Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Vis

Vis (vĭs), n. 1. Force; power.

2. (Law) (a) Physical force. (b) Moral power.

Principle of vis viva (Mech.), the principle that the difference between the aggregate work of the accelerating forces of a system and that of the retarding forces is equal to one half the vis viva accumulated or lost in the system while the work is being done. — Vis impressa [L.] (Mech.), force exerted, as in moving a body, or changing the direction of its motion; impressed force. — Vis inertiæ. [L.] (a) The resistance of matter, as when a body at rest is set in motion, or a body in motion is brought to rest, or has its motion changed, either in direction or in velocity. (b) Inertness; inactivity. Vis intertiæ and inertia are not strictly synonymous. The former implies the resistance itself which is given, while the latter implies merely the property by which it is given. — Vis mortua [L.] (Mech.), dead force; force doing no active work, but only producing pressure. — Vis vitæ, or Vis vitalis [L.] (Physiol.), vital force. — Vis viva [L.] (Mech.), living force; the force of a body moving against resistance, or doing work, in distinction from vis mortua, or dead force; the kinetic energy of a moving body; the capacity of a moving body to do work by reason of its being in motion. See Kinetic energy, in the Note under Energy. The term vis viva is not usually understood to include that part of the kinetic energy of the body which is due to the vibrations of its molecules.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty. Of the others, 1,362 (a word or a single letter each) were inferred by AI from the context by the dictionary’s own rules and are marked with a wavy underline (tap or point at one to see the note); the rest, which could not be inferred with confidence, are left as “?”.