*vapor*

a. Capable of being converted into vapor, or dissipated by evaporation. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Evaporated p. pr. & vb. n. Evaporating ] [ L. evaporatus, p. p. of evaporare; e out + vapor steam or vapor. See Vapor. ] 1. To pass off in vapor, as a fluid; to escape and be dissipated, either in visible vapor, or in particles too minute to be visible. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To escape or pass off without effect; to be dissipated; to be wasted, as, the spirit of a writer often evaporates in the process of translation. [ 1913 Webster ]

To give moderate liberty for griefs and discontents to evaporate . . . is a safe way. Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. 1. To convert from a liquid or solid state into vapor (usually) by the agency of heat; to dissipate in vapor or fumes. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To expel moisture from (usually by means of artificial heat), leaving the solid portion; to subject to evaporation; as, to evaporate apples. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To give vent to; to dissipate. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

My lord of Essex evaporated his thoughts in a sonnet. Sir. H. Wotton. [ 1913 Webster ]

Evaporating surface (Steam Boilers), that part of the heating surface with which water is in contact. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. evaporatus, p. p. ] Dispersed in vapors. Thomson. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. reduced in volume by having moisture expelled before canning; same as condensed, 3; as, unsweetened evaporated milk. [ prenominal ]
Syn. -- condensed(prenominal). [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. [ L. evaporatio: cf. F. évaporation. ] 1. The process by which any substance is converted from a liquid state into, and carried off in, vapor; as, the evaporation of water, of ether, of camphor. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The transformation of a portion of a fluid into vapor, in order to obtain the fixed matter contained in it in a state of greater consistence. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. That which is evaporated; vapor. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Steam Engine) See Vaporization. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. evaporatius: cf. F. évaporatif. ] Pertaining to, or producing, evaporation; as, the evaporative process. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. An apparatus for condensing vegetable juices, or for drying fruit by heat. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Any device designed to evaporate a fluid. [ PJC ]

3. Specifically: The portion of a refrigeration system in which the refrigerant evaporates and thus absorbs heat. [ PJC ]

rotary evaporator (Chem.) a device used in laboratories in which a liquid is evaporated by reducing the pressure and applying heat, while rotating the liquid in a vessel such as a round-bottomed flask. The reduced pressure speeds the evaporation process and allows the evaporation to be conducted at temperatures lower than would otgherwise be possible, thus reducing decomposition of unstable substances. The rotation also serves to increase the surface area from which evaporation takes place and to reduce the effect of "bumping", the sudden burst of vaporization that can scatter liquid exposed to reduced pressure. [ PJC ]

n. [ L. evaporare to evaporate + -meter: cf. F. évapormètre. ] (Physics) An instrument for ascertaining the quantity of a fluid evaporated in a given time; an atmometer. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The concentration of a colloidal solution whose colloid will not pass through a semipermeable membrane; the solution is placed in a bag of the membrane and the solvent is evaporated off. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. [ OE. vapour, OF. vapour, vapor, vapeur, F. vapeur, L. vapor; probably for cvapor, and akin to Gr. &unr_; smoke, &unr_; to breathe forth, Lith. kvepti to breathe, smell, Russ. kopote fine soot. Cf. Vapid. ] [ Written also vapour. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. (Physics) Any substance in the gaseous, or aeriform, state, the condition of which is ordinarily that of a liquid or solid. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ 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. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. Nichol. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. In a loose and popular sense, any visible diffused substance floating in the atmosphere and impairing its transparency, as smoke, fog, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

The vapour which that fro the earth glood [ glided ]. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

Fire and hail; snow and vapors; stormy wind fulfilling his word. Ps. cxlviii. 8. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Wind; flatulence. [ Obs. ] Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Something unsubstantial, fleeting, or transitory; unreal fancy; vain imagination; idle talk; boasting. [ 1913 Webster ]

For what is your life? It is even a vapor, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. James iv. 14. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. pl. An old name for hypochondria, or melancholy; the blues. “A fit of vapors.” Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. (Pharm.) A medicinal agent designed for administration in the form of inhaled vapor. Brit. Pharm. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Vapored p. pr. & vb. n. Vaporing. ] [ From Vapor, n.: cf. L. vaporare. ] [ Written also vapour. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. To pass off in fumes, or as a moist, floating substance, whether visible or invisible, to steam; to be exhaled; to evaporate. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To emit vapor or fumes. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Running waters vapor not so much as standing waters. Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To talk idly; to boast or vaunt; to brag. [ 1913 Webster ]

Poets used to vapor much after this manner. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

We vapor and say, By this time Matthews has beaten them. Walpole. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To send off in vapor, or as if in vapor; as, to vapor away a heated fluid. [ Written also vapour. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

He'd laugh to see one throw his heart away,
Another, sighing, vapor forth his soul. B. Jonson. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The quality or state of being vaporable. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Capable of being converted into vapor by the agency of heat; vaporizable. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. [ L. vaporare, vaporatum. See Vapor. ] To emit vapor; to evaporate. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. F. vaporation, L. vaporatio. ] The act or process of converting into vapor, or of passing off in vapor; evaporation. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Wet with vapors; moist. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Affected with the vapors. See Vapor, n., 5. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who vapors; a braggart. [ 1913 Webster ]

Vaporer moth. (Zool.) See Orgyia. [ 1913 Webster ]

. (Metal.) A process for coating metal (usually iron or steel) surfaces with zinc by exposing them to the vapor of zinc instead of, as in ordinary galvanizing, to molten zinc; -- called also Sherardizing. Vapor galvanizing is accomplished by heating the articles to be galvanized together with zinc dust in an air tight receptacle to a temperature of about 600° F., which is 188° below the melting point of zinc, or by exposing the articles to vapor from molten zinc in a separate receptacle, using hydrogen or other reducing gas to prevent oxidation. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

a. [ L. vaporifer; vapor + ferre to bear. ] Conveying or producing vapor. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. vapor vapor + facere to make. ] (Chem.) Producing vapor; tending to pass, or to cause to pass, into vapor; thus, volatile fluids are vaporific; heat is a vaporific agent. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Existing in a vaporous form or state; as, steam is a vaporiform substance. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Vapor + -meter. ] An instrument for measuring the volume or the tension of any vapor; specifically, an instrument of this sort used as an alcoholometer in testing spirituous liquors. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Talking idly; boasting; vaunting. -- Va"por*ing*ly, adv. [1913 Webster]

a. 1. Full of vapors; vaporous. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Hypochondriacal; affected by hysterics; splenetic; peevish; humorsome. [ 1913 Webster ]

Pallas grew vap'rish once and odd. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Capable of being vaporized, or converted into vapor. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. F. vaporisation. ] The act or process of vaporizing, or the state of being converted into vapor; the artificial formation of vapor; specifically, the conversion of water into steam, as in a steam boiler. [ 1913 Webster ]

[ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Vaporized p. pr. & vb. n. Vaporizing ] [ Cf. F. vaporiser. ] To convert into vapor, as by the application of heat, whether naturally or artificially. [ 1913 Webster ]

Vaporizing surface. (Steam Boilers) See Evaporating surface, under Evaporate, v. t. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To pass off in vapor. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who, or that which, vaporizes, or converts into vapor. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Full of vapor; vaporous. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. vaporosus: cf. F. vaporeux. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. Having the form or nature of vapor. Holland. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Full of vapors or exhalations. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

The warmer and more vaporous air of the valleys. Derham. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Producing vapors; hence, windy; flatulent. Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

The food which is most vaporous and perspirable is the most easily digested. Arbuthnot. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Unreal; unsubstantial; vain; whimsical. [ 1913 Webster ]

Such vaporous speculations were inevitable. Carlyle. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The quality of being vaporous. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ or }. (Physics) The pressure or tension of a confined body of vapor of a chemical substance in equilibrium with the solid or liquid form of the substance. The pressure of a given saturated vapor is a function of the temperature only, and may be measured by introducing a small quantity of the substance into a barometer and noting the depression of the column of mercury. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. +PJC ]