Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Variety
1.
The quality or state of being various; intermixture or succession of different things; diversity; multifariousness.
Variety
is nothing else but a continued novelty. South.
The
variety
of colors depends upon the composition of light. Sir I. Newton.
For earth hath this
variety
from heaven. Milton.
There is a
variety
in the tempers of good men. Atterbury.
2.
That which is various.
Specifically:
–(a)
A number or collection of different things; a varied assortment;
as, a
. variety
of cottons and silksHe . . . wants more time to do that
variety
of good which his soul thirsts after. Law.
(b)
Something varying or differing from others of the same general kind; one of a number of things that are akin; a sort;
as,
. varieties
of wood, land, rocks, etc(c)
(Biol.)
An individual, or group of individuals, of a species differing from the rest in some one or more of the characteristics typical of the species, and capable either of perpetuating itself for a period, or of being perpetuated by artificial means; hence, a subdivision, or peculiar form, of a species.
☞ Varieties usually differ from species in that any two, however unlike, will generally propagate indefinitely (unless they are in their nature unfertile, as some varieties of rose and other cultivated plants); in being a result of climate, food, or other extrinsic conditions or influences, but generally by a sudden, rather than a gradual, development; and in tending in many cases to lose their distinctive peculiarities when the individuals are left to a state of nature, and especially if restored to the conditions that are natural to typical individuals of the species. Many varieties of domesticated animals and of cultivated plants have been directly produced by man.
(d)
In inorganic nature, one of those forms in which a species may occur, which differ in minor characteristics of structure, color, purity of composition, etc.
☞ These may be viewed as variations from the typical species in its most perfect and purest form, or, as is more commonly the case, all the forms, including the latter, may rank as Varieties. Thus, the sapphire is a blue variety, and the ruby a red variety, of corundum; again, calcite has many Varieties differing in form and structure, as Iceland spar, dogtooth spar, satin spar, and also others characterized by the presence of small quantities of magnesia, iron, manganese, etc. Still again, there are varieties of granite differing in structure, as graphic granite, porphyritic granite, and other varieties differing in composition, as albitic granite, hornblendic, or syenitic, granite, etc.
Geographical variety
(Biol.)
, a variety of any species which is coincident with a geographical region, and is usually dependent upon, or caused by, peculiarities of climate.
– Variety hybrid
(Biol.)
, a cross between two individuals of different varieties of the same species; a mongrel.
Syn. – Diversity; difference; kind.
–
Variety
, Diversity
. A man has a variety of employments when he does many things which are not a mere repetition of the same act; he has a diversity of employments when the several acts performed are unlike each other, that is, diverse. In most cases, where there is variety there will be more or less of diversity, but not always. One who sells railroad tickets performs a great variety of acts in a day, while there is but little diversity in his employment. All sorts are here that all the earth yields!
Variety
without end. Milton.
But see in all corporeal nature’s scene,
What changes, what
What changes, what
diversities
, have been! Blackmore.
Webster 1828 Edition
Variety
VARI'ETY
,Noun.
1.
Intermixture of different things, or of things different in form; or a succession of different things.Variety is nothing else but a continued novelty.
The variety of colors depends on the composition of light.
2.
One thing of many which constitute variety. In this sense, it has a plural; as the varieties of a species.3.
Difference; dissimilitude.There is a variety in the tempers of good men.
4.
Variation; deviation; change from a former state. [Little used.]5.
Many and different kinds. The shopkeeper has a great variety of cottons and silks.He wants to do a variety of good things.
6.
In natural history, a difference not permanent or invariable, but occasioned by an accidental change; as a variety of any species of plant.Naturalists formerly erred very much in supposing an accidental variety of plants, animals or minerals, to be a distinct species. Ray has established a good test for varieties in botany. A plant is distinct, which propagates itself in its own form by its seed; but when the difference disappears in the new plant, it is only a variety. Variety then is a difference between individuals, not permanent nor important enough to constitute a distinct species; such as in size, color, fullness, curling, &c.
7.
Different sort; as varieties of soil or land.