variety

[ Fr.var iété, from Lat. varietatem. acc us, of varietas, from varius =various (q v.).] IMG:content-0409.png:[blocks in formation] 4379 Used also adjectively of an entertainment consisting of singing, dancing, gymnastic performances, ., or of performers engaged in such an entertainment. "The biggest variety company ever seen at the East end of London." -Referee, March 25, 1886. 7. Absence of monotony or uniformity; diversification, change. "Variety's the very spice of life That gives it all its flavor." Cowper : Task , ii. 606. II. Biol .: A group of organisms (subordinate to a species, but not susceptible of strict definition). They breed true to characters, but are not invariably fertile with other varieties-e. g., pouters among pigeons, and some kinds of maize among plants. The line of demarcation between varieties and species is indeterminable. "Certainly no clear line of demarcation has as yet been drawn between species and sub-species-that is, the forms which, in the opinion of some naturalists, come very near to, but do not quite arrive at, the rank of species; or, again, between sub-species and well-marked varieties , or between le er varieties and individual differences. These differences blend into each other by an insensible series; and a series impre es the mind with the idea of an actual pa age."- Darwin : Origin of Species (ed. 2d), p. 41. The term is often used more loosely of minerals, rocks, .; as, varieties of amphibole, varieties of granite, . For the difference between variety and differ ence, see DIFFERENCE. vär-i-form, adj . [Latin varius =various, and form a=form.] Having various or different forms or shapes; varying in form. vär-i-formed, a. [Eng. variform; -ed.] Formed with different shapes. *vär-i-fÿ, *var-i-fie, v . t . [Latin varius = various, and facio =to make.] 1. To make different; to vary. "Their workes to varisle ." Davies: Summa Total is , p. 17. 2. To variegate; to color variously; to diversify. Sylvester: The Magnificence, 661. va-rig-er-a, subst . [Modern Latin varix (gen it. varicis), and Lat. gero to carry.] "Lively colors lovely varifide." Palæont .: A genus of To rna tell i dae (q. v.), with eight species, ranging from the Neocomian to the Chalk of France.