Va*ri"e*ty,n.(Theaters)Such entertainment as in given in variety shows; the productionof, or performance in, variety shows. [Cant]

Va*ri"e*ty (?),n.;pl.Varieties (#). [L.varietas: cf. F.variété. SeeVarious.]

1.The quality or state of being various;intermixture or succession of different things; diversity;multifariousness.

Variety is nothing else but a continuednovelty.

Thevariety of colors depends upon the composition oflight.

For earth thisvariety from heaven.

There is avariety in the tempers of goodmen.

2.That which is various. Specifically: --

(a)A number or collection of different things; avaried assortment; as, avariety of cottons and silks.

He . . . wants more time to do thatvariety of goodwhich his soul thirsts after.

(b)Something varying or differing from others ofthe 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 ofindividuals, of a species differing from the rest in some one or more ofthe characteristics typical of the species, and capable either ofperpetuating itself for a period, or of being perpetuated by artificialmeans; hence, a subdivision, or peculiar form, of a species.

☞Varieties usually differ fromspecies in that anytwo, however unlike, will generally propagate indefinitely (unless they arein their nature unfertile, as some varieties of rose and other cultivatedplants); in being a result of climate, food, or other extrinsic conditionsor influences, but generally by a sudden, rather than a gradual,development; and in tending in many cases to lose their distinctivepeculiarities when the individuals are left to a state of nature, andespecially if restored to the conditions that are natural to typicalindividuals of the species. Many varieties of domesticated animals and ofcultivated plants have been directly produced by man.

(d)In inorganic nature, one of those forms inwhich a species may occur, which differ in minor characteristics ofstructure, color, purity of composition, etc.

☞ These may be viewed as variations from the typical species in itsmost perfect and purest form, or, as is more commonly the case, all theforms, including the latter, may rank as Varieties. Thus, the sapphire is ablue variety, and the ruby a red variety, of corundum; again, calcite hasmany Varieties differing in form and structure, as Iceland spar, dogtoothspar, satin spar, and also others characterized by the presence of smallquantities of magnesia, iron, manganese, etc. Still again, there areVarieties of granite differing in structure, as graphic granite,porphyritic granite, and other Varieties differing in composition, asalbitic granite, hornblendic, or syenitic, granite, etc.

Geographical variety(Biol.),a variety ofany species which is coincident with a geographical region, and is usuallydependent upon, or caused by, peculiarities of climate. --Variety hybrid(Biol.),a cross between twoindividuals of different varieties of the same species; a mongrel.

Syn. -- Diversity; difference; kind. --Variety,Diversity. A man has avariety of employments when he doesmany things which are not a mere repetition of the same act; he has adiversity of employments when the several acts performed are unlikeeach other, that is,diverse. In most cases, where there isvariety there will be more or less ofdiversity, but notalways. One who sells railroad tickets performs a greatvariety ofacts in a day, while there is but littlediversity in hisemployment.

All sorts are here that all the earth yields!
Variety without end.

But see in all corporeal nature's scene,
What changes, whatdiversities, have been!