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Webster 1913 Edition

Vapor

Va′por

,
Noun.
[OE.
vapour
, OF.
vapour
,
vapor
,
vapeur
, F.
vapeur
, L.
vapor
; probably for
cvapor
, and akin to Gr. [GREEK] smoke, [GREEK] to breathe forth, Lith.
kvepti
to breathe, smell, Russ.
kopote
fine soot. Cf.
Vapid
.]
[Written also
vapour
.]
1.
(Physics)
Any substance in the gaseous, or aeriform, state, the condition of which is ordinarily that of a liquid or solid.
☞ The term vapor is sometimes used in a more extended sense, as identical with gas; and the difference between the two is not so much one of kind as of degree, the latter being applied to all permanently elastic fluids except atmospheric air, the former to those elastic fluids which lose that condition at ordinary temperatures. The atmosphere contains more or less vapor of water, a portion of which, on a reduction of temperature, becomes condensed into liquid water in the form of rain or dew. The vapor of water produced by boiling, especially in its economic relations, is called steam.
Vapor
is any substance in the gaseous condition at the maximum of density consistent with that condition. This is the strict and proper meaning of the word
vapor
.
Nichol.
2.
In a loose and popular sense, any visible diffused substance floating in the atmosphere and impairing its transparency, as smoke, fog, etc.
The
vapour
which that fro the earth glood [glided].
Chaucer.
Fire and hail; snow and
vapors
; stormy wind fulfilling his word.
Ps. cxlviii. 8.
3.
Wind; flatulence.
[Obs.]
Bacon.
4.
Something unsubstantial, fleeting, or transitory; unreal fancy; vain imagination; idle talk; boasting.
For what is your life? It is even a
vapor
, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.
James iv. 14.
5.
pl.
An old name for hypochondria, or melancholy; the blues.
“A fit of vapors.”
Pope.
6.
(Pharm.)
A medicinal agent designed for administration in the form of inhaled vapor.
Brit. Pharm.
Vapor bath
.
(a)
A bath in vapor; the application of vapor to the body, or part of it, in a close place; also, the place itself.
(b)
(Chem.)
A small metallic drying oven, usually of copper, for drying and heating filter papers, precipitates, etc.; – called also
air bath
. A modified form is provided with a jacket in the outside partition for holding water, or other volatile liquid, by which the temperature may be limited exactly to the required degree.
–
Vapor burner
,
a burner for burning a vaporized hydrocarbon.
–
Vapor density
(Chem.)
,
the relative weight of gases and vapors as compared with some specific standard, usually hydrogen, but sometimes air. The vapor density of gases and vaporizable substances as compared with hydrogen, when multiplied by two, or when compared with air and multiplied by 28.8, gives the molecular weight.
–
Vapor engine
,
an engine worked by the expansive force of a vapor, esp. a vapor other than steam.

Va′por

,
Verb.
I.
[
imp. & p. p.
Vapored
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Vaporing
.]
[From
Vapor
,
Noun.
: cf. L.
vaporare
.]
[Written also
vapour
.]
1.
To pass off in fumes, or as a moist, floating substance, whether visible or invisible, to steam; to be exhaled; to evaporate.
2.
To emit vapor or fumes.
[R.]
Running waters
vapor
not so much as standing waters.
Bacon.
3.
To talk idly; to boast or vaunt; to brag.
Poets used to
vapor
much after this manner.
Milton.
We
vapor
and say, By this time Matthews has beaten them.
Walpole.

Va′por

,
Verb.
T.
To send off in vapor, or as if in vapor;
as, to
vapor
away a heated fluid
.
[Written also
vapour
.]
He’d laugh to see one throw his heart away,
Another, sighing,
vapor
forth his soul.
B. Jonson.

Webster 1828 Edition

Vapor

VA'POR

,
Noun.
[L. vapor.]
1.
In a general sense, an invisible elastic fluid, rendered aeriform by heat, and capable of being condensed, or brought back to the liquid or solid state, by cold. The vapor of water is distinguished by the name of steam, which see.
2.
A visible fluid floating in the atmosphere. All substances which impair the transparency of the atmosphere, as smoke, fog, &c. are in common language called vapors, though the term vapor is technical applied only to an invisible and condensible substance, as in No. 1; fog, &c. being vapor condensed, or water in a minute state of division. Vapor rising into the higher regions of the atmosphere, and condensed in large volumes, forms clouds.
3.
Substances resembling smoke, which sometimes fill the atmosphere, particularly in America during the autumn.
4.
Wind; flatulence.
5.
Mental fume; vain imagination; unreal fancy.
6.
Vapors, a disease of nervous debility, in which a variety of strange images float in the brain, or appear as if visible. Hence hypochondriacal affections and spleen are called vapors.
7.
Something unsubstantial, fleeting or transitory.
For what is your life? It is even a vapor, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. James 4.

VA'POR

,
Verb.
I.
[L. veporo.]
1.
To pass off in fumes or a moist floating substance; to steam; to be exhaled; to evaporate. [In this sense, evaporate is generally used.]
2.
To emit fumes.
Running water vapors not so much as standing water. [Little used.]
3.
To bully; to boast or vaunt with a vain ostentatious display of worth; to brag.
[This is the most usual signification of the word.]
And what in real value's wanting, supply with vaporing and ranting.

VA'POR

,
Verb.
T.
To emit, cast off or scatter in fumes or stream; as, to vapor away a heated fluid.
Another sighing vapors forth his soul.

Definition 2024

vapor

vapor

English

Alternative forms

Noun

vapor ‎(plural vapors)

  1. Cloudy diffused matter such as mist, steam or fumes suspended in the air.
  2. The gaseous state of a substance that is normally a solid or liquid.
    • 2013 July-August, Philip J. Bushnell, “Solvents, Ethanol, Car Crashes & Tolerance”, in (Please provide the title of the work):
      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.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

vapor ‎(third-person singular simple present vapors, present participle vaporing, simple past and past participle vapored)

  1. (intransitive) To become vapor; to be emitted or circulated as vapor.
  2. (transitive) To turn into vapor.
  3. (intransitive) To use insubstantial language; to boast or bluster.
    • 1888, Rudyard Kipling, ‘The Bisara of Pooree’, Plain Tales from the Hills, Folio Society 2005, p. 172:
      He vapoured, and fretted, and fumed, and trotted up and down, and tried to make himself pleasing in Miss Hollis's big, quiet, grey eyes, and failed.
    • 1924, Herman Melville, Billy Budd, London: Constable & Co., Chapter 1,
      […] an amusing character all but extinct now, but occasionally to be encountered […] vaporing in the groggeries along the tow-path.

Translations

See also

Anagrams

Albanian

Noun

vapor

  1. steamboat

Asturian

Etymology

From Latin vapor.

Noun

vapor m ‎(plural vapores)

  1. vapor

Catalan

Etymology

From Latin vapor.

Noun

vapor m ‎(plural vapors)

  1. vapor

Galician

Etymology

From Latin vapor.

Noun

vapor m ‎(plural vapores)

  1. vapor

Synonyms

Ladino

Noun

vapor m ‎(Latin spelling)

  1. ship, steamer

Latin

Etymology

Uncertain, but possibly related to Ancient Greek καπνός ‎(kapnós, “smoke”) and Proto-Indo-European *kʷep- ‎(“to smoke, boil, move violently”), via an older form *quapor that eventually lost its velar.[1] See also hope.

Pronunciation

  • (Classical) IPA(key): /ˈwa.por/, [ˈwa.pɔr]

Noun

vapor m ‎(genitive vapōris); third declension

  1. steam, exhalation, vapour; smoke
  2. warm exhalation, warmth, heat
  3. ardour of love, warmth

Inflection

Third declension.

Case Singular Plural
nominative vapor vapōrēs
genitive vapōris vapōrum
dative vapōrī vapōribus
accusative vapōrem vapōrēs
ablative vapōre vapōribus
vocative vapor vapōrēs

Synonyms

Derived terms

Related terms

Descendants

References

  1. ↑ Coloarusso, Further Etymologies Between Indo-European and Northwest Caucasian

Old French

Noun

vapor f ‎(oblique plural vapors, nominative singular vapor, nominative plural vapors)

  1. Alternative form of vapeur

Portuguese

Etymology

From Latin vapor.

Pronunciation

  • (Portugal) IPA(key): /vɐ.ˈpoɾ/
  • (Paulista) IPA(key): /va.ˈpoɹ/
  • (South Brazil) IPA(key): /va.ˈpoɻ/
  • (Carioca) IPA(key): /va.ˈpox/
  • (Northeast Brazil) IPA(key): /va.ˈpo/
  • Hyphenation: va‧por

Noun

vapor m (plural vapores)

  1. vapor / vapour

Anagrams

Romanian

Etymology

From Italian vapore, French vapeur.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /vaˈpor/

Noun

vapor n ‎(plural vapoare)

  1. boat, ship

Declension

Spanish

Etymology

From Latin vapor.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [baˈpoɾ]
  • Rhymes: -oɾ

Noun

vapor m ‎(plural vapores)

  1. steam, vapor (water vapor)

Etymology

From Old French, from Latin vapor ‎(“steam, heat”).

Pronunciation

  • (UK) IPA(key): /ˈveɪpə/
  • Rhymes: -eɪpə(r)

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