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.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Vapour came into Middle English from Latin vapor, meaning “steam” or “heat.” The related Latin verb evaporare, “to change into vapour,” gave English evaporate.

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

Topics

External links

• Google Images
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary