vapourous

Adjective

vaporous (comparative more vaporous, superlative most vaporous)

1. Of or relating to vapour; also, having the characteristics or consistency of vapour.
   • Hovv can darkneſſe be called a Maſſe? &c. No it cannot. Nor a thin vaporous matter neither.1651, Alazonomastix Philalethes [pseudonym; Henry More], “Sect[ion] VII”, in The Second Lash of Alazonomastix; Conteining a Solid and Serious Reply to a Very Uncivill Answer to Certain Observations...

   Synonyms:

   halitous, halituous, vaporiform, vaporlike, vapourlike, vaporose, vapory, vapoury, aeriform, aereous

   Antonyms:

   nonvaporous

2. Breathing out or giving off vapour.

   Synonyms:

   vaporescent, vapourescent

3. Of a place: filled with vapour; foggy, misty.
   • O hatefull, vaporous, and foggy night, / Since thou art guilty of my cureleſſe crime: / Muſter thy miſts to meete the Eaſterne light, / Make vvar againſt proportion'd courſe of time.1594, William Shakespeare, Lucrece (First Quarto), London: […] Richard Field, for Iohn Harrison, […], →OCLC, signature F3, verso

   Synonyms:

   fumid, vapored, vapoured, vaporiferous, vaporsome

4. Of a thing: covered or hidden by vapour, fog, or mist.
   • Wide sea, that one continuous murmur breeds / Along the pebbled shore of memory! / Many old rotten-timber'd boats there be / Upon thy vaporous bosom, magnified / To goodly vessels; many a sail of pride, / And golden keel'd, is left unlaunch'd and dry.1818, John Keats, “Book II”, in Endymion: A Poetic Romance, London: […] T[homas] Miller, […] for Taylor and Hessey, […], →OCLC, page 54, lines 16–21
5. (figuratively) Lacking depth or substance; insubstantial, thoughtless, vague.
   • So vvhoſoeuer ſhall entertaine high and vapourous imaginations, in ſteede of a laborious and ſober inquiry of truth ſhall beget hopes and Beliefes of ſtrange and impoſſible ſhapes.1605, Francis Bacon, “The Second Booke”, in The Twoo Bookes of Francis Bacon. Of the Proficience and Aduancement of Learning, Diuine and Humane, London: […] [Thomas Purfoot and Thomas Creede] for...

   Synonyms:

   frothy, vain, vaporsome

6. (figuratively) Of clothes or fabric: thin and translucent; filmy, gauzy.
   • [A]irily-attired ladies were lounging upon the chairs in the gardens of the Tuileries; only the most fragile and vaporous bonnets were to be seen in the Bois de Boulogne; […]1863, M[ary] E[lizabeth] Braddon, “Victor Bourdon Goes Over to the Enemy”, in Eleanor’s Victory. […], volume III, London: Tinsley Brothers, […], →OCLC, page 235

See all 7 meanings of vaporous