vapors

Noun

vapor (countable and uncountable, plural vapors)

1. (US) Cloudy diffused matter such as mist, steam or fumes suspended in the air.
   • A mild vapour is thrown out, and not a hot steam; the invention appears to control the amount of the vapor, and and ^([sic]) even the force of the fire which produces it.1847, editorial staff, “Evaporation Grate”, in Scientific American, series 1, Volume 3, Issue 9, page 68
2. (US) The gaseous state of a substance that is normally a solid or liquid.
   • Surprisingly, this analysis revealed that acute exposure to solvent vapors at concentrations below those associated with long-term effects appears to increase the risk of a fatal automobile accident. Furthermore, this increase in risk is comparable to the risk of death from leukemia after long-term...2013 July-August, Philip J. Bushnell, “Solvents, Ethanol, Car Crashes & Tolerance”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name)
3. (US, idiomatic) Something insubstantial, fleeting, or transitory; unreal fancy; vain imagination; idle talk; boasting.
   • For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, James 4:14
4. (US, dated) Any medicinal agent designed for administration in the form of inhaled vapour.
   • Sulphurous fumes have also been recommended, as well as diffusing a variety of vapors in the apartment of the patient; on their beneficial or injurious effects we are unable to speak.1836, Pierre Charles Alexandre Louis, Henry Ingersoll Bowditch, Charles Cowan, Pathological Researches on Phthisis, page 287
5. (US, archaic, in plural) Hypochondria; melancholy; the blues; hysteria, or other nervous disorder.
   • Jan 13, 1732, John Arbuthnot, letter to Jonathan Swift
     He talks me into a fit of vapours twice or thrice a week.
6. (US, obsolete) Wind; flatulence.
   • The surcharge of the stomack from a gross vapour, and from the poise of some outward weight, are alike1605, Francis Bacon, “(please specify |book=1 or 2)”, in The Twoo Bookes of Francis Bacon. Of the Proficience and Aduancement of Learning, Diuine and Humane, London: […] [Thomas Purfoot and Thomas...

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