’ve been traveling along the Zuider Zee in search of the V in the V.
—William H. Gass,
The Tunnel

13.
n.
An arm signal indicating that help is needed.
Arms up in the shape of a letter ‘V’ means “I/We need help.”
—John Mock,
Lonely Planet: Hiking in the Sierra Nevada

14.
n.
Potential difference.

15.
n.
Something arbitrarily designated V
(e.g., a person, place, or other thing).

16.
n.
A talisman for high academic success.
A young lad came to college as a freshman and checked into his room. The first thing he did was hammer a big brass letter V on his door. Everybody asked him what it was for, but he wouldn’t tell them.
He kept it polished, and it was always the first thing put up in his room as he moved from dorm to dorm.
Finally he graduated and at the commencement exercise, his name was announced as valedictorian.
When he walked across the stage, there in his left hand was his polished brass letter V.
—Robert Schuller,
Tough Times Never Last, but Tough People Do!

17.
n.
(chemistry)
The symbol for the element vanadium in the periodic table.

18.
n.
The twenty-second section in a piece of music.

19.
n.
A ripple of water.
Ducks pulled rippling Vs across the brackish water.
—Jeremy Dyson,
Never Trust a Rabbit

20.
n.
An angled window.
Those panes of glass angle in toward each other to form a self-regarding V.
—Jerry Herron, “Niki’s Window”

MILITARY

21.
n.
A robot bomb,
as the World War II German V-1.
The V-1 “robot bomb,” or, as the British called it,
“buzz bomb,” was the predecessor of the modern cruise missile.
—Stephen Tanner,
Refuge from the
Reich: American Airmen and Switzerland During
World War II

22.
n.
A warship designation in the fleet’s inventory.
The letter V indicated that the squadron flew heavier-than-air vehicles. This designation was a relic of naval aviation’s early days when helium-filled dirigibles appeared to be permanent fixtures in the fleet.
—James D. Hornfischer,
The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors: The Extraordinary World
War II Story of the U.S. Navy’s Finest Hour

23.
n.
V sign:
a victory salute made by forming the index and middle fingers into a V shape.
There was some undeniable truth in Clare Booth
Luce’s remark, “All famous men have their characteristic gestures. Churchill had his V sign. Hitler his upraised arm, and Roosevelt…” Whereupon she moistened her index finger and held it aloft to test the wind.
—Gordon W. Prange,
Pearl Harbor: The
Verdict of History

POINTED DISCUSSIONS

24.
n.
Something having the shape of a V.
Rosemary said the object appeared to be similar to two lampshades inside a wide V, with the light from the lampshades brighter than that from the V.
—Don Ledger, “UFO Comes into Close Proximity with Vehicle Near Day’s Corner”
He lounged in his leather chair, content, with his legs straight out in front of him in a tremendous letter V.
—Martha Stout,
The Myth of Sanity: Divided
Consciousness and the Promise of Awareness
The woman’s face was so narrow that her smile was almost V-shaped.
—Pat Cadigan,
Dervish Is Digital

25.
n.
V block:
a steel block with a V-shaped groove, used in machine tooling.

26.
n.
V bottom:
a broad sailboat or speedboat.
When we speak of V-bottom boats, most people think of a high-speed motorboat.
—Ted Brewer,
Understanding Boat Design

27.
n.
V cut:
a style of dress.
Her dresses were cut in a deep V like the style you see in Lautrec’s posters of Yvette Guilbert.
—William H. Gass,
The Tunnel

28.
n.
V hut:
a primitive shelter in the shape of an inverted V.
Other impressive constructions on the site include a number of underground chambers with clear astronomical alignments, including…a classic V-hut chamber, above ground, wedge shaped and adjacent to a large basin cut into the bedrock.
—Paul Tudor Angel, “Mystery Hill: America’s Stonehenge”

29.
n.
V-neck:
the V-shaped neck of a sweater.
The world’s oldest preserved textile garment is a
5,000-year-old linen shirt from an Egyptian tomb at
Tarkhan. The man’s shirt was intentionally V-necked, perhaps to expose the throat and clavicle bones.
—David B. Givens, Center for Nonverbal Studies

30.
n.
V-neck:
a patented style of guitar neck.
The heart of the new v-neck is the double “T” rail extrusion that begins at the V-shaped headstock and runs the entire length of the fingerboard to the
22nd fret.
—Vaccaro Guitars

31.
n.
V aerial:
an antenna shaped like a V.
[The pink stretch limo had] gold-tint mirror glass, and a flying-V aerial on the back. Very cyberpunk.
—Ian McDonald,
Evolution’s Shore

32.
n.
V-beam radar:
“a height-finding radar that emits a vertical beam and another at 45 degrees.”—Dr. John Burkardt

33.
n.
V belt:
“a belt with a V-shaped cross section which engages a similarly shaped groove in a pulley.”—Dr. John Burkardt

34.
n.
V bob:
“a strong frame shaped like an isosceles triangle, turning on a pivot at its apex, and used as a bell crank to change the direction of a main pump rod.”—Dr. John Burkardt

35.
n.
V roof:
a gable or peaked roof.
They are then marched around one building toward another that has a single door directly under the inverted V of the roof.
—Ian MacMillan,
Village of a Million Spirits: A Novel of the Treblinka
Uprising

36.
n.
V guideway:
“a slotted path, with V-shaped indentations in the sides. A weight-bearing pallet is placed in the path. It has corresponding V-shaped projections which keep it firmly held within the path. It then glides along the path, carrying some load.”—Dr. John Burkardt

37.
n.
V hook:
the V-shaped opening of an eccentric rod in a steam engine.

38.
n.
V moth:
a moth whose wings feature a V-shaped mark.

39.
n.
V notch:
in a triangular weir, a notch used to measure water flow.
A V-notch weir across a stream or ditch consists of a weir, which retains the water, with a notch, through which the water flows.
—William J. Sutherland,
The Conservation Handbook

40.
n.
V particle:
a subatomic particle named for the shape of its track in a cloud chamber.

41.
n.
V-type engine:
a type of internal combustion engine in which the cylinders are arranged in a V shape (e.g., V-6 or V-8).
Cadillac anticipated the advantages of the V-type engine back in 1914 and has built no other type since.
—R. M. Clarke,
Cadillac Automobiles 1949–1959

42.
n.
V pug:
a moth whose wings feature a V-shaped mark.

43.
n.
V-shaped bottom:
a stock market pattern involving a sharp drop followed by an almost immediate and similarly sharp recovery.

44.
n.
V-shaped comb:
a comb on some domestic fowl with two hornlike sections that form a V.

45.
n.
V stern:
“a square stern with the transom inclined from the vertical.”—Dr. John Burkardt

46.
n.
V tail:
a V-shaped airplane tail.
[S]ome pilots claimed the V-tail caused excessive
fishtailing in turbulence.
—Larry Lehmer,
The Day the Music Died: The Last Tour of Buddy Holly, the
Big Bopper, and Ritchie Valens

47.
n.
V thread:
a screw thread of 60 degrees.

48.
n.
V tool:
a woodworking tool for carving grooves.

49.
n.
V vat:
a funnel box.

50.
n.
A mountain cleft.
At last a cleft opened, a narrow V between a near hill and the distant peak behind it.
—Stan McDaniel,
The Letterseeker