The Collaborative International Dictionary
Vital \Vi"tal\, a. [F., fr. L. vitalis, fr. vita life; akin to vivere to live. See Vivid.]
Belonging or relating to life, either animal or vegetable; as, vital energies; vital functions; vital actions.
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Contributing to life; necessary to, or supporting, life; as, vital blood.
Do the heavens afford him vital food?
--Spenser.And vital virtue infused, and vital warmth.
--Milton. Containing life; living. ``Spirits that live throughout, vital in every part.''
--Milton.-
Being the seat of life; being that on which life depends; mortal.
The dart flew on, and pierced a vital part.
--Pope. -
Very necessary; highly important; essential.
A competence is vital to content.
--Young. -
Capable of living; in a state to live; viable. [R.]
Pythagoras and Hippocrates . . . affirm the birth of the seventh month to be vital.
--Sir T. Browne.Vital air, oxygen gas; -- so called because essential to animal life. [Obs.]
Vital capacity (Physiol.), the breathing capacity of the lungs; -- expressed by the number of cubic inches of air which can be forcibly exhaled after a full inspiration.
Vital force. (Biol.) See under Force. The vital forces, according to Cope, are nerve force (neurism), growth force (bathmism), and thought force (phrenism), all under the direction and control of the vital principle. Apart from the phenomena of consciousness, vital actions no longer need to be considered as of a mysterious and unfathomable character, nor vital force as anything other than a form of physical energy derived from, and convertible into, other well-known forces of nature.
Vital functions (Physiol.), those functions or actions of the body on which life is directly dependent, as the circulation of the blood, digestion, etc.
Vital principle, an immaterial force, to which the functions peculiar to living beings are ascribed.
Vital statistics, statistics respecting the duration of life, and the circumstances affecting its duration.
Vital tripod. (Physiol.) See under Tripod.
Vital vessels (Bot.), a name for latex tubes, now disused. See Latex.
Usage examples of "vital functions".
In it, the supercomputing entity JEVEX, which managed all of the communications, information handling, and other vital functions of the Jevlenese worlds, was penetrated and defeated by a fictional interstellar attack force consisting entirely of computer-generated imagination.
With the SPs all inactive, the vital functions necessary to keep Janus habitable would have to be taken over by the backup stations and some time went by while they were alerted and brought to a state of readiness.
But their whole intention was to replace man, at least in the drab and vital functions of a society.
He received vital symptomatic therapy (lowering his fever) as well as acute support of vital functions (assisted respiration).
Surely you can see that the biosensors are indicating optimum levels on all vital functions.
This is so not only because this population of aminergic neurons controls arousal, wakefulness, alertness, and anxiety, but also because outputs of this system affect vital functions like breathing, blood pressure, and other visceral as well as cerebral contributions to our experiences.
Artoo Detoo shut down all but vital functions, trying to minimize noise and light as a swishing sound grew gradually audible.
Threntisn's vital functions flashed through the Oliat, dominating their own united heart and respiration rhythm.
In it, the supercomputing entity JEVEX, which managed all of the communications, information handling, and other vital functions of the Jevlenese worlds, was penetrated and defeated by a fictional interstellar attack force consisting entirely of computer—.
Only here and there along each strand do you find sections that control and organize vital functions.
He was not a healing Adept, and had never been able to affect the vital functions of a living creature.