vender

[Eng. vend, v.; -er.] One who vends or sells goods; a seller, a vendor. "The venders of card-matches."-Add is on: Spectator , No. 251. věn-dět-tą, subst. [Ital., from Latin vindicta = revenge.] [VINDICTIVE.] Anthrop.: A particular case of the wider custom of blood-feud, by which every member of a stock, or body of men between whom blood-relationship subsists, is bound to aid in taking vengeance (on the offender if po ible, or on the stock to which he belongs) for a personal injury done to any of his kinsmen. The vendetta which exists in Corsica, and to a le extent in Sicily, Sardinia, and Calabria, is the practice of taking vengeance on the murderer of a relative; and this duty is imposed primarily on the next of kin, but in a le degree on all the relatives of the murdered individual. If the murderer succeeds in eluding his pursuers, then vengeance may be taken on any of his relatives. Between 1770 and 1800, when the vendetta was at its height, some 7,000 murders are said to have occurred in Corsica owing to this practice of private vengeance. A law prohibiting the carrying of arms did much to put a stop to the vendetta, but the law is now repealed with the result that the number of murders is on the increase. "It is now apparent that the vendetta represents a system which prevailed everywhere before the consolidation of society into the state, and the establishment of a police capable of protecting life and property. The system was a rude substitute for government and the *vě-năt-ic-al, a. [VENATIC.] vě-năt-ic-al-ly, adv. [Eng. venatical; -ly.] In a venatic manner; as pertaining to hunting or the chase. "I do not know whether that vernal saint, Valentine, was venatically minded."- Field , Feb. 26, 1887. *vě-nā-tion, (1), s. [Lat. venatio , from venatus , pa. par. of venor to hunt.] 1. The act or practice of hunting; the chase. "The manner of their [the bever] venations in America." Browne : Vulgar Errors , bk. iii., ch. iv. 2. The state of being hunted.