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Webster 1913 Edition

‖

(văn-ĕs′sȧ)

Noun.

[Probably from Swift’s poem of Cadenus and

Vanessa

. See

, in the Dictionary of Noted Names in Fiction.]

(Zool.)

Any one of numerous species of handsomely colored butterflies belonging to

Vanessa

and allied genera. Many of these species have the edges of the wings irregularly scalloped.