vapor

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   Cloudy diffused matter such as mist, steam or fumes suspended in the air.

   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.

2. 2
   noun

   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.

3. 3
   noun

   Something insubstantial, fleeting, or transitory; unreal fancy; vain imagination; idle talk; boasting.

   For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.

4. 4
   noun

   Any medicinal agent designed for administration in the form of inhaled vapour.

   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.

From Middle English vapour, from Anglo-Norman vapour, Old French vapor, from Latin vapor (“steam, heat”).

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