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Vapor   /vˈeɪpər/   Listen
noun
Vapor  n.  (Written also vapour)  
1.
(Physics) Any substance in the gaseous, or aeriform, state, the condition of which is ordinarily that of a liquid or solid. Note: The term vapor is sometimes used in a more extended sense, as identical with gas; and the difference between the two is not so much one of kind as of degree, the latter being applied to all permanently elastic fluids except atmospheric air, the former to those elastic fluids which lose that condition at ordinary temperatures. The atmosphere contains more or less vapor of water, a portion of which, on a reduction of temperature, becomes condensed into liquid water in the form of rain or dew. The vapor of water produced by boiling, especially in its economic relations, is called steam. "Vapor is any substance in the gaseous condition at the maximum of density consistent with that condition. This is the strict and proper meaning of the word vapor."
2.
In a loose and popular sense, any visible diffused substance floating in the atmosphere and impairing its transparency, as smoke, fog, etc. "The vapour which that fro the earth glood (glided)." "Fire and hail; snow and vapors; stormy wind fulfilling his word."
3.
Wind; flatulence. (Obs.)
4.
Something unsubstantial, fleeting, or transitory; unreal fancy; vain imagination; idle talk; boasting. "For what is your life? It is even a vapor, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away."
5.
pl. An old name for hypochondria, or melancholy; the blues. "A fit of vapors."
6.
(Pharm.) A medicinal agent designed for administration in the form of inhaled vapor.
Vapor bath.
(a)
A bath in vapor; the application of vapor to the body, or part of it, in a close place; also, the place itself.
(b)
(Chem.) A small metallic drying oven, usually of copper, for drying and heating filter papers, precipitates, etc.; called also air bath. A modified form is provided with a jacket in the outside partition for holding water, or other volatile liquid, by which the temperature may be limited exactly to the required degree.
Vapor burner, a burner for burning a vaporized hydrocarbon.
Vapor density (Chem.), the relative weight of gases and vapors as compared with some specific standard, usually hydrogen, but sometimes air. The vapor density of gases and vaporizable substances as compared with hydrogen, when multiplied by two, or when compared with air and multiplied by 28.8, gives the molecular weight.
Vapor engine, an engine worked by the expansive force of a vapor, esp. a vapor other than steam.


verb
Vapor  v. t.  (Written also vapour)  To send off in vapor, or as if in vapor; as, to vapor away a heated fluid. "He'd laugh to see one throw his heart away, Another, sighing, vapor forth his soul."


Vapor  v. i.  (past & past part. vapored; pres. part. vaporing)  (Written also vapour)  
1.
To pass off in fumes, or as a moist, floating substance, whether visible or invisible, to steam; to be exhaled; to evaporate.
2.
To emit vapor or fumes. (R.) "Running waters vapor not so much as standing waters."
3.
To talk idly; to boast or vaunt; to brag. "Poets used to vapor much after this manner." "We vapor and say, By this time Matthews has beaten them."





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Vapor" Quotes from Famous Books



... is in mist and vapor among the mountains!" he exclaimed. "With their help, one single scene becomes a thousand. The cloud scenery gives such variety to a hilly landscape that it would be worth while to journalize its aspect from hour to hour. A cloud, however,—as I have myself ...
— The Marble Faun, Volume II. - The Romance of Monte Beni • Nathaniel Hawthorne
... to you and your—children!" and the little man swung his boot vehemently over his head and laughed like a boy at his own joke, while poor, frightened, scandalized Miranda turned and scudded, like a patch of thin vapor blown by an unexpected gust of wind, through the door into the kitchen, with a face colored scarlet from an actual, unmistakable blush, though whence the blood came that reddened the clean cold-white of her thin ...
— How Deacon Tubman and Parson Whitney Kept New Year's - And Other Stories • W. H. H. Murray
... shone on the cloud with as serene a face as that with which Mr. Yocomb had watched its approach, but now a scud of vapor swept like a sudden pallor across her disk, giving one the odd impression that she had just realized her peril, and then an abyss of darkness swallowed her up. For a few moments longer the fire burned on, and then the cloud with its torrents settled ...
— A Day Of Fate • E. P. Roe
... the country, through which we passed on the morning of our ride from Palmyra, over which there is spread a thin veil of purple haze, adding a new charm to whatever objects are dimly discerned through it. At one point only can we, when this vapor is by any cause diminished, catch a glimpse of the loftier buildings of the distant city. But the palace itself, though it be the work of man, and not of gods, is not less beautiful than all these aspects of nature. It is wholly built after ...
— Zenobia - or, The Fall of Palmyra • William Ware
... that afternoon and evening. The camp-fire, which had been left burning, had smouldered so low that none of the embers were discernible, and only a thin column of smoke crept slowly upward marking where it had been. But this vapor was so clearly seen in the wonderful moonlight that it was easy to fix the precise point where ...
— The Land of Mystery • Edward S. Ellis


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