V

vale of tears the earth; mortal life on

earth. (A “valley” of tears.) When it

comes time for me to leave this vale of

tears, I hope I can leave some worthwhile

memories behind. Uncle Fred left this

vale of tears early this morning.

vanish into thin air to disappear without

leaving a trace. My money gets spent

so fast. It seems to vanish into thin air.

When I came back, my car was gone. I had

locked it, and it couldn’t have vanished

into thin air!

Variety is the spice of life. Differences

and changes make life interesting.

(Proverb.) Mary reads all kinds of

books. She says variety is the spice of life.

The Franklins travel all over the world

so they can learn how different people live.

After all, variety is the spice of life.

vent one’s spleen to get rid of one’s feelings

of anger caused by someone or some-

thing by attacking someone or something

else. Jack vented his spleen at his wife

whenever things went badly at work. Pe-

ter vented his spleen on his car by kicking

it when he lost the race.

verge on something to be almost something.

Your blouse is a lovely color. It seems to

be blue verging on purple. Sally has a

terrible case of the f lu, and they are afraid

it’s verging on pneumonia.

the very last the end; an absolute end of

something. At the very last of the

movie, the hero gets killed. Bill stayed at

the party until the very last.

the very thing the exact thing that is re-

quired. The vacuum cleaner is the very

thing for cleaning the stairs. I have the

very thing to remove that stain.

the villain of the piece someone or some-

thing that is responsible for something

bad or wrong. I wondered who told the

newspapers about the local scandal. I dis-

covered that Joan was the villain of the

piece. We couldn’t think who had stolen

the meat. The dog next door turned out to

be the villain of the piece.

vim and vigor energy and enthusiasm.

I just don’t seem to have the vim and vigor

that I had a few years ago. Alice ap-

peared with all the vim and vigor of youth,

and began to help carry in the packages.

vote a split ticket to cast a ballot on which

the votes are divided between two or

more parties. I always vote a spilt ticket

since I detest both parties. Mary voted

a split ticket for the first time in her life.

vote a straight ticket to cast a ballot with

all the votes for members of the same po-

litical party. I’m not a member of any

political party, so I never vote a straight

ticket. I usually vote a straight ticket be-

cause I believe in the principles of one

party and not in the other’s.

a vote of confidence a poll taken to dis-

cover whether or not a person, party, etc.,

still has the majority’s support. The

government easily won the vote of confi-

dence called for by the opposition. The

president of the club resigned when one of

the members called for a vote of confidence

in his leadership.

a vote of thanks a speech expressing ap-

preciation and thanks to a speaker, lec-

turer, organizer, etc., and inviting the au-

dience to applaud. John gave a vote of

thanks to Professor Jones for his talk.

Mary was given a vote of thanks for orga-

nizing the dance.

vote with one’s feet to express one’s dis-

satisfaction with something by leaving,

especially by walking away. I think that

the play is a total f lop. Most of the audi-

ence voted with its feet during the second

act. I am prepared to vote with my feet

if the meeting appears to be a waste of

time.