You searched for: “vise”
vice, vise
vice (VIGHS) (noun)
1. Bad or immoral behavior or habits; wickedness: "His wife didn't know about his vice of gambling." 2. Minor or bad habit: "Smoking a cigarette twice a week was his primary vice."

"More and more, we are faced with the vice of greed in so many aspects of private and social existence."

3. Criminal activities that involve sex and drugs: "So many countries are being over whelmed with the crimes of vice which are increasing more and more."
vise (VIGHS) (noun)
A tool that is usually attached to a table and which has two flat parts that can be opened and closed by turning a handle or a lever to hold objects firmly in place so someone can work on them; such as, a piece of wood, metal, or other material: "He used his vise quite often for holding pieces of metal while he drilled holes in them and filed off the rough edges."

It is the business of a censor to acquaint us with vices we didn't know we had.

—Evan Esar

The vice squad of the local police force was confident that they had caught the gang members who used a special vise to break into a store.

This entry is located in the following unit: Confusing Words Clarified: Group V; Homonyms, Homophones, Homographs, Synonyms, Polysemes, etc. + (page 2)
vise
1. A clamping device, usually consisting of two jaws closed or opened by a screw or lever which is used in carpentry, metal work, etc. to hold a something in place.
2. A tool with two jaws that can be closed with a lever or screw, used to hold an object immobile so a someone can work on it.
3. Etymology: "a device like a screw or winch for bending a crossbow or catapult", from Old French vis, viz, "screw"; from Latin vitis, "vine, tendril of a vine"; literally, "that which winds"; from the base of viere, "to bind, to twist".
This entry is located in the following unit: vid-, video-, vis-, -vision, -visional, -visionally, visuo-, vu- (page 15)