vapour

English

Alternative forms

• vapor (US)

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈveɪpə/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈveɪpɚ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

vapour (countable and uncountable, plural vapours)

1. Cloudy diffused matter such as mist, steam or fumes suspended in the air.
   • 1892, James Yoxall, chapter 5, in The Lonely Pyramid:

     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. The gaseous state of a substance that is normally a solid or liquid.
3. (obsolete) Wind; flatulence.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Francis Bacon to this entry?)

4. Something unsubstantial, fleeting, or transitory; unreal fancy; vain imagination; idle talk; boasting.
   • Bible, James iv. 14

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

5. (archaic) Hypochondria; melancholy; the blues; hysteria, or other nervous disorder.
   • Alexander Pope (1688-1744)

     a fit of vapours

6. (dated) Any medicinal agent designed for administration in the form of inhaled vapour.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Brit. Pharm to this entry?)

Derived terms

• vapour pressure
• vapour trail
• water vapour

Translations

steam — see steam

vapor — see vapor

See also

• dew point

Verb

vapour (third-person singular simple present vapours, present participle vapouring, simple past and past participle vapoured)

1. (intransitive) To become vapour; to be emitted or circulated as vapour.
2. (transitive) To turn into vapour.

   to vapour away a heated fluid

   • Ben Jonson

     He'd laugh to see one throw his heart away, / Another, sighing, vapour forth his soul.

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.

   • 1904, “Saki”, ‘Reginald's Christmas Revel’, Reginald:

     then the Major gave us a graphic account of a struggle he had with a wounded bear. I privately wished that the bears would win sometimes on these occasions; at least they wouldn't go vapouring about it afterwards.

   • 1978, Lawrence Durrell, Livia, Faber & Faber 1992 (Avignon Quintet), p. 513:

     He felt he would start vapouring with devotion if this went on, so he bruptly took his leave with a cold expression on his face which dismayed her for she thought that it was due to distain for her artistic opinions.

4. To emit vapour or fumes.
   • Francis Bacon

     Running waters vapour not so much as standing waters.

Translations

intransitive: to become vapour; to be emitted or circulated as vapour

• Japanese: 蒸発する (ja) (じょうはつする, jōhatsu suru), 揮発する (ja) (きはつする, kihatsu suru), 気化する (ja) (きかする, kika suru)

• Russian: испаря́ться (ru) impf (isparjátʹsja), испари́ться (ru) pf (isparítʹsja)

transitive: to turn into vapour

• Japanese: 蒸発させる (ja) (じょうはつさせる, jōhatsu saseru), 揮発させる (ja) (きはつさせる, kihatsu saseru), 気化させる (ja) (きかさせる, kika saseru)

• Russian: испаря́ть (ru) impf (isparjátʹ), испари́ть (ru) pf (isparítʹ)

intransitive: to use insubstantial language; to boast or bluster

• Japanese: 管を巻く (くだをまく, kuda o maku), 粋がる (いきがる, ikigaru), 威張り散らす (いばりちらす, ibarichirasu)

Verb

vapour (third-person singular simple present vapours, present participle vapouring, simple past and past participle vapoured)

1. (intransitive) To become vapour; to be emitted or circulated as vapour.
2. (transitive) To turn into vapour.
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.

   • 1904, “Saki”, ‘Reginald's Christmas Revel’, Reginald:

     then the Major gave us a graphic account of a struggle he had with a wounded bear. I privately wished that the bears would win sometimes on these occasions; at least they wouldn't go vapouring about it afterwards.

   • 1978, Lawrence Durrell, Livia, Faber