Air vs Person - What's the difference?
air | person |
(uncountable, historical, astrology, alchemy, science) The atmospheric substance above the surface of the earth which animals breathe, formerly considered to be a single substance, one of the four basic elements of ancient philosophy and one of the five basic elements of Eastern traditions.
(uncountable, physics, meteorology) That substance, now understood as the mixture of gases comprising the earth's atmosphere.
(usually, with the) The apparently open space above the ground; the mass of this substance around the earth.
A breeze; a gentle wind.
A feeling or sense.
* November 2 2014 , Daniel Taylor, "
* 1900 , , (The House Behind the Cedars) , Chapter I,
A sense of poise, graciousness, or quality.
* 1815 , (Jane Austen), (Emma) , :
(usually plural) Pretension]]; [[snobby, snobbishness; pretence that one is better than others.
* {{quote-book, year=1922, author=(Ben Travers), title=(A Cuckoo in the Nest)
, chapter=1 (music) A song, especially a solo; an aria.
* 1813 , (Jane Austen), (Pride and Prejudice) , :
(informal) Nothing; absence of anything.
An air conditioner or the processed air it produces. Can be a mass noun or a count noun depending on context; similar to hair .
(obsolete, chemistry) Any specific gas.
(snowboarding, skateboarding, motor sports) A jump in which one becomes airborne.
To bring (something) into contact with the air, so as to freshen or dry it.
To let fresh air into a room or a building, to ventilate.
To discuss varying viewpoints on a given topic.
* 1917 , National Geographic , :
To broadcast, as with a television show.
An individual; usually a human being.
* 1784 , William Jones, The Description and Use of a New Portable Orrery, &c. ,
* , chapter=7
, title= # A character or part, as in a play; a specific kind or manifestation of individual character, whether in real life, or in literary or dramatic representation; an assumed character.
#* Francis Bacon
#* Jeremy Taylor
#* Milton
#* South
# (Christianity) Any one of the three hypostases of the Holy Trinity: the Father, Son, or Holy Spirit.
#* Book of Common Prayer
# Any sentient or socially intelligent being.
# (in a compound noun or noun phrase) Someone who likes or has an affinity for (a specified thing).
The physical body of a being seen as distinct from the mind, character, etc.
*, III.1.2.iii:
* 1897 , (Henry James), (What Maisie Knew) :
* 1978 , (Lawrence Durrell), Livia , Faber & Faber 1992 (Avignon Quintet), p. 418:
* 2004 , (The New York Times) :
(legal) Any individual or formal organization with standing before the courts.
(legal) The human genitalia; specifically , the penis.
* 1824 , (
* 1972 , Evans v. Ewels'', ''Weekly Law Reports , vol. 1, p. 671 at pp. 674–675:
(grammar) A linguistic category used to distinguish between the speaker of an utterance and those to whom or about whom he is speaking. See grammatical person.
(biology) A shoot or bud of a plant; a polyp or zooid of the compound Hydrozoa, Anthozoa, etc.; also, an individual, in the narrowest sense, among the higher animals.
* Encyc. Brit.
(obsolete) To represent as a person; to personify; to impersonate.
(transitive, humorous, gender-neutral) To man.
* 2007 , Brian R. Brenner, Don't Throw This Away!: The Civil Engineering Life (page 40)
* 2008 , William Guy, Something Sensational (page 337)
As nouns the difference between air and person
is that air is while person is person.air
English
Noun
Sergio Agüero strike wins derby for Manchester City against 10-man United," guardian.co.uk
- Smalling’s quick one-two of yellow cards towards the end of the first half had left an air of inevitability about what would follow and, if anything, it was probably a surprise that City restricted themselves to Sergio Agüero’s goal bearing in mind another of United’s defenders, Marcos Rojo, was taken off on a stretcher early in the second half with a dislocated shoulder.
- The girl stooped to pluck a rose, and as she bent over it, her profile was clearly outlined. She held the flower to her face with a long-drawn inhalation, then went up the steps, crossed the piazza, opened the door without knocking, and entered the house with the air of one thoroughly at home.
- "He is very plain, undoubtedly--remarkably plain:--but that is nothing compared with his entire want of gentility. I had no right to expect much, and I did not expect much; but I had no idea that he could be so very clownish, so totally without air . I had imagined him, I confess, a degree or two nearer gentility."
citation, passage=He read the letter aloud. Sophia listened with the studied air of one for whom, even in these days, a title possessed some surreptitious allurement.}}
- "If I," said Mr. Collins, "were so fortunate as to be able to sing, I should have great pleasure, I am sure, in obliging the company with an air ; for I consider music as a very innocent diversion, and perfectly compatible with the profession of a clergyman"
Synonyms
* * atmosphere * aura * nimbusDerived terms
* airbag * air base * air bed * airborne * air bounce * airbrake * airbrush * air bubble * airbus * air cargo * air carrier * air chamber * Air Chief Marshal * air cleaner * Air Commodore * air compressor * air-conditioned * air-conditioner * air-conditioning * air-cooled * air corridor * aircraft * aircrew * air cushion * air display * airdrome * airdrop * air duct * airfield * air flow * air force * airframe * air freight * air freshener * air guitar * airgun * air hole * air hostess * airing cupboard * air intake * air lane * airless * air letter * airlift * airline * airliner * airlock * airmail * airman * Air Marshal * air mattress * air navigation * air out * airplane * air pocket * airport * air pressure * air pump * air purifier * air quotes * air raid * air rifle * airscrew * air-sea rescue * air shaft * airshed * airship * air show * airsick * airsickness * air sign * airspace * airspeed * airstrike * airstrip * airsuit * air support * airtaxi * air terminal * airtight * air time * air-to-air * air-to-ground * air-to-surface * air traffic control * air traffic controller * air vent * Air Vice Marshal * airwaves * airway * airwoman * airworthiness * airworthy * airy * alkaline air * breath of fresh air * build castles in the air * catch air * castle in the air * clear the air * dead air * dephlogisticated air * fire air * fixed air * fluoro acid air * fresh air * get some air / take some air * give oneself airs * hepatic air * hot air * inflammable air * in the air * into thin air * mid-air * mephitic air * nitrous air * on air * on the air * phlogisticated air * pure air * put on airs * too many balls in the air * up in the air * vital air * vitriolic acid air (air)Verb
(en verb)- It's getting quite stuffy in this room: let's open the windows and air it.
- Thus, in spite of all opposition, the rural and urban assemblies retained the germ of local government, and in spite of the dual control, as the result of which much of their influence was nullified, they did have a certain value in airing abuses and suggesting improvements.
Statistics
*person
English
Noun
(en-noun) (by suppletion)PREFACE
- THE favourable reception the Orrery has met with from Per?ons of the fir?t di?tinction, and from Gentlemen and Ladies in general, has induced me to add to it ?everal new improvements in order to give it a degree of Perfection; and di?tingui?h it from others; which by Piracy, or Imitation, may be introduced to the Public.
The Mirror and the Lamp, passage=“A very welcome, kind, useful present, that means to the parish. By the way, Hopkins, let this go no further. We don't want the tale running round that a rich person has arrived. Churchill, my dear fellow, we have such greedy sharks, and wolves in lamb's clothing. […]”}}
- his first appearance upon the stage in his new person of a sycophant or juggler
- No man can long put on a person and act a part.
- To bear rule, which was thy part / And person , hadst thou known thyself aright.
- How different is the same man from himself, as he sustains the person of a magistrate and that of a friend!
- three persons and one God
- Jack's always been a dog person , but I prefer cats.
- when the young ladies laughed at her for it, she replied, that it was not his person that she did embrace and reverence, but, with a Platonic love, the divine beauty of his soul.
- The Captain, inclining his military person , sat sideways to be closer and kinder […].
- At first blush it seemed that what was striking about him rested on the fact that his dress was exotic, his person foreign.
- Meanwhile, the dazed Sullivan, dressed like a bum with no identification on his person , is arrested and put to work on a brutal Southern chain gang.
- At common law a corporation or a trust is legally a person .
5 Geo. 4. c. 83, United Kingdom), section 4:
- [E]very Person wilfully, openly, lewdly, and obscenely exposing his Person in any Street, Road, or public Highway, or in the View thereof, or in any Place of public Resort, with Intent to insult any Female ... and being subsequently convicted of the Offence for which he or she shall have been so apprehended, shall be deemed a Rogue and Vagabond, within the true Intent and Meaning of this Act ...
- It seems to me that at any rate today, and indeed by 1824, the word "person " in connection with sexual matters had acquired a meaning of its own; a meaning which made it a synonym for "penis." It may be ... that it was the forerunner of Victorian gentility which prevented people calling a penis a penis. But however that may be I am satisfied in my own mind that it has now acquired an established meaning to the effect already stated. It is I venture to say, well known amongst those who practise in the courts that the word "person" is so used over and over again. It is the familiar synonym of that part of the body, and, as one of the reasons for my decision in this case, I would use that interpretation of what was prevailing in 1824 and what has become established in the 150 years since then.
- True corms, composed of united personae yet in sponges and corals occasionally by fusion of several originally distinct persons .
- (Haeckel)
Usage notes
In senses 1, 1.3, and 1.4, the plural is either persons'' or ''people'', with ''persons'' sounding more formal and ''people'' more colloquial. In senses 1.2, 2, 3, and 5 ''persons is the only plural.Synonyms
* See alsoDerived terms
* advance person * businessperson * cameraperson * chairperson * common person * draftsperson * first person * foreperson * houseperson * in person * layperson * newsperson * nonperson * ombudsperson * person-to-person * person-hour * person-year * persona * personable * personal * personate * personification * personify * personnel * repairperson * salesperson * second person * stick person * spokesperson * third person * unperson * VIPVerb
(en verb)- (Milton)
- We had hit the iceberg, and it was time to person the lifeboats.
- We went so far as to stop in a hotel on the way out of Speyer — to ask for directions — but the teenaged girl personing the desk there seemed to be such an idiot