vara (vara)

[ Choice water-lots at Long Wharf [San Francisco), and fifty- vara building sites on Montgomery Street. J. W. Palmer , The New and the Old, p. 201. varan (var'an), n . [Also uran , our an , uaran ; = F. varan (Algerian our an ) (NL. Varanus ), war an , warel (Devic), warn , warl (Newman), a lizard.] A varanoid lizard; a monitor. Varangian (vā-ran'ji-an), n. [ Varan gus, Varingus (E. Waring), MGr. Βάραγγος, Væring i , a Varangian, lit. 'a confederate,' vārar , pl. of * var , oath, troth, plight, = AS. wær , covenant, oath, wær , true, = L. ver us , true: see warlock1 , very .] One of the Norse warriors who ravaged the coasts of the Baltic about the ninth century, and who (according to common account) overran part of Ru ia and formed an important element in the early Ru ian people. - Varangian Guard, a body-guard of the Byzantine emperors about the eleventh century, formed upon a nucleus of Varangians.