vapour

English

Alternative forms

• vapor (US)

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈveɪpə/
• 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, in the plural) Hypochondria; melancholy; the blues; hysteria, or other nervous disorder.
   • (Can we date this quote by Alexander Pope and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     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

   • (Can we date this quote by Ben Jonson and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     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.
   • (Can we date this quote by Francis Bacon and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     Running waters vapour not so much as standing waters.

5. (transitive) To give (someone) the vapours; to depress, to bore.
   • 1782, Frances Burney, Cecilia, III.vi.9:

     “I only mean,” cried she, giddily, “that he might have some place a little more pleasant to live in, for really that old moat and draw-bridge are enough to vapour him to death […].”

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)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• 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)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• 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 (ja) (いきがる, ikigaru), 威張り散らす (いばりちらす, ibarichirasu)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

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Middle English

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Anglo-Norman vapour, from Latin vapor.

Alternative forms

• vapor, wapour, vapoure, vapur

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /vaːˈpuːr/, /vaˈpuːr/, /ˈvaːpur/

Noun

vapour (plural vapours)

1. Fumes or vapour; a visible gaseous emission:
   1. A visible vapour; steam
   2. The vapour of water; mist.
   3. Fumes given off by combustion; smoke.
2. Heated air; air of a high temperature.
3. (physiology) A noxious bodily fume believed to be the cause of maladies.
4. (rare) A airborne smell; a nasal sensation transmitted via the air.
5. (rare) Effect, emanation.

Related terms

• vapouren

Descendants

• English: vapour, vapor
• Scots: vapour

References

• “vā̆pǒur (n.)”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-09-01.

Etymology 2

From Old French vaporer.

Verb

vapour

1. Alternative form of vapouren