\Vice\, n. [F., from L. vitium.]
1. A defect; a fault; an error; a blemish; an imperfection;
   as, the vices of a political constitution; the vices of a
   horse.
         Withouten vice of syllable or letter. --Chaucer.
         Mark the vice of the procedure.       --Sir W.
                                               Hamilton.
2. A moral fault or failing; especially, immoral conduct or
   habit, as in the indulgence of degrading appetites;
   customary deviation in a single respect, or in general,
   from a right standard, implying a defect of natural
   character, or the result of training and habits; a harmful
   custom; immorality; depravity; wickedness; as, a life of
   vice; the vice of intemperance.
         I do confess the vices of my blood.   --Shak.
         Ungoverned appetite . . . a brutish vice. --Milton.
         When vice prevails, and impious men bear sway, The
         post of honor is a private station.   --Addison.
3. The buffoon of the old English moralities, or moral
   dramas, having the name sometimes of one vice, sometimes
   of another, or of Vice itself; -- called also {Iniquity}.
Note: This character was grotesquely dressed in a cap with
      ass's ears, and was armed with a dagger of lath: one of
      his chief employments was to make sport with the Devil,
      leaping on his back, and belaboring him with the dagger
      of lath till he made him roar. The Devil, however,
      always carried him off in the end. --Nares.
            How like you the Vice in the play? . . . I would
            not give a rush for a Vice that has not a wooden
            dagger to snap at everybody.       --B. Jonson.
Syn: Crime; sin; iniquity; fault. See {Crime}.

\Vice\, n. [See {Vise}.]
1. (Mech.) A kind of instrument for holding work, as in
   filing. Same as {Vise}.
2. A tool for drawing lead into cames, or flat grooved rods,
   for casements. [Written also {vise}.]
3. A gripe or grasp. [Obs.] --Shak.

\Vice\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Viced}; p. pr. & vb. n.
{Vicing}.]
To hold or squeeze with a vice, or as if with a vice. --Shak.
      The coachman's hand was viced between his upper and
      lower thigh.                             --De Quincey.

\Vi"ce\, prep. [L., abl. of vicis change, turn. See
{Vicarious}.]
In the place of; in the stead; as, A. B. was appointed
postmaster vice C. D. resigned.

\Vice\, a. [Cf. F. vice-. See {Vice}, prep.]
Denoting one who in certain cases may assume the office or
duties of a superior; designating an officer or an office
that is second in rank or authority; as, vice president; vice
agent; vice consul, etc.
{Vice admiral}. [Cf. F. vice-amiral.]
(a) An officer holding rank next below an admiral. By the
    existing laws, the rank of admiral and vice admiral in
    the United States Navy will cease at the death of the
    present incumbents.
(b) A civil officer, in Great Britain, appointed by the lords
    commissioners of the admiralty for exercising admiralty
    jurisdiction within their respective districts.
{Vice admiralty}, the office of a vice admiral.
{Vice-admiralty court}, a court with admiralty jurisdiction,
   established by authority of Parliament in British
   possessions beyond the seas. --Abbott.
{Vice chamberlain}, an officer in court next in rank to the
   lord chamberlain. [Eng.]
{Vice chancellor}.
(a) (Law) An officer next in rank to a chancellor.
(b) An officer in a university, chosen to perform certain
    duties, as the conferring of degrees, in the absence of
    the chancellor.
(c) (R. C. Ch.) The cardinal at the head of the Roman
    Chancery.
{Vice consul} [cf. F. vice-consul], a subordinate officer,
   authorized to exercise consular functions in some
   particular part of a district controlled by a consul.
{Vice king}, one who acts in the place of a king; a viceroy.
{Vice legate} [cf. F. vice-l['e]gat], a legate second in rank
   to, or acting in place of, another legate.
{Vice presidency}, the office of vice president.
{Vice president} [cf. F. vice-pr['e]sident], an officer next
   in rank below a president.