vapor en · NOUN
Pronunciation
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Italic *kwapōs Latin vapor Old French vapeurder. Old French vaporbor. Middle English vapour English vapor From Middle English vapour, from Anglo-Norman vapour, Old French vapor, from Latin vapor (“steam, heat”).
Meanings
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(US, countable, uncountable) Cloudy diffused matter such as mist, steam or fumes suspended in the air.
A mild vapour is thrown out, and not a hot steam; the invention appears to control the amount of the vapor, and and ^([sic]) even the force of the fire which produces it.
1847, editorial staff, “Evaporation Grate”, in Scientific American, series 1, Volume 3, Issue 9, page 68:The desert storm was riding in its strength; the travellers lay beneath the mastery of the fell simoom.[…]Drifts of yellow vapour, fiery, parching, stinging, filled the air.
1892, James Yoxall, chapter 5, in The Lonely Pyramid:
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(US, countable, uncountable) The gaseous state of a substance that is normally a solid or liquid.
Surprisingly, this analysis revealed that acute exposure to solvent vapors at concentrations below those associated with long-term effects appears to increase the risk of a fatal automobile accident. Furthermore, this increase in risk is comparable to the risk of death from leukemia after long-term exposure to benzene, another solvent, which has the well-known property of causing this type of cancer.
2013 July-August, Philip J. Bushnell, “Solvents, Ethanol, Car Crashes & Tolerance”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name):
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(US, countable, idiomatic, uncountable) Something insubstantial, fleeting, or transitory; unreal fancy; vain imagination; idle talk; boasting.
Here we can explain only in these broad outlines why the asking of the question of being is in itself through and through historical, and why, accordingly, our question as to whether being will remain a mere vapor for us or become the destiny of the West is anything but an exaggeration and a rhetorical figure.
1999, Martin Heidegger, An Introduction to Metaphysics, page 50:For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.
1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, James 4:14:The previous question had turned the attention to life as something peculiarly frail, and as of such a nature that no calculation could be based on its permanence. This expression gives a reason for that, to wit, that it is a mere vapor.
1875, Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the General Epistles of James, Peter, John, and Jude, page 80:The press operates as a safety-valve for the vapor of popular ebullision.
1822, Charles Perkins, An Oration, page 19:I am at this present very sick of my little vapour of fame.
1781, Horace Walpole, " ":
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(US, countable, dated, uncountable) Any medicinal agent designed for administration in the form of inhaled vapour.
Professor Matthews has at length the pleasure, after much unaboidable delay, of respectfully announcin to the Faculty, that he is prepared to fill their prescriptions by any practicable formula, in the use of his new method of applying medicinal vapors to the lungs, air-passages, & c., by means of the Multiform Fumigator .
1861, Charles Mathews, On fumigation of the lungs, throat, &c, page 1:The physician can now prescribe medicinal vapors to be dropped on some cotton placed inside the inhaler.
1944, Quarterly Review of Otorhinolaryngology and Broncho-esophagology, page 68:Hence the vapor, so useful in expanding the compressed tissues and enabling the air to permeate and expand the contracted parenchyma in consumption, causes a sensation of great fatigue in asthma.
1854 November, Samuel A. Cartwright, “The Case of a Lady in a sugar-house, with Aphonic, Haemorrhagic, Tubercular Phthisis in the Softening State”, in Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, volume 51, number 14, page 275:Sulphurous fumes have also been recommended, as well as diffusing a variety of vapors in the apartment of the patient; on their beneficial or injurious effects we are unable to speak.
1836, Pierre Charles Alexandre Louis, Henry Ingersoll Bowditch, Charles Cowan, Pathological Researches on Phthisis, page 287:
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(US, archaic, countable, in-plural, uncountable) Hypochondria; melancholy; the blues; hysteria, or other nervous disorder.
Jan 13, 1732, John Arbuthnot, letter to Jonathan Swift He talks me into a fit of vapours twice or thrice a week.
"Shows you what a modern young woman can come to after all, doesn't it? Screaming, and collapsing with the vapours - Hell!"
1951, John Wyndham, The Day of the Triffids, Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, published 1954, page 70:She made several gulps and controlled her breath. She released her grip on Podson and stared at him without recognition. Podson went on patting her reassuringly, relieved from administering first aid to an attack of the vapours.
1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC, page 188:
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(US, countable, obsolete, uncountable) Wind; flatulence.
The surcharge of the stomack from a gross vapour, and from the poise of some outward weight, are alike
1605, Francis Bacon, “(please specify |book=1 or 2)”, in The Twoo Bookes of Francis Bacon. Of the Proficience and Aduancement of Learning, Diuine and Humane, London: […] [Thomas Purfoot and Thomas Creede] for Henrie Tomes, […], →OCLC:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| vapour | Commonwealth, alternative | lexicographic | |
| vapors | Number=Plur | lexicographic |
Deriveds
vaportight · vaporescent · vaporiform · vaporless · vapor pressure · vapory · saturation vapor pressure · vaporium · vapor retarder · vapor trail · vaporsome · vaporability · vapor barrier · mercury-vapor lamp · equilibrium vapor pressure · vaporise · vaporware · sodium vapor lamp · vaporization · vaporiferous · vaporisation · vapor pen · vaporescence · vaporlike · vapor lock · saturated vapor pressure · vaporific · vaporable · water vapor · aqueous vapor · vaporimeter
Translations (117)
ur اناہ (the gaseous state of a substance that is normally a solid or liquid) · gd deatach (the gaseous state of a substance that is normally a solid or liquid) · nb damp (the gaseous state of a substance that is normally a solid or liquid) · crh buv (the gaseous state of a substance that is normally a solid or liquid) · mi mamaoa (cloudy diffused matter — see also mist, steam, fume) · ja 気体 (the gaseous state of a substance that is normally a solid or liquid) · hi उनाह (the gaseous state of a substance that is normally a solid or liquid) · lt garai (the gaseous state of a substance that is normally a solid or liquid) · alt буу (the gaseous state of a substance that is normally a solid or liquid) · is gufa (the gaseous state of a substance that is normally a solid or liquid) · uk па́ра (the gaseous state of a substance that is normally a solid or liquid) · ka ორთქლი (the gaseous state of a substance that is normally a solid or liquid) · tl ulop (cloudy diffused matter — see also mist, steam, fume) · lo ອາຍນ້ຳ (the gaseous state of a substance that is normally a solid or liquid) · ro abur (the gaseous state of a substance that is normally a solid or liquid) · nb tåke (cloudy diffused matter — see also mist, steam, fume) · hy գոլորշի (the gaseous state of a substance that is normally a solid or liquid) · hi वाष्प (the gaseous state of a substance that is normally a solid or liquid) · vi hơi (the gaseous state of a substance that is normally a solid or liquid) · mn уурших (the gaseous state of a substance that is normally a solid or liquid) · ur بھاپ (the gaseous state of a substance that is normally a solid or liquid) · az buxar (the gaseous state of a substance that is normally a solid or liquid) · izh höyry (cloudy diffused matter — see also mist, steam, fume) · tg буғ (the gaseous state of a substance that is normally a solid or liquid) · es vapor (the gaseous state of a substance that is normally a solid or liquid) · la vapor (the gaseous state of a substance that is normally a solid or liquid) · grc ἀτμός (the gaseous state of a substance that is normally a solid or liquid) · id uap (the gaseous state of a substance that is normally a solid or liquid) · izh höyry (the gaseous state of a substance that is normally a solid or liquid) · mk па́реа (the gaseous state of a substance that is normally a solid or liquid) · or ବାଷ୍ପ (the gaseous state of a substance that is normally a solid or liquid) · ast vapor (the gaseous state of a substance that is normally a solid or liquid) · tl singaw (the gaseous state of a substance that is normally a solid or liquid) · uz par (the gaseous state of a substance that is normally a solid or liquid) · mr बाष्प (the gaseous state of a substance that is normally a solid or liquid) · th ไอ (the gaseous state of a substance that is normally a solid or liquid) · sh пара (the gaseous state of a substance that is normally a solid or liquid) · bg па́ра (the gaseous state of a substance that is normally a solid or liquid) · sa वाष्प (the gaseous state of a substance that is normally a solid or liquid) · my အခိုးအငွေ့ (the gaseous state of a substance that is normally a solid or liquid) · pdt Donst (the gaseous state of a substance that is normally a solid or liquid) · nl damp (the gaseous state of a substance that is normally a solid or liquid) · mr वाफ (the gaseous state of a substance that is normally a solid or liquid) · be пар (the gaseous state of a substance that is normally a solid or liquid) · tr buhar (the gaseous state of a substance that is normally a solid or liquid) · he אֵד (the gaseous state of a substance that is normally a solid or liquid) · ru газ (the gaseous state of a substance that is normally a solid or liquid) · hu pára (the gaseous state of a substance that is normally a solid or liquid) · bg изпаре́ние (cloudy diffused matter — see also mist, steam, fume) · nv siil (the gaseous state of a substance that is normally a solid or liquid) · km ចំហាយ (the gaseous state of a substance that is normally a solid or liquid) · ru пар (the gaseous state of a substance that is normally a solid or liquid) · de Dampf (the gaseous state of a substance that is normally a solid or liquid) · lv tvaiks (the gaseous state of a substance that is normally a solid or liquid) · nb damp (cloudy diffused matter — see also mist, steam, fume) · ug بۇغ (the gaseous state of a substance that is normally a solid or liquid) · be па́ра (the gaseous state of a substance that is normally a solid or liquid) · fi höyry (cloudy diffused matter — see also mist, steam, fume) · ia vapor (the gaseous state of a substance that is normally a solid or liquid) · uz bugʻ (the gaseous state of a substance that is normally a solid or liquid) · cs pára (the gaseous state of a substance that is normally a solid or liquid) · my အခိုး (the gaseous state of a substance that is normally a solid or liquid) · gl vapor (the gaseous state of a substance that is normally a solid or liquid) · mn уур манан (the gaseous state of a substance that is normally a solid or liquid) · it vapore (the gaseous state of a substance that is normally a solid or liquid) · pt vapor (cloudy diffused matter — see also mist, steam, fume) · et aur (the gaseous state of a substance that is normally a solid or liquid) · sq avull (the gaseous state of a substance that is normally a solid or liquid) · sah паар (the gaseous state of a substance that is normally a solid or liquid) · ar بُخَار (the gaseous state of a substance that is normally a solid or liquid) · ny nkhúngu (cloudy diffused matter — see also mist, steam, fume) · fr vapeur (the gaseous state of a substance that is normally a solid or liquid) · kk бу (the gaseous state of a substance that is normally a solid or liquid) · mk испару́вање (cloudy diffused matter — see also mist, steam, fume) · hi भाप (cloudy diffused matter — see also mist, steam, fume) · sv ånga (the gaseous state of a substance that is normally a solid or liquid) · el ατμός (the gaseous state of a substance that is normally a solid or liquid) · ky пар (the gaseous state of a substance that is normally a solid or liquid) · ky буу (the gaseous state of a substance that is normally a solid or liquid) · ne बाफ (the gaseous state of a substance that is normally a solid or liquid) · ca vapor (the gaseous state of a substance that is normally a solid or liquid) · sl para (the gaseous state of a substance that is normally a solid or liquid) · mn уур (the gaseous state of a substance that is normally a solid or liquid) · ko 증기 (the gaseous state of a substance that is normally a solid or liquid) · hi भभका (cloudy diffused matter — see also mist, steam, fume) · hu gőz (the gaseous state of a substance that is normally a solid or liquid) · bn ভাপ (the gaseous state of a substance that is normally a solid or liquid) · sa नभस् (the gaseous state of a substance that is normally a solid or liquid) · mt fwar (the gaseous state of a substance that is normally a solid or liquid) · izh häkä (cloudy diffused matter — see also mist, steam, fume) · lo ໄອ (the gaseous state of a substance that is normally a solid or liquid) · pl para (the gaseous state of a substance that is normally a solid or liquid) · uk пар (the gaseous state of a substance that is normally a solid or liquid) · pon ahd (the gaseous state of a substance that is normally a solid or liquid) · pt vapor (the gaseous state of a substance that is normally a solid or liquid) · tk bug (the gaseous state of a substance that is normally a solid or liquid) · ja 蒸気 (the gaseous state of a substance that is normally a solid or liquid) · oc vapor (the gaseous state of a substance that is normally a solid or liquid) · mi wairehu (the gaseous state of a substance that is normally a solid or liquid) · fa بخار (the gaseous state of a substance that is normally a solid or liquid) · fi höyry (the gaseous state of a substance that is normally a solid or liquid) · da damp (the gaseous state of a substance that is normally a solid or liquid) · nog був (the gaseous state of a substance that is normally a solid or liquid) · cmn 蒸氣 /蒸气 (the gaseous state of a substance that is normally a solid or liquid) · grc ἀτμίς (the gaseous state of a substance that is normally a solid or liquid) · th ไอน้ำ (the gaseous state of a substance that is normally a solid or liquid) · tg бухор (the gaseous state of a substance that is normally a solid or liquid) · la nīdor (the gaseous state of a substance that is normally a solid or liquid) · bn বাষ্প (the gaseous state of a substance that is normally a solid or liquid) · mk па́реа (cloudy diffused matter — see also mist, steam, fume) · hi भाप (the gaseous state of a substance that is normally a solid or liquid) · su saab (the gaseous state of a substance that is normally a solid or liquid) · sk para (the gaseous state of a substance that is normally a solid or liquid) · ug پار (the gaseous state of a substance that is normally a solid or liquid) · sh para (the gaseous state of a substance that is normally a solid or liquid) · it gas (the gaseous state of a substance that is normally a solid or liquid) · ms wap (the gaseous state of a substance that is normally a solid or liquid)