vacuum

See also: vacuüm

English

Alternative forms

• vacuüm (rare)

Etymology

From Latin vacuum (“an empty space, void”), noun use of neuter of vacuus (“empty”), related to vacare (“be empty”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈvæ.kjuːm/, /ˈvæ.kjuː.əm/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

vacuum (plural vacuums or (rare, formal) vacua)

1. A region of space that contains no matter.

   Synonyms: vacancy, void

   Antonym: plenum

   • 2008, BioWare, Mass Effect (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Citadel Station: Wards Codex entry:

     The Wards are open-topped, with skyscrapers rising from the superstructure. Towers are sealed against vacuum, as the breathable atmosphere envelope is only maintained to a height of about seven meters. The atmosphere is contained by the centrifugal force of rotation and a "membrane" of dense, colorless sulphur hexafluoride gas, held in place by carefully managed mass effect fields.

2. The condition of rarefaction, or reduction of pressure below that of the atmosphere, in a vessel, such as the condenser of a steam engine, which is nearly exhausted of air or steam, etc.

   a vacuum of 26 inches of mercury, or 13 pounds per square inch

3. (colloquial, only pluralized as "vacuums") Ellipsis of vacuum cleaner.

   Synonym: (British) hoover

4. (physics) A spacetime having tensors of zero magnitude.
5. An emptiness in life created by a loss of a person who was close, or of an occupation.
   • 1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, pages 82–83:

     Henrietta soon found a terrible vacuum left, by the letters in which she used to pour forth every feeling and thought to her uncle.

6. An exercise in which one draws their abdomen towards the spine.
   • 1985, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding, New York, N.Y.: Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, page 508:

     Abs show up in a most-muscular shot, a vacuum shot, the hands-behind-head compulsory ab shot, twisting poses, and so on.

   • 1997 January 6, John, “I'm 14; How do I start bodybuilding?”, in misc.fitness.weights‎^[1] (Usenet):

     Right I'm off to practice my vacuum - suck in those stomachs now!

   • 2010 January 7, Silent Stone, “Want to start, have a few questions for now.”, in misc.fitness.weights‎^[2] (Usenet):

     When I do the 'gut vacuum' exercise the abdominal wall seems to return to normal size, as far as I can tell under the flab.

   • 2022 October 10, Aaromal Maanas, “2022 Tsunami Nutrition Pro Results and Recap”, in Sportskeeda‎^[3], archived from the original on 2022-10-23:

     Blessed with round muscle bellies and a phenomenal structure, he also performed a vacuum pose on stage.

Usage notes

• The Latin in vacuo is sometimes used instead of in a vacuum (in free space).

Derived terms

• double Kerr vacuum
• electrovacuum
• intervacuum
• Kerns-Wild vacuum
• Kerr vacuum
• Khan-Penrose vacuum
• nonvacuum
• Oszváth-Schücking vacuum
• quasivacuum
• Schwarzschild vacuum
• Taub-NUT vacuum
• thermal-vacuum
• ultravacuum
• vacuumable
• vacuum brake
• vacuum bubble
• vacuum-clean
• vacuumer
• vacuumless
• vacuumlike
• vacuumous
• vacuum pose
• vacuum up

 

Related terms

• power vacuum
• vacant
• vacuum cleaner
• vacuum pan
• vacuum valve

 

Translations

region of space that contains no matter

• Albanian: zbrazëti (sq) f, vakum m
• Amharic: ኦና (ʾona)
• Arabic: خَلَاء‎ m (ḵalāʔ), فَرَاغ‎ m (farāḡ), فَضَاء‎ (ar) m (faḍāʔ)
• Armenian: վակուում (hy) (vakuum)
• Basque: huts
• Bulgarian: вакуум (bg) m (vakuum)
• Catalan: buit (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 真空 (zh) (zhēnkōng)

• Czech: vakuum (cs) n
• Danish: vakuum n, tomrum n
• Dutch: vacuüm (nl) n
• Esperanto: vakuo
• Finnish: tyhjiö (fi), vakuumi, tyhjö (fi)
• French: vide (fr) m, vacuum (fr) m
• Galician: baleiro (gl) m
• Georgian: ვაკუუმი (vaḳuumi)
• German: Vakuum (de) n
• Greek: κενό (el) n (kenó)

  Ancient: κένωμα n (kénōma)

• Hebrew: ואקום‎ m, ריק‎ (he) m
• Hungarian: vákuum (hu)
• Icelandic: lofttæmi (is) n, lofttóm (is) n
• Ido: vakuo (io)
• Ilocano: kawaw, kalawakaw
• Indonesian: hampa udara (id), vakum (id)
• Interlingua: vacuo
• Irish: folús (ga) m
• Italian: vuoto (it) m
• Japanese: 真空 (ja) (しんくう, shinkū)
• Khmer: សុញ្ញកាស (soññaʼkaah)
• Korean: 진공(眞空) (ko) (jin'gong)
• Malagasy: mangabangabaka
• Malay: hampagas

  Jawi: ۏاکوم‎ (ms)

  Rumi: vakum (ms)

• Malayalam: ശൂന്യത (ml) (śūnyata)
• Maltese: vojt m, frugħ m
• Maori: korekore
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: vakuum (no) n

  Nynorsk: vakuum n

• Polish: próżnia (pl) f
• Portuguese: vácuo (pt) m
• Quechua: ch'usaq p'ulin
• Romanian: vid (ro) n
• Russian: ва́куум (ru) m (vákuum)
• Serbo-Croatian: vakum (sh) m / vakuum (sh) m, zrakoprazan prostor
• Slovak: vákuum
• Slovene: vákuum m
• Spanish: vacío (es) m
• Sundanese: ᮛᮧᮠᮍᮔ᮪ ᮠᮕ (rohangan hapa)
• Swahili: ombwe
• Swedish: vakuum (sv) n
• Tagalog: awangin
• Tamil: வெற்றிடம் (ta) (veṟṟiṭam)
• Telugu: శూన్యం (te) (śūnyaṁ)
• Thai: สุญญากาศ (sǔn-yaa-gàat)
• Turkish: vakum (tr)
• Vietnamese: chân không (vi) (真空)
• Welsh: gwactod
• Wolof: féex
• Yiddish: וואַקוּום‎ m (vakuum)
• Zhuang: caenhoengq

vacuum cleaner — see vacuum cleaner

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Lithuanian: ^{(please verify)} vakuumas m

Verb

vacuum (third-person singular simple present vacuums, present participle vacuuming, simple past and past participle vacuumed)

1. (transitive) To clean (something) with a vacuum cleaner.

   Synonym: (British) hoover

   • 2016, Janice M. Whiteaker, Run:

     “Who in the world cleans an attic? That's like vacuuming a shed.”

2. (intransitive) To use a vacuum cleaner.

   Synonyms: (British) to do the hoovering, (British) to hoover

3. (transitive, databases) To optimise a database or database table by physically removing deleted tuples.

Translations

transitive: to clean with a vacuum cleaner

• Arabic: نَظَّفَ بِالْمَكْنَسَة الْكَهْرَبَائِيَّة‎ (naẓẓafa bi-l-maknasa(t) al-kahrabāʔiyya)
• Armenian: փոշեկուլով մաքրել (pʿošekulov makʿrel), փոշեծծիչով մաքրել (pʿošeccičʿov makʿrel)
• Azerbaijani: tozsoranlamaq
• Bashkir: һурҙырыу (hurðırıw)
• Bulgarian: пускам прахосмукачка (puskam prahosmukačka)
• Catalan: passar l'aspiradora
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 吸塵／吸尘 (zh) (xīchén)

• Czech: vysát, vyluxovat
• Danish: støvsuge (da)
• Dutch: stofzuigen (nl)
• Esperanto: polvosuĉi
• Faroese: dustsúgva
• Finnish: imuroida (fi)
• French: passer l’aspirateur (fr)
• German: staubsaugen (de)
• Greek: σκουπίζω (el) (skoupízo)
• Hungarian: porszívózik (hu)
• Icelandic: ryksuga
• Italian: aspirapolverare
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: støvsuge

  Nynorsk: støvsuge

• Polish: odkurzać (pl) impf, odkurzyć (pl) pf
• Portuguese: aspirar (pt)
• Russian: пылесо́сить (ru) impf (pylesósitʹ), пропылесо́сить (ru) pf (propylesósitʹ)
• Spanish: aspirar (es)
• Swedish: dammsuga (sv)
• Turkish: süpürmek (tr)
• Ukrainian: пилосо́сити impf (pylosósyty), пропилосо́сити pf (propylosósyty), пилотяжити (pylotjažyty)
• Welsh: hwfro

intransitive: to use a vacuum cleaner

• Armenian: փոշեկուլ անել (pʿošekul anel)
• Bashkir: һурҙырыу (hurðırıw)
• Catalan: passar l'aspiradora
• Czech: vysát, vyluxovat
• Danish: støvsuge (da)
• Dutch: stofzuigen (nl)
• Faroese: dustsúgva
• Finnish: imuroida (fi)
• French: passer l’aspirateur (fr)
• German: staubsaugen (de)
• Greek: σκουπίζω (el) (skoupízo)
• Hungarian: porszívózik (hu)
• Icelandic: ryksuga
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: støvsuge

  Nynorsk: støvsuge

• Polish: odkurzać (pl) impf, odkurzyć (pl) pf
• Portuguese: aspirar (pt)
• Russian: пылесо́сить (ru) impf (pylesósitʹ), пропылесо́сить (ru) pf (propylesósitʹ)
• Spanish: aspirar (es)
• Swedish: dammsuga (sv)
• Welsh: hwfro

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Interlingua: ^{(please verify)} mundar con le aspirator
• Norwegian: ^{(please verify)} lage vakuum
• Slovak: ^{(please verify)} vysávať

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /va.kɥɔm/

Noun

vacuum m (plural vacuums)

1. vacuum (space containing no matter)

   Synonym: vide

Descendants

• Turkish: vakum

Further reading

• “vacuum”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Latin

Adjective

vacuum

1. accusative neuter singular of vacuus

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin vacuum.

Noun

vacuum n (plural vacuumuri)

1. vacuum

Declension

Declension of vacuum

	singular		plural
	indefinite articulation	definite articulation	indefinite articulation	definite articulation
nominative/accusative	(un) vacuum	vacuumul	(niște) vacuumuri	vacuumurile
genitive/dative	(unui) vacuum	vacuumului	(unor) vacuumuri	vacuumurilor
vocative	vacuumule		vacuumurilor

Spanish

Alternative forms

• vácuum (recommended)

Noun

vacuum m (plural vacuums)

1. vacuum