VICE, in smithery and other arts conversant in metals, a machine or instrument serving to hold fast any thing they are at work upon, whether it is to be beaten, filed, or rivetted.
VICE is also used in the composition of divers words to denote the relation of something that comes instead or in the place of another; as vice admiral, vice-chancellor, &c. are officers who take place in the absence of admirals, &c.