Vein sb. World English Historical Dictionary

Vein sb. World English Historical Dictionary Dictionary Biographies Literary Criticism Welcome Terms of Service ⧏ Previous Next ⧐ Contents Slice Contents Key Bibliographic Record Murray’s New English Dictionary. 1928, rev. 2024. Vein sb. Forms: α. 3–7 veyne (4–5 weyne, 6 ueyne), 4, 7 veyn; 4–7 veine (4 vene), 7– vein. β. 4–7 vayne (5 wayne), 5 vayn (wayn), 6–7 vain(e. γ. 5, 6–7 Sc., vane (5, 6 Sc., wane). [a. OF. veine, vaine (F. veine):—L. vēna (cf. VENE), whence also Prov., Sp., It. vena, Pg. veia († veya, vea).]

1   I.  1. One or other of the tubular vessels in which the blood is conveyed through the animal body; in later use spec. one of those by which the blood is carried back to the heart from the extremities (opposed to artery).

2   Many veins are distinguished by special epithets, as alar, auricular, axillary, basilic, cardiac, etc.: see these words.

3   α.  13[?].  K. Alis., 1175 (Laud MS.). Þe kynges veynes wexen chelde. Ibid., 2414. Þer was … many veyn leten blood.

4 1387.  Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), I. 59. For betynge of veynes is bettre i-knowe in þe vttre parties of bodies þan ynward and in þe myddel wiþynne.

5 1422.  Yonge, trans. Secreta Secret., 229. Tho men whych haue the neke abowte and the temples, grete ruddy weynes, bene wrothy and hugely angry.

6 c. 1450.  Mirk’s Festial, 291. Þe prest blessuth a ring … and duth hit on hur fyngur þat haþe a veyne to hure herte.

7 1526.  Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 254. For ye whiche his senewes and veynes brast.

8 1559.  Morwyng, Evonym., 359. This oyll anoynted upon the pulsing veynes, where they appeare moste, as of the temples,… delivereth … from all poysons.

9 1592.  Shaks., Rom. & Jul., IV. iii. 15. I haue a faint cold feare thrills through my veines.

10 1631.  R. Bolton, Comf. Affl. Consc. (1635), 199. When a veine is broken and bleeds inwardly,… the Physition is wont to open a veine in the arme so to divert the current of the blood.

11 c. 1673.  Traherne, Poet. Wks. (1906), 180. Veins wherein blood floweth, Refreshing all my flesh, Like rivers.

12 1727.  De Foe, Eng. Tradesm., vi. (1841), I. 44. Being drawn off, like the blood let out of the veins.

13 1774.  Goldsm., Nat. Hist. (1776), VI. 388. With us and quadrupedes the blood goes from the veins to the heart.

14 1804.  Abernethy, Surg. Obs., 21. The superficial veins appear remarkably large.

15 1840.  Thirlwall, Greece, lvi. VII. 197. Demosthenes now felt the poison in his veins.

16 1871.  T. R. Jones, Anim. Kingd. (ed. 4), 227. All these veins terminate in two large venous canals.

17   β.  c. 1340.  Richard Rolle of Hampole, Prick of Conscience, 1903. [If] ilka vayne of þe mans body Had a rote festend fast þarby.

18 c. 1400.  Destr. Troy, 5829. The gret vayne of his gorge.

19 1422.  Yonge, trans. Secreta Secret., 240. The blode rynnyth into the waynys throgh al the body.

20 1480.  Caxton, Myrr., II. xix. (1913), 109. Alle in lyke wyse as the blood of a man gooth and renneth by the vaynes of the body.

21 1523.  Fitzherb., Husb., § 50. Some men vse to let them bloudde vnder the eye in a vaine.

22 1582.  Hester, Secr. Phiorav., I. xxiv. 28. When the bloud is alterated of that putrefaction, it goeth to the vaines.

23 1603.  J. Davies (Heref.), Microcosmos, Wks. (Grosart), I. 67/1. Seas of Blood … Might still haue kept the Chanells of the Vaynes.

24 1647.  Hexham, I. A Vaine, een Ader.… Great Vaines or Arteres, Groot Aderen.

25   γ.  c. 1450.  in Vicary’s Anat. (1888), App. ix. 229. Thy ryght hande has I. wane, in fay, Thy litill fynger hath yt aye.

26 1487.  Barbour’s Bruce, VII. 173. Quhen the vanys fillit ar, The body vorthis hevy euirmar.

27 1500–20.  Dunbar, Poems, lxxii. 35. Blude birst out at every vane.

28 c. 1560.  A. Scott, Poems (S.T.S.), ix. 34. Ane hairt of ȝouris bayth vane and nervis.

29 1596.  Dalrymple, trans. Leslie’s Hist. Scot., II. 95. A vane … cuttit in his body, al the blude of his body is lattne outbleid at the samyn.

30 1655.  in Verney Mem. (1907), I. 557. I had only a vomitt … and breathed a vane.

31   † b.  Lacteal, lacteous, or milky veins, = LACTEAL sb. 1. Obs.

32 1656.  J. Smith, Pract. Physick, 4. Obstruction of the Vessels, especially of the Pancreas, and fault of the milky veins.

33 1664.  Power, Exp. Philos., I. 66. The stomach and guts, and their appendent Vessels, the lacteal Veins.

34 1704.  Ray, Creation (ed. 4), I. 29. The Food … is further subtiliz’d and render’d so fluid and penetrant, that the thinner and finer part of it easily finds its way in at the streight Orifices of the lacteous Veins.

35   c.  Fluid vein, a separate flow of blood in a larger vein. (Cf. 6 c.)

36 1897.  Allbutt’s Syst. Med., IV. 659. The formation of innumerable small fluid veins. Ibid. (1898), V. 502. This change in the continents sets up fluid veins in the contained blood.

37   2.  In phrases and figurative uses:

38   † a.  To taste, or feel, one’s vein(s, to feel the pulse. To die in a vein, to die through loss of blood. Obs.

39 13[?].  Seuyn Sages (W.), 1048. The yonge man segh the childes peyne, And tasted his senewe, and his veyne.

40 1390.  Gower, Conf., III. 315. This noble clerk with alle haste Began the veines forto taste.

41 c. 1440.  Alph. Tales, 74. Þis Joseph was passand connyng in grapyng of þer vaynys at war seke, and he come unto hym & felid his vaynys.

42 1547–64.  Bauldwin, Mor. Philos. (Palfr.), 35. Seneca … supposing that to dye in a veyne was the easiest kinde of death, desired to be let bloud in the veynes of his arme.

43   b.  In various fig. uses.

44 1382.  Wyclif, Job iv. 12. To me is seid a woord hid, and as theefli myn ere toc the veynes [L. venas] of his gruching.

45 c. 1530.  Tindale, Prophete Jonas, Prol. A ij. The fleshly minded ypocrites stoppe upp the Vaynes of life which are in ye scripture.

46 1583.  Stubbes, Anat. Abus., II. (1882), 24. Now the cloth being thus stretched forth in euery vaine, how is it possible either to endure or hold out?

47 1606.  J. King, Serm., Sept., 47. By all princely meanes to put bloud into the veines of the Church againe.

48 1651.  in M. Sellers, Eastland Co. (Camden), Introd. 75. In equity and reason the benefit of trade should be equally disposed into all the vaines of the Commonwealth.

49 1719.  W. Wood, Surv. Trade, 73. It is a true Sign, that our foreign Traffick has since convey’d Spirits and Nourishment into each Vein of the Body Politick.

50 1831.  Carlyle, Sart. Res., II. iii. Here, too, as in the Euphrates and the Ganges, is a vein or veinlet of the grand World-circulation of Waters.

51 1864.  Lowell, Fireside Trav., 303. Great poets … crowding the happy veins of language again with all the life … that had been dribbling away.

52 1866.  B. Taylor, Poet’s Jrnl., 58. As ardent veins of summer heat Throb thro’ the innocence of spring.

53   c.  In miscellaneous fig. phrases.

54   (a)  c. 1400.  Rom. Rose, 3459. If he were touchid on somme good veyne, He shuld yit rewen on thi peyne.

55 1589.  Pasquil’s Ret., C iij b. Vetus Comædia beganne to pricke him … in the right vaine.

56 1677.  Gilpin, Demonol. (1867), 59. Satan … makes it his next care … to strike in the right vein; for he loves to have his work easy and feasible.

57   (b.)  1587.  Stanyhurst, Descr. Ireland, 34/2, in Holinshed. Let him with all the veines of his heart beseech God.

58 1589.  Cooper, Admon., 215. There were many of them that would haue bene glad with all the veines in their heartes.

59 1589.  R. Harvey, Pl. Perc. (1590), 10. I see the vaine is vp in the forhead, and Martin shall haue as good as he brings.

60 1662.  Stillingfl., Orig. Sacræ, III. iv. § 6. A kinde of a breaking of vein in which the salt water was conveyed up and down the body of the earth.

61   3.  † a. A sap-vessel in plants. Obs.

62 c. 1386.  Chaucer, Prol., 3. Whan that Aprille … hath … bathud every veyne in swich licour, Of which vertue engendred is the flour.

63 1398.  Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XVII. i. (Bodl. MS.). Þei [trees] haue weyes and veynes in þe whiche kinde moisture is ikepte and passeþ þerbi fro þe erþe into alle þe parties abowte.

64 1513.  Douglas, Æneid, XII. Prol. 255. Welcum support of euery rute and vane, Welcum confort of alkynd fruyt and grane.

65   b.  Bot. A slender bundle of fibrovascular tissue forming an extension of the petiole in the parenchyma of a leaf.

66   In early use less specific in sense. Some botanists have restricted vein to branches of the midrib, in contrast to nerves proceeding from the base of the leaf.

67 1513.  Douglas, Æneid, XII. vii. 76. The herb sweit, Of levis rank,… With sproutis, sprangis, and vanis our allquhair.

68 1553.  Eden, Treat. New Ind. (Arb.), 18. These [leaves] are somewhat grosser and fatter, with small vaynes running betwene on the contrarye side.

69 1731.  P. Miller, Gard. Dict., s.v. Leaves, They … consist of a very glutinous Matter, being furnished everywhere with Veins and Nerves.

70 1793.  Martyn, Lang. Bot., s.v. Venosum, When it has no veins,… it is called Folium Avenium, a veinless leaf.

71 1812.  New Botanic Gard., I. 42. The leaves,… with a network of veins underneath.

72 1832.  Lindley, Introd. Bot., 88. Till within a few years the distribution of veins in the leaf had not received much attention.

73 1866.  Treas. Bot., 1206/2. Costal or primary veins are such as spring from the midrib; external veins are those next the edge.

74 1880.  Bessey, Bot., 145. The disposition of the veins in a leaf depends largely upon its mode of growth. Usually several veins form early.

75   c.  Ent. A nervure of an insect’s wing.

76 1817.  Kirby & Sp., Entomol., xxiii. II. 347. French naturalists use this term (nervure) for the veins of wings.

77 1834.  McMurtrie, Cuvier’s Anim. Kingd., 326. The wings … are traversed in various directions by more or less numerous nervures,… now forming a net-work, and then simple veins.

78 1855.  Orr’s Circle Sci., Org. Nat., II. 336. Each wing is found to consist of a double membrane, between which a variable number of veins, or nervures, ramify in different directions.

79   † 4.  Sc. A slender stripe of a different color or material on a garment. (Cf. VEIN v. 1 a.) Obs.

80 1539.  Inv. R. Wardr. (1815), 34. Ane coit of fresit claith of silvir vanit with ane small inset vane of gold.

81 1542.  Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot., VIII. 74. To jeit the cote with thre vanis aboute the taill.

82   5.  A marking or an appearance suggestive of a vein; esp. an irregular stripe or streak of a different color in marble or other stone.

83 1642.  Fuller, Holy & Prof. St., III. xiv. 189. The red veins in the marble may seem to blush at the falshoods written on it.

84 1688.  R. Holme, Armoury, II. 40/1. The Absistos is … marvellous weighty and black of colour, bestroked with red Veins.

85 1712.  Addison, Spect., No. 414, ¶ 2. Those accidental Landskips of Trees, Clouds and Cities, that are sometimes found in the Veins of Marble.

86 1799.  G. Smith, Laboratory, I. 178. When [the paint is] dry, you may with the point of a needle open fine veins or other embellishments.

87 1860.  Tyndall, Glac., I. vii. 54. The blue veins of the glacier are beautifully shown.

88 1861.  B. Silliman, Physics, 378. The beautiful play of colors seen upon mother of pearl is caused by the delicate veins with which the surface is covered.

89   b.  A streak or seam of a different material or texture from the main substance.

90 1663.  Gerbier, Counsel, 28. The Mason must work no Stone with Sandy veines.

91 1815.  J. Smith, Panorama Sci. & Art, I. 7. Wrought iron may be hardened … by ignition and plunging in water, but the effect is confined to the surface; except … the iron contain veins of steel.

92 1831.  Brewster, Optics, x. 85. The spectrum formed by a fine prism of flint glass, free of veins.

93 1869.  Sir E. Reed, Ship-build., xviii. 384. Angle-irons have to be free from veins and cracked holes, and rivet-iron has to be free from cracks and veins when laid up and finished.

94   c.  A fiber (in metal). rare–1.

95 1715.  Leoni, Palladio’s Archit. (1742), I. 4. It will be a sign of its Goodness, if being made into Bars, its veins are continu’d strait…; because the streightness of its veins shews the Iron to be without knots.

96   II.  6. A small natural channel or perforation within the earth through which water trickles or flows; a flow of water through such a channel.

97   Also transf. (quot. 1598).

98 c. 1290.  S. Eng. Leg., I. 318/639. Wellene comiez of grete wateres and muche del of þe se þoruȝ veynes al vnder eorþe:… For þare beoz ase it veynene weren onder eorþe mani on.

99 1297.  R. Glouc. (Rolls), 662. In þe veines of þe water, as þe water deþ vp walle He let closy fur in metal.

100 1390.  Gower, Conf., III. 93. For riht as veines ben of blod In man, riht so the water flod Therthe of his cours makth ful of veines.

101 1483.  Caxton, Gold. Leg., 382/2. Lete us al praye unto our lord that he opene to us … here the vaynes of a fontayn or of a welle.

102 1594.  Kyd, Cornelia, II. 370. Perceiue we not a petty vaine, Cut from a spring by chance or arte, Engendreth fountaines.

103 1598.  Sylvester, Du Bartas, II. i. Handycrafts, 492. A burning Mountain from his fiery vain An yron River rowls along the Plain.

104 1601.  R. Johnson, Kingd. & Commw. (1603), 12. These mountaines are full of bathes and veines of warme water.

105 1667.  Milton, P. L., IV. 227. The rapid current,… through veins Of porous Earth with kindly thirst up drawn.

106 1789.  Brand, Newcastle, I. 442. There is an order of common-council for cutting off a vein of water which had lately been discovered and brought into the town.

107 1858.  Lardner, Handbk. Nat. Phil., 90. A feeding reservoir placed above that from which the invariable vein flows.

108 1864.  Bryant, Sella, 487. She taught The skill to pierce the soil and meet the veins Of clear cold water winding underneath.

109   fig.  1382.  Wyclif, Jer. xvii. 13. For thei forsoken the veyne of lyuyng watris [1388 the Lord, a veyne of quyk watirs].

110 c. 1430.  Lydg., Min. Poems (Percy Soc.), 62. O welle of swetnes replete in every veyne, That al mankynd preserved has fro dethe.

111 1602.  Marston, Antonio’s Rev., Prol., Wks. 1856, I. 71. The rawish danke of clumzie winter ramps The fluent summers vaine.

112 1609.  Bible (Douay), Jer. xvii. 13. They have forsaken the vaine of living waters.

113 1640.  Gauden, The Love of Truth, etc. 7. Then doth the ray or veyn of truth flow aright from God to us.

114   † b.  A streamlet or rivulet; a current. Obs.

115 1600.  Pory, trans. Leo’s Africa, III. 158. Through the midst of these gardens, they deriue some small vaine of the riuer.

116 1613.  Purchas, Pilgrimage (1614), 705. When hee entred into the Streits, he encountred a great veine of redde water, extending it selfe from Aden as farre as they could see from the Ships tops.

117   c.  Physics. A slender body of water or other liquid. (Cf. 1 c.)

118 1843.  Civil Eng. & Arch. Jrnl., VI. 39/2. The impulse of a ‘vein’ of fluid falling perpendicularly, is equal to the weight of a column whose base is the area of the vein.

119   7.  Min. A deposit of metallic or earthy material having an extended or ramifying course under ground; a seam or lode; spec. a continuous crack or fissure filled with matter (esp. metallic ore) different from the containing rock.

120 1387.  Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), II. 15. Þe water þat renneþ and passeþ by veynes of certayn metal takiþ in his cours grete hete.

121 c. 1460.  J. Metham, Wks. (E.E.T.S.), 149. The fourthe day ys gode … to seke spryngys for wellys off water, to seke also veynys off metel.

122 1530.  Palsgr., 698/2. Al this yerth, so farre as this vayne goth, savoureth of brimstone.

123 1555.  Eden, Decades (Arb.), 211. Although golde be founde in maner euery where in these regions of golden Castile … the myne or veyne whiche owghte to be folowed, ought to bee in a place whiche may stande to saue muche of the charges of the labourers.

124 1596.  Dalrymple, trans. Leslie’s Hist. Scot., II. 247. In Clidisdale war funde in Craufurd mure vndir the erd sum vanes ful of golde.

125 1617.  Moryson, Itin., III. 136. The inward parts abound with a rich vaine of Mettals, where wonderfull quantitie of most pure Tinne is digged up.

126 1670.  Pettus, Fodinæ Reg., 2. When the Miners by these Shafts or Adits do strike or threed a Vein of any Metal … then the Metal which is digged from those Veins is called Oar.

127 1709.  T. Robinson, Nat. Hist. Westmoreld., 24. These Fissures, by the Miners, are called Dykes, Rakes, Riders, or Veins, according to the Nature of those Classes of Matter they pervade.

128 1747.  Hooson, Miner’s Dict., O 2. Ore is the very Vein itself, all other Signs of Ore or Vein are not comparable to it; yet this is allowed, that two Sides and Soil between them, formes a dead Vein.

129 1793.  [Earl Dundonald], Descr. Estate Culross, 15. At that time the vein of Roch Salt in Cheshire had not been discovered.

130 1813.  Bakewell, Introd. Geol. (1815), 274. Veins of quartz, and also of slate and granite, and various earthy minerals … frequently intersect granitic and schistose rocks.

131 1836–41.  Brande, Chem. (ed. 5), 586. Metals are chiefly found in the earth in veins which traverse the granitic, schistose, and limestone rocks.

132 1875.  J. W. Dawson, Dawn of Life, ii. 13. Strata often diversified with veins … of crystalline minerals.

133   fig.  a. 1667.  Cowley, Death Mr. Jordan, Poems (1905), 22. Like those that work in Mines for others gain. He … had much more to do, To search the Vein, dig, purge, and mint it too.

134 1875.  Whitney, Life Lang., ix. 171. These are telling indications of an original relationship among all the groups of languages mentioned: outcroppings, as it were, of a vein which invites further exploration.

135   8.  † a. A strip or limited stretch of ground or soil, esp. one having a particular character or quality. Obs.

136 1555.  Watreman, Fardle Facions, II. ii. 119. The whole contrie (excepte a litle vaine of sandie grauelle) is fertile.

137 1580.  Tusser, Husb. (1878), 48. Each soile hath no liking of euerie graine, nor barlie and wheat is for euerie vaine.

138 1611.  Coryat, Crudities, 49. I saw in divers places very fat and fruitfull veines of ground as goodly meadowes, very spatious champaigne fieldes [etc.].

139 1624.  Capt. Smith, Virginia, 144. The most plantations were placed straglingly and scatteringly, as a choice veine of rich ground inuited them.

140 1693.  Evelyn, De la Quint. Compl. Gard., I. 19. Some Earths are much better than others in every Climate, nay even sometimes in a small Compass of Ground, vulgarly term’d Veins of Earth.

141   b.  A channel or lane of water.

142 1606.  S. Gardiner, Bk. Angling, 1. He prouideth himselfe a ship, keele, or cocke-boat, out of which he may lay out and take in his nets, and be in the vaine and way where the best doing is.

143 1673.  H. Stubbe, Further Vind. Dutch War, App. 131. The King of Sweden … hath also several districts, channels, or veins Royal in his Seas, which are appropriated to his particular use.

144 1820.  Scoresby, Acc. Arctic Reg., I. 229. A lane, or vein, is a narrow channel of water in packs, or other large collections of ice. Ibid., 269. Whenever a vein of water appears in the required direction, it is if possible attained.

145 1835.  [see LANE sb. 2].

146 1867.  Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., Vein, the clear water between the openings of floes of ice. The same as ice-lane.

147   c.  A current of wind; the track in which this moves.

148 1792.  Belknap, Hist. New Hampsh., III. 24. The next day a whirlwind began … and directed its course toward the east, in a vein of near half a mile wide.

149 1860.  Maury, Phys. Geog., xv. § 677. Lieutenant Jansen has called my attention to a vein of wind which forms a current in the air as remarkable as that of the Gulf Stream is in the sea.

150 1867.  Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., Vein,… a very limited current of wind—a cat’s-paw.

151   d.  Whaling. (See quot.)

152 1851.  H. Melville, Whale, II. ii. 5. When making a passage from one feeding ground to another, the sperm whales, guided by some infallible instinct,… mostly swim in veins, as they are called, continuing their way along a given ocean-line with … undeviating exactitude.

153   III.  fig. 9. A strain or intermixture of some quality traceable in personal character or conduct, in a discourse or writing, etc.

154 1565.  Stapleton, trans. Staphylus’ Apol., 153. With the like vaine of euangelicall sincerite.

155 1587.  Holinshed, Chron., III. 1266/1. Bicause it is a veine of godlie deuise, and tending to a verie honorable purpose.

156 1680.  W. Allen, Peace & Unity, 16. ‘Let all your things be done with Charity’: a line and vein of this should run through all.

157 1690.  C. Nesse, Hist. & Myst. O. & N. Test., I. 117. This is a fear of faith, which hath always a vein of love running along with it.

158 1701.  W. Wotton, Hist. Rome, 389. A vein of Superstition ran through all his Actions.

159 1773.  Burke, Corr. (1844), I. 446. There is a vein of natural good sense in him, from which a good deal might be expected.

160 1820.  Examiner, No. 612. 11/2. A fine vein of sentiment runs through it.

161 1849.  Macaulay, Hist. Eng., vi. II. 20. An English Dominican … with some learning and a rich vein of natural humour.

162 1849.  Daily News, 29 Dec., 2/2. Canning, in the House of Commons, denounced Cartwright as ‘that old heart in London, from which the veins of sedition in the country are supplied.’

163 1867.  Freeman, Norm. Conq. (1877), I. 331. There is a vein of bitter sarcasm in the way in which the tale is told.

164   b.  A line or course of thought, etc.; a source of information.

165 1704.  Swift, T. Tub, ii. I have … collected out of ancient authors this short summary of a body of philosophy and divinity, which seems to have been composed by a vein and race of thinking very different from any other systems.

166 1751.  Johnson, Rambler, No. 169, ¶ 12. Delay opens new veins of thought.

167 1824.  W. Irving, T. Trav., I. 217. In the midst of a vein of thought or a moment of inspiration.

168 1875.  Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), II. 6. He professes to open a new vein of discourse.

169 1887.  Moloney, Forestry W. Africa, 32. The many gentlemen who make the Science of Botany a lifelong study, and who have so many veins of information.

170   † 10.  a. The tenor or general character of something. Obs.–1

171 1555.  R. Taylor, in Coverdale, Lett. Martyrs (1564), 171. I doe belieue that the Religion set forth in King Edwardes dayes was accordyng to the vayne of the holy Scripture.

172   † b.  A kind or species. Obs. rare.

173 1568.  Bp. Cheny, in Strype, Ann. Ref. (1709), I. lii. 525. These young men, which are of a lover vein,… be not men perfect, as they seem.

174 1652–62.  Heylin, Cosmogr. (1673), III. 29/1. Other Commodities of this Island are … Honey as good as any the world affordeth; and a vein of most delicious vines.

175   11.  A natural tendency towards, a special aptitude or capacity for, the production of literary or artistic work; a particular strain of talent or genius: a. With possessives. (The common use.)

176 1577.  Grange, Golden Aphrod., N ij b. If I had Virgilles vayne to indite, or Homers quill.

177 1581.  Sidney, Apol. Poetrie (Arb.), 21. They beeing Poets, dyd exercise their delightful vaine in those points of highest knowledge.

178 1624.  Wotton, Arch., Reliq. (1672), 57. Artizans have not only their Growths and Perfections but likewise their Vains and Times.

179 1697.  Evelyn, Numismata, viii. 286. Vittoria Colonna,… whose extraordinary Vein in Poetry was equal with Petrarchs.

180 1729.  T. Cooke, Tales, etc. 63. Indulge, my Friend, thy modest Vein;… Prospects, gay smiling, aid the Strain.

181 1762.  Kames, Elem. Crit. (1833), 336. The fertility of Shakspeare’s vein betrays him frequently [etc.].

182 1837.  Lockhart, Scott, I. iv. 122. His boyish addiction to verse, and the rebuke which his vein received from the Apothecary’s … wife.

183   b.  With a, that, etc.

184 1580.  G. Harvey, Three Lett., Spenser’s Wks. (1912), 628. They sauour of that singular extraordinarie veine and inuention, whiche I euer fancied moste.

185 1599.  B. Jonson, Cynthia’s Rev., III. i. You must prove the aptitude of your genius; if you find none, you must hearken out a vein, and buy.

186 1601.  Holland, Pliny, I. 72. All the fabulous veine, and learning of Greece, proceeded out of this quarter.

187 1656.  Bramhall, Replic., ii. 78. I doe not take my self to have so happy a vein, that all that I utter should be a definition.

188 17[?].  Philips, Epistle, in Steele’s Poet. Misc. (1714), 37. Why then, in making Verses should I strain For Wit, and of Apollo beg a Vein?

189 1732.  Berkeley, Alciphr., III. § 15. For the coffee-houses and populace, we have declaimers of a copious vein.

190 1820.  Hazlitt, Lect. Dram. Lit., 2. To these might be added others not less learned, nor with a scarce less happy vein.

191   12.  A special or characteristic style of language or expression in writing or speech: a. With possessives.

192 1548.  Udall, Erasm. Par., Pref. C j b. Though euerie translatour folowe his owne veine of turnyng the Latin into Englishe.

193 1579.  Spenser, Sheph. Cal., Oct., 23. To restraine The lust of lawlesse youth with good aduice: Or pricke them forth with pleasaunce of thy vaine.

194 1597.  Return fr. Parnass., IV. i. 1166. Lett mee heare Chaucer’s vaine firste. I love antiquitie, if it be not harshe.

195 1605.  Bacon, Adv. Learn., I. iv. § 2. Then grew the flowing and watery vein of Osorius, the Portugal bishop, to be in price.

196 1641.  Brome, Joviall Crew, I. What say, Sir, to our Poet Scribble here? Spr. I like his vain exceeding well.

197 1818.  Scott, Provinc. Antiq. Scotl. (1826), 119. After adorning it with an inscription, somewhat in the vein of Ancient Pistol.

198 1902.  G. Sampson, Newman’s Sel. Ess., Introd. p. xxxvi. They [sc. these words] are not in Blougram’s vein.

199   b.  With a, this, etc.

200 1576.  N. R., in Gascoigne’s Steele Glas, Wks. 1910, II. 138. Thus divers men with divers vaines did write, But Gascoigne doth in every vaine indite.

201 1598.  Barret, Theor. Warres, II. i. 29. To haue a sweet vaine in speech.

202 1620–6.  Quarles, Div. Poems, Hadassa, Pref. A Sober vaine best suits Theologie.

203 a. 1704.  Locke, Cond. Underst., Posth. Wks. (1706), 18. Many a good poetick Vein is buried under a Trade.

204 1746.  Francis, trans. Horace, Sat., I. iv. 133. Such Rancour this, of such a poisonous Vein, As never, never, shall my Paper stain.

205 1850.  Kingsley, A. Locke, ix. Is it not noteworthy also, that it is in this vein that the London poets have always been greatest?

206 1875.  Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), I. 276. The answer, Meno, was in the orthodox solemn vein.

207   c.  With his, etc., and qualifying term.

208 1865.  Kingsley, Herew., xii. To which Hereward answered, in his boasting vein, that he would bring home that mare.

209 1873.  Dixon, Two Queens, XX. i. IV. 61. Writing a letter in his smoothest vein to Wolsey.

210 1877.  ‘H. A. Page,’ De Quincey, I. xi. 213. The following shows him in his best vein.

211   † 13.  A particular course of action or conduct; a habit or practice. Obs.

212 1597.  Morley, Introd. Mus., 124. The composers of that age … followed only that vaine of wresting in much matter in small boundes.

213 1615.  Lieut. of Tower’s Sp., in Harl. Misc. (Malh.), III. 319. I was much addicted to that idle Vein of Gambling.

214 1616.  R. C., Times’ Whistle (1871), 62. Thus he runs on his course, til’s drunken vaine Ruines his substance.

215 c. 1725.  Swift, Serm., x. Wks. 1841, II. 164/1. Hence it is become an impertinent vein among people of all sorts to hunt after what they call a good sermon.

216   † b.  An inclination or desire, a tendency, towards something specified. Obs.

217 1587.  Harrison, England, II. iii. (1877), 88. I perceiue the abbeie lands haue fleshed you and set your teeth on edge, to aske also those colleges…. As you loue your welfares therfore, follow no more this veine, but content your selues with that you haue alreadie.

218 1625.  Bacon, Ess., Of Envy (Arb.), 513. Adrian the Emperour, that mortally Enuied Poets, and Painters, and Artificers, in Works, wherein he had a veine to excell.

219 1673.  Temple, Ess. Ireland, Wks. 1720, I. 109. I suppose the Vein I have had of running into Speculations of this kind … have cost me this present Service.

220   14.  Personal character or disposition; also, a particular element or trait in this.

221 1565.  Cooper, Thesaurus, s.v. Vena, To know the naturall disposition and veyne of euery man.

222 1575.  Gascoigne, Glasse Govt., Wks. 1910, II. 6. No Terence phrase:… The verse that pleasde a Romaine rashe intent, Myght well offend the godly Preachers vayne.

223 1590.  Shaks., Com. Err., IV. iv. 83. It is no shame, the fellow finds his vaine, And yeelding to him, humors well his frensie.

224 1639.  N. N., trans. Du Bosq’s Compl. Woman, I. 17. They have need of somewhat more than a pleasant veyne, and … at least they have as much discretion as vertue.

225 a. 1660.  Contemp. Hist. Irel. (Ir. Archæol. Soc.), II. 145. The veine of those petty Bourkes … may seeme strange to any that is both well affected and fully acquainted with them.

226 1774.  Goldsm., Retal., 59. So provoking a devil was Dick, That we wished him full ten times a day at Old Nick; But, missing his mirth and agreeable vein, As often we wished to have Dick back again.

227 1819.  Shelley, Cenci, I. ii. 28. You have a sly, equivocating vein.

228 1820.  Lamb, Elia, I. Oxford in Vacation. When the peacock vein rises, I strut a Gentleman Commoner.

229 1854.  Kingsley, Lett. (1878), I. 433. I am afraid I have a little of the wolf-vein in me, in spite of fifteen centuries of civilization.

230   b.  A temporary state of mind or feeling; a humour or mood.

231 1577–82.  Breton, Toys Idle Head, Wks. (Grosart), I. 28/2. For who continues in this vaine Of setting still,… in the ende he shall be faine To leaue it.

232 1588.  Marprel. Epist. (Arb.), 34. I am hardly drawn to a merie vaine from such waightie matters.

233 1602.  2nd Pt. Return fr. Parnass., II. iv. 699. Ile take the Gentleman now, he is in a good vayne, for he smiles.

234 1640.  Brome, Sparagus Gard., IV. vii. Could I get her In a marriage vaine, but she’ll not look Upon a man not she.

235 1723.  Pope, Lett., Wks. 1737, VI. 146. The merry Vein you knew me in, is sunk into a Turn of Reflection.

236 1760–72.  H. Brooke, Fool of Qual. (1809), IV. 113. Harry was in no manner of vein … for entertaining.

237 1825.  Scott, Talism., vi. He knew not how to pursue the pleasing theme, so as to soothe and prolong the vein which he had excited.

238 1863.  Geo. Eliot, Romola, I. iv. If thou art in a classical vein, put myrtle about his curls and make him a young Bacchus.

239   c.  In the vein, in a fit or suitable mood for something.

240 1593.  Shaks., Rich. III., IV. iii. 122. Thou troublest me, I am not in the vaine.

241 1865.  M. Arnold, Ess. Crit., iii. (1875), 119. To produce constantly, to produce whether in the vein or out of the vein.

242 1879.  Meredith, Egoist, xxxiv. I like to hear them when I am in the vein.

243 1905.  R. Bagot, Passport, xix. 176. Nobody can be more amusing when she is in the vein.

244   † d.  A fit of laughter. Obs.–1

245 1734.  trans. Rollin’s Anc. Hist. (1827), VII. 29. He burst into a loud vein of laughter.

246   IV.  15. attrib. and Comb. a. In sense 1, as vein-blood (also = blood-letting), -healing adj., -pipe, -streaked adj., -work.

247 c. 1386.  Chaucer, Knt.’s T., 1889. That nother veyne blod, ne ventusyng, Ne drynk of herbes may ben his helpyng.

248 c. 1425.  St. Christina, ix., in Anglia, VIII. 123/16. She lete her blode ful often of mykel veyne blode.

249 1528.  Paynell, Salerne’s Regim., b iiij. Hit is nat clere nor flowynge, but more lyke to veyne bludde.

250 1545.  Raynald, Byrth Mankynde, 17 b. Vayne blood and artire blood.

251 1590.  Spenser, Muiopot., 197. Veyne-healing Veruen, and hed-purging Dill.

252 1594.  T. B., La Primaud. Fr. Acad., II. To Rdr. The coole refreshing it hath from the lungs, or the veine-pipes proceeding from the liuer.

253 1890.  Le Gallienne, G. Meredith, 32. The human form disappears beneath nets of veinwork and muscle.

254 1894.  Mrs. Dyan, Man’s Keeping (1899), 118. Urquhart … saw the vein-streaked hand gripping the pipe-stem tremble.

255   † b.  In sense 6 b, as vein-riveret. Obs.–1

256 1656.  Heylin, Surv. France, 34. A veine riveret of the Seine.

257   c.  In sense 7, as vein fissure, -form, -formation, -gallery, -granite, marble, etc.

258 1855.  J. R. Leifchild, Cornwall, 105. The general course of the mineral *vein fissures in these localities.

259 1883.  Science, 9 Feb., 18/1. A *vein-form similar to the terrestrial veins commonly known as filons en cocardes.

260 1877.  Raymond, Statist. Mines & Mining, 115. The creeks and gulches … cutting channels through this *vein-formation.

261 1897.  P. Warung, Tales Old Régime, 96. The chamber … into which the *vein-galleries … opened.

262 1833.  Lyell, Princ. Geol., III. 355. The *vein-granite of Cornwall very generally assumes a finer grain, and frequently undergoes a change.

263 1862.  Catal. Internat. Exhib., Brit., II. No. 2430. Its great strength, ten times that of *vein marble and statuary, renders it safe from breakage.

264 1872.  Raymond, Statist. Mines & Mining, 19. Quartz or quartzite predominating as *vein-matrix, and compact limestone as foot-wall. Ibid. (1874), 329. The *vein-matter in the westerly portion … is of quite a different nature.

265 1875.  J. H. Collins, Metal Mining, 47. In *vein mining trial borings are not often made.

266 1877.  Raymond, Statist. Mines & Mining, 131. The active vein-mining counties of California. Ibid., 213. The *vein-system consists in most part of a series of nearly parallel veins.

267 1778.  Pryce, Min. Cornub., 12. Pyritæ are to be met with … *vein-wise.

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