vice
1 (vīs)
[Middle English, from Old French, from Latin vitium.]
noun
- An evil, degrading, or immoral practice or habit.
- A serious moral failing.
- Wicked or evil conduct or habits; corruption.
- Sexual immorality, especially prostitution.
- A slight personal failing; a foible: the vice of untidiness.
- A flaw or imperfection; a defect.
- A physical defect or weakness.
- An undesirable habit, such as crib-biting, in a domestic animal.
- Vice. A character representing generalized or particular vice in English morality plays.
- A jester or buffoon.
vice
2 (vīs)
noun verb
- Variant of vise
vi·ce
3 (vī́sē, -sə)
[Latin, ablative of * vix, change; see vice–.]
prep.
- In place of; replacing.
vise,
also vice
(vīs)
[Middle English vis, screwlike device, from Old French, screw, from Latin vītis, vine (from its spiral wrappings).]
noun
- A clamping device, usually consisting of two jaws closed or opened by a screw or lever, used in carpentry or metalworking to hold a piece in position.
transitive verb: vised, also viced, vis·ing, vic·ing, vis·es, vic·es
- To hold or compress in or as if in a vise.
