Alternative forms

• vapour (Commonwealth)

Etymology

From Middle EnglishCategory:English terms inherited from Middle English#VAPORCategory:English terms derived from Middle English#VAPOR vapour, from Anglo-NormanCategory:English terms derived from Anglo-Norman#VAPOR vapour, Old FrenchCategory:English terms derived from Old French#VAPOR vapor, from LatinCategory:English terms derived from Latin#VAPOR vapor (“steam, heat”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈveɪpə/Category:English 2-syllable words#VAPORCategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#VAPOR
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈveɪpɚ/Category:English 2-syllable words#VAPORCategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#VAPOR

• Audio (US):

  (file)

  Category:English terms with audio pronunciation#VAPOR

• Audio (US):

  (file)

  Category:English terms with audio pronunciation#VAPOR
• Rhymes: -eɪpə(ɹ)Category:Rhymes:English/eɪpə(ɹ)#VAPORCategory:Rhymes:English/eɪpə(ɹ)/2 syllables#VAPOR

Noun

English Wikipedia has an article on:

vapor

Wikipedia

vapor (countable and uncountable, plural vapors)Category:English lemmas#VAPORCategory:English nouns#VAPORCategory:English uncountable nouns#VAPORCategory:English countable nouns#VAPORCategory:English countable nouns#VAPORCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#VAPORCategory:Pages with entries#VAPORCategory:Pages with 13 entries#VAPOR (American spellingCategory:American English forms#VAPOR)

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.

     Category:English terms with quotations#VAPOR

2. The gaseous state of a substance that is normally a solid or liquid.
   • 2013 July-August, Philip J. Bushnell, “Solvents, Ethanol, Car Crashes & Tolerance”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name):

     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 exposure to benzene, another solvent, which has the well-known property of causing this type of cancer.

     Category:English terms with quotations#VAPOR

3. (idiomaticCategory:English idioms#VAPOR) Something insubstantial, fleeting, or transitory; unreal fancy; vain imagination; idle talk; boasting.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, James 4:14:

     For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.

     Category:English terms with quotations#VAPOR

   • 1781, Horace Walpole, " ":

     I am at this present very sick of my little vapour of fame.

     Category:English terms with quotations#VAPOR

   • 1822, Charles Perkins, An Oration, page 19:

     The press operates as a safety-valve for the vapor of popular ebullision.

     Category:English terms with quotations#VAPOR

   • 1875, Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the General Epistles of James, Peter, John, and Jude, page 80:

     The previous question had turned the attention to life as something peculiarly frail, and as of such a nature that no calculation could be based on its permanence. This expression gives a reason for that, to wit, that it is a mere vapor.

     Category:English terms with quotations#VAPOR

   • 1999, Martin Heidegger, An Introduction to Metaphysics, page 50:

     Here we can explain only in these broad outlines why the asking of the question of being is in itself through and through historical, and why, accordingly, our question as to whether being will remain a mere vapor for us or become the destiny of the West is anything but an exaggeration and a rhetorical figure.

     Category:English terms with quotations#VAPOR

4. (datedCategory:English dated terms#VAPOR) Any medicinal agent designed for administration in the form of inhaled vapour.
   • 1836, Pierre Charles Alexandre Louis, Henry Ingersoll Bowditch, Charles Cowan, Pathological Researches on Phthisis, page 287:

     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.

     Category:English terms with quotations#VAPOR

   • 1854 November, Samuel A. Cartwright, “The Case of a Lady in a sugar-house, with Aphonic, Haemorrhagic, Tubercular Phthisis in the Softening State”, in Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, volume 51, number 14, page 275:

     Hence the vapor, so useful in expanding the compressed tissues and enabling the air to permeate and expand the contracted parenchyma in consumption, causes a sensation of great fatigue in asthma.

     Category:English terms with quotations#VAPOR

   • 1861, Charles Mathews, On fumigation of the lungs, throat, &c, page 1:

     Professor Matthews has at length the pleasure, after much unaboidable delay, of respectfully announcin to the Faculty, that he is prepared to fill their prescriptions by any practicable formula, in the use of his new method of applying medicinal vapors to the lungs, air-passages, & c., by means of the Multiform Fumigator .

     Category:English terms with quotations#VAPOR

   • 1944, Quarterly Review of Otorhinolaryngology and Broncho-esophagology, page 68:

     The physician can now prescribe medicinal vapors to be dropped on some cotton placed inside the inhaler.

     Category:English terms with quotations#VAPOR

5. (archaicCategory:English terms with archaic senses#VAPOR, in the 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.

   • 1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC, page 188:

     She made several gulps and controlled her breath. She released her grip on Podson and stared at him without recognition. Podson went on patting her reassuringly, relieved from administering first aid to an attack of the vapours.

     Category:English terms with quotations#VAPOR

   • 1951, John Wyndham, The Day of the Triffids, Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, published 1954, page 70:

     "Shows you what a modern young woman can come to after all, doesn't it? Screaming, and collapsing with the vapours - Hell!"

     Category:English terms with quotations#VAPOR

6. (obsoleteCategory:English terms with obsolete senses#VAPOR) Wind; flatulence.
   • 1605, 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 Creede] for Henrie Tomes, […], →OCLC:

     The surcharge of the stomack from a gross vapour, and from the poise of some outward weight, are alike

     Category:English terms with quotations#VAPOR

Verb

vapor (third-person singular simple present vapors, present participle vaporing, simple past and past participle vapored)Category:English lemmas#VAPORCategory:English verbs#VAPORCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#VAPORCategory:Pages with entries#VAPORCategory:Pages with 13 entries#VAPOR (American spellingCategory:American English forms#VAPOR)

1. (intransitiveCategory:English intransitive verbs#VAPOR) To become vapor; to be emitted or circulated as vapor.
2. (transitiveCategory:English transitive verbs#VAPOR) To turn into vapor.

   to vapor away a heated fluid

   • 1617, Ben Jonson, Lovers Made Men:

     He'd […] laugh to see one throw his heart away, / Another, sighing, vapour forth his soul.

     Category:English terms with quotations#VAPOR

     Category:Quotation templates to be cleaned
3. To emit vapor or fumes.
   • 1627 (indicated as 1626), Francis [Bacon], “(please specify the page, or |century=I to X)”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], London: […] William Rawley […]; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], →OCLC:

     Running waters vapour not so much as standing waters.

     Category:English terms with quotations#VAPOR

4. (intransitiveCategory:English intransitive verbs#VAPOR) To use insubstantial language; to boast or bluster.
   • 1888, Rudyard Kipling, “The Bisara of Pooree”, in Plain Tales from the Hills, Folio Society, published 2005, page 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.

     Category:English terms with quotations#VAPOR

   • 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.

     Category:English terms with quotations#VAPOR

     Category:Quotation templates to be cleaned
   • 1924, Herman Melville, chapter 1, in Billy Budd‎, London: Constable & Co.:

     […] an amusing character all but extinct now, but occasionally to be encountered […] vaporing in the groggeries along the tow-path.

     Category:English terms with quotations#VAPOR

   • 1978, Lawrence Durrell, Livia (Avignon Quintet), Faber & Faber, published 1992, page 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.

     Category:English terms with quotations#VAPOR

5. (transitiveCategory:English transitive verbs#VAPOR) To give (someone) the vapors; 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 […].”

     Category:English terms with quotations#VAPOR

     Category:Quotation templates to be cleaned

See also

• dew point
• get the vapors

Anagrams

• parvo, parvo-

Etymology

Borrowed from ItalianCategory:Albanian terms borrowed from Italian#VAPORCategory:Albanian terms derived from Italian#VAPOR vapore.^[1]

Noun

vapor m (plural vaporë, definite vapori)Category:Albanian lemmas#VAPORCategory:Albanian nouns#VAPORCategory:Albanian entries with incorrect language header#VAPORCategory:Albanian masculine nouns#VAPORCategory:Pages with entries#VAPORCategory:Pages with 13 entries#VAPOR

1. steamboat, steamship Category:sq:Watercraft#VAPOR

   Synonym: avullore

2. (archaicCategory:Albanian terms with archaic senses#VAPOR) steam engine; steam locomotive^[2]

References

Further reading

• FGJSSH: Fjalor i gjuhës së sotme shqipe [Dictionary of the modern Albanian language]‎, 1980

Etymology

From LatinCategory:Asturian terms derived from Latin#VAPOR vapor.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /baˈpoɾ/ [baˈpoɾ]Category:Asturian terms with IPA pronunciation#VAPOR
• Rhymes: -oɾCategory:Rhymes:Asturian/oɾ#VAPORCategory:Rhymes:Asturian/oɾ/2 syllables#VAPOR
• Syllabification: va‧por

Noun

vapor m (plural vapores)Category:Asturian lemmas#VAPORCategory:Asturian nouns#VAPORCategory:Asturian entries with incorrect language header#VAPORCategory:Asturian masculine nouns#VAPORCategory:Pages with entries#VAPORCategory:Pages with 13 entries#VAPOR

1. vapor

Further reading

• “vapor”, in Diccionariu de la llingua asturiana [Dictionary of the Asturian Language] (in Asturian), 1st edition, Academy of the Asturian Language [Asturian: Academia de la Llingua Asturiana], 2000, →ISBN
• Xosé Lluis García Arias (2002–2004), “vapor”, in Diccionario general de la lengua asturiana [General Dictionary of the Asturian Language] (in Spanish), Editorial Prensa Asturiana, →ISBN

Etymology

Borrowed from LatinCategory:Catalan terms borrowed from Latin#VAPORCategory:Catalan terms derived from Latin#VAPOR vapōrem.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central) [bəˈpor]Category:Catalan terms with IPA pronunciation#VAPOR
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [vəˈpor]Category:Catalan terms with IPA pronunciation#VAPOR
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [vaˈpor]Category:Catalan terms with IPA pronunciation#VAPOR

• Audio (Barcelona):

  (file)

  Category:Catalan terms with audio pronunciation#VAPOR

Noun

vapor m (plural vapors)Category:Catalan lemmas#VAPORCategory:Catalan nouns#VAPORCategory:Catalan countable nouns#VAPORCategory:Catalan entries with incorrect language header#VAPORCategory:Catalan masculine nouns#VAPORCategory:Pages with entries#VAPORCategory:Pages with 13 entries#VAPOR

1. vapor, steam

Further reading

• “vapor”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007

Etymology

From LatinCategory:Galician terms derived from Latin#VAPOR vapor.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /baˈpoɾ/ [baˈpoɾ]Category:Galician terms with IPA pronunciation#VAPOR
• Rhymes: -oɾCategory:Rhymes:Galician/oɾ#VAPORCategory:Rhymes:Galician/oɾ/2 syllables#VAPOR
• Hyphenation: va‧por

Noun

vapor m (plural vapores)Category:Galician lemmas#VAPORCategory:Galician nouns#VAPORCategory:Galician countable nouns#VAPORCategory:Galician entries with incorrect language header#VAPORCategory:Galician masculine nouns#VAPORCategory:Pages with entries#VAPORCategory:Pages with 13 entries#VAPOR

1. vapor

   Synonym: gas

Further reading

• “vapor”, in Dicionario da Real Academia Galega (in Galician), A Coruña: Royal Galician Academy, 2012–2026

Noun

vapor mCategory:Ladino lemmas#VAPORCategory:Ladino nouns#VAPORCategory:Ladino nouns in Latin script#VAPORCategory:Ladino entries with incorrect language header#VAPORCategory:Ladino masculine nouns#VAPORCategory:Pages with entries#VAPORCategory:Pages with 13 entries#VAPOR

1. ship, steamer

Etymology

From Proto-ItalicCategory:Latin terms inherited from Proto-Italic#VAPORCategory:Latin terms derived from Proto-Italic#VAPOR *kwapōs, of uncertain ultimate origin, but possibly related to Ancient Greek καπνός (kapnós, “smoke”) and Proto-Indo-EuropeanCategory:Latin terms derived from Proto-Indo-European#VAPOR *kʷep- (“to smoke, boil, move violently”),^[1] via an older form *quapor that eventually lost its velar.^[2]

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈwa.pɔr]Category:Latin 2-syllable words#VAPORCategory:Latin terms with IPA pronunciation#VAPOR
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈvaː.por]Category:Latin 2-syllable words#VAPORCategory:Latin terms with IPA pronunciation#VAPOR

Noun

vapor m (genitive vapōris)Category:Latin lemmas#VAPORCategory:Latin nouns#VAPORCategory:Latin third declension nouns#VAPORCategory:Latin masculine nouns in the third declension#VAPORCategory:Latin entries with incorrect language header#VAPORCategory:Latin masculine nouns#VAPORCategory:Pages with entries#VAPORCategory:Pages with 13 entries#VAPOR; third declension

1. steam, exhalation, vapour; smoke
2. warm exhalation, warmth, heat
3. ardour of love, warmth

References

• “vapor”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “vapor”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “vapor”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.

Noun

vaporCategory:Middle English lemmas#VAPORCategory:Middle English nouns#VAPORCategory:Middle English entries with incorrect language header#VAPORCategory:Pages with entries#VAPORCategory:Pages with 13 entries#VAPOR

1. alternative form of vapour

Noun

vapor oblique singular, f (oblique plural vapors, nominative singular vapor, nominative plural vapors)Category:Old French lemmas#VAPORCategory:Old French nouns#VAPORCategory:Old French feminine nouns#VAPORCategory:Old French entries with incorrect language header#VAPORCategory:Old French feminine nouns#VAPORCategory:Pages with entries#VAPORCategory:Pages with 13 entries#VAPOR

1. alternative form of vapeur

Alternative forms

• vapur

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /vaˈpur/Category:Piedmontese terms with IPA pronunciation#VAPOR

Noun

vapor m (plural vapor)Category:Piedmontese lemmas#VAPORCategory:Piedmontese nouns#VAPORCategory:Piedmontese entries with incorrect language header#VAPORCategory:Piedmontese masculine nouns#VAPORCategory:Pages with entries#VAPORCategory:Pages with 13 entries#VAPOR

1. vapor, steam

Etymology

Learned borrowing from LatinCategory:Portuguese terms borrowed from Latin#VAPORCategory:Portuguese learned borrowings from Latin#VAPORCategory:Portuguese terms derived from Latin#VAPOR vapōrem.

Pronunciation

• (Northeast Brazil) IPA^(key): /va.ˈpo/Category:Portuguese 2-syllable words#VAPORCategory:Portuguese terms with IPA pronunciation#VAPOR
• Hyphenation: va‧por

Noun

vapor m (plural vapores)Category:Portuguese lemmas#VAPORCategory:Portuguese nouns#VAPORCategory:Portuguese countable nouns#VAPORCategory:Portuguese entries with incorrect language header#VAPORCategory:Portuguese masculine nouns#VAPORCategory:Pages with entries#VAPORCategory:Pages with 13 entries#VAPOR

1. vapor / vapour

Further reading

• “vapor”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “vapor” in Dicionário Aberto based on Novo Diccionário da Língua Portuguesa de Cândido de Figueiredo, 1913
• “vapor”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Anagrams

• prova, pavor

Etymology

From ItalianCategory:Romanian terms derived from Italian#VAPOR vapore, FrenchCategory:Romanian terms derived from French#VAPOR vapeur.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /vaˈpor/Category:Romanian terms with IPA pronunciation#VAPOR

Noun

vapor n (plural vapoare)Category:Romanian lemmas#VAPORCategory:Romanian nouns#VAPORCategory:Romanian countable nouns#VAPORCategory:Romanian entries with incorrect language header#VAPORCategory:Romanian neuter nouns#VAPORCategory:Pages with entries#VAPORCategory:Pages with 13 entries#VAPOR

1. boat, ship

Etymology

From LatinCategory:Spanish terms derived from Latin#VAPOR vaporCategory:Spanish undefined derivations#VAPOR.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /baˈpoɾ/ [baˈpoɾ]Category:Spanish 2-syllable words#VAPORCategory:Spanish terms with IPA pronunciation#VAPOR
• Rhymes: -oɾCategory:Rhymes:Spanish/oɾ#VAPORCategory:Rhymes:Spanish/oɾ/2 syllables#VAPOR
• Syllabification: va‧por

Noun

vapor m (plural vapores)Category:Spanish lemmas#VAPORCategory:Spanish nouns#VAPORCategory:Spanish countable nouns#VAPORCategory:Spanish entries with incorrect language header#VAPORCategory:Spanish masculine nouns#VAPORCategory:Pages with entries#VAPORCategory:Pages with 13 entries#VAPOR

1. steam, vapor (water vapor)
2. steamboat
   • 1918, Carlos Gagini, “A París”, in Cuentos grises:

     turistas recién llegados, en cuyas valijas habían pegado sus marbetes azules, blancos o rosados todas las compañías de vapores o de ferrocarriles

     newly-arrived tourists, who had their suitcases stuck with blue, white and pink labels of all the steamboat and railway companies

     Category:Spanish terms with quotations#VAPOR

Further reading

• “vapor”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025