\Vir"tue\ (?; 135), n. [OE. vertu, F. vertu, L. virtus
strength, courage, excellence, virtue, fr. vir a man. See
{Virile}, and cf. {Virtu}.]
1. Manly strength or courage; bravery; daring; spirit; valor.
   [Obs.] --Shak.
         Built too strong For force or virtue ever to expugn.
                                               --Chapman.
2. Active quality or power; capacity or power adequate to the
   production of a given effect; energy; strength; potency;
   efficacy; as, the virtue of a medicine.
         Jesus, immediately knowing in himself that virtue
         had gone out of him, turned him about. --Mark v. 30.
         A man was driven to depend for his security against
         misunderstanding, upon the pure virtue of his
         syntax.                               --De Quincey.
         The virtue of his midnight agony.     --Keble.
3. Energy or influence operating without contact of the
   material or sensible substance.
         She moves the body which she doth possess, Yet no
         part toucheth, but by virtue's touch. --Sir. J.
                                               Davies.
4. Excellence; value; merit; meritoriousness; worth.
         I made virtue of necessity.           --Chaucer.
         In the Greek poets, . . . the economy of poems is
         better observed than in Terence, who thought the
         sole grace and virtue of their fable the sticking in
         of sentences.                         --B. Jonson.
5. Specifically, moral excellence; integrity of character;
   purity of soul; performance of duty.
         Virtue only makes our bliss below.    --Pope.
         If there's Power above us, And that there is all
         nature cries aloud Through all her works, he must
         delight in virtue.                    --Addison.
6. A particular moral excellence; as, the virtue of
   temperance, of charity, etc. ``The very virtue of
   compassion.'' --Shak. ``Remember all his virtues.''
   --Addison.
7. Specifically: Chastity; purity; especially, the chastity
   of women; virginity.
         H. I believe the girl has virtue. M. And if she has,
         I should be the last man in the world to attempt to
         corrupt it.                           --Goldsmith.
8. pl. One of the orders of the celestial hierarchy.
         Thrones, dominations, princedoms, virtues, powers.
                                               --Milton.
{Cardinal virtues}. See under {Cardinal}, a.
{In}, or {By}, {virtue of}, through the force of; by
   authority of. ``He used to travel through Greece by virtue
   of this fable, which procured him reception in all the
   towns.'' --Addison. ``This they shall attain, partly in
   virtue of the promise made by God, and partly in virtue of
   piety.'' --Atterbury.
{Theological virtues}, the three virtues, faith, hope, and
   charity. See --1 Cor. xiii. 13.