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Vaporous

//ˈveɪpəɹəs// adj

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 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."

  2. 2
    Breathing out or giving off vapour.
  3. 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."

  4. 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."

  5. 5
    Lacking depth or substance; insubstantial, thoughtless, vague. figuratively

    "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."

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  1. 6
    Of clothes or fabric: thin and translucent; filmy, gauzy. figuratively

    "[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; […]"

  2. 7
    Feeling melancholy; experiencing the vapors.

    "The task at first daunted him, and he wailed to Mary that he could not write about the Florentines because he no longer enjoyed them as a school. Again Mary rescued him from his vaporous mood, and the two of them vigorously plunged into the new work."

Adjective
  1. 1
    filled with vapor wordnet
  2. 2
    resembling or characteristic of vapor wordnet
  3. 3
    so thin as to transmit light wordnet

Etymology

From Middle English vaporous, from Late Latin vapōrōsus (“full of steam”), from Latin vapor (“exhalation; smoke; steam, vapour”) (possibly related to Proto-Indo-European *kwep- (“to boil; to smoke, steam; aroma; strong odour”)) + -ōsus (suffix meaning ‘full of, overly, prone to’ forming adjectives from nouns). The English word is analysable as vapour + -ous. Possibly a doublet of hope. Cognates * French vaporeux (“misty, vaporous; filmy, transparent”) * Italian vaporoso (“flimsy, gauzy; fluffy; vaporous”) * Portuguese vaporoso * Spanish vaporoso (“airy; vaporous”)

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