Fume vs Vapour - What's the difference?
fume | vapour |
A gas or vapour/vapor that smells strongly or is dangerous to inhale. Fumes are solid particles formed by condensation from the gaseous state, e.g. metal oxides from volatilized metals. They can flocculate and coalesce. Their particle size is between 0.1 and 1 micron. (A micron is one millionth of a metre)
* T. Warton
A material that has been vaporized from the solid state to the gas state and re-coalesced to the solid state.
Rage or excitement which deprives the mind of self-control.
Anything unsubstantial or airy; idle conceit; vain imagination.
* Francis Bacon
The incense of praise; inordinate flattery.
* Burton
To emit fumes.
* Milton
* Roscommon
To expose something (especially wood) to ammonia fumes in order to produce dark tints.
To feel or express great anger.
* Dryden
* Sir Walter Scott
To be as in a mist; to be dulled and stupefied.
* Shakespeare
To pass off in fumes or vapours.
* Cheyne
Cloudy diffused matter such as mist, steam or fumes suspended in the air.
*{{quote-book, year=1892, author=(James Yoxall)
, chapter=5, title= The gaseous state of a substance that is normally a solid or liquid.
(label) Wind; flatulence.
Something unsubstantial, fleeting, or transitory; unreal fancy; vain imagination; idle talk; boasting.
* Bible, (w) iv. 14
(label) Hypochondria; melancholy; the blues; hysteria, or other nervous disorder.
* (Alexander Pope) (1688-1744)
(label) Any medicinal agent designed for administration in the form of inhaled vapour.
To become vapour; to be emitted or circulated as vapour.
To turn into vapour.
* Ben Jonson
To use insubstantial language; to boast or bluster.
* 1888 , (Rudyard Kipling), ‘The Bisara of Pooree’, Plain Tales from the Hills , Folio Society 2005, p. 172:
* 1904 , , ‘Reginald's Christmas Revel’, Reginald :
* 1978 , (Lawrence Durrell), Livia'', Faber & Faber 1992 (''Avignon Quintet ), p. 513:
To emit vapour or fumes.
* Francis Bacon
To become vapour; to be emitted or circulated as vapour.
To turn into vapour.
To use insubstantial language; to boast or bluster.
* 1888 , (Rudyard Kipling), ‘The Bisara of Pooree’, Plain Tales from the Hills , Folio Society 2005, p. 172:
* 1904 , , ‘Reginald's Christmas Revel’, Reginald :
* 1978 , (Lawrence Durrell), Livia , Faber
British English forms
As nouns the difference between fume and vapour
is that fume is a gas or vapour/vapor that smells strongly or is dangerous to inhale. Fumes are solid particles formed by condensation from the gaseous state, e.g. metal oxides from volatilized metals. They can flocculate and coalesce. Their particle size is between 0.1 and 1 micron. (A micron is one millionth of a metre while vapour is cloudy diffused matter such as mist, steam or fumes suspended in the air.As verbs the difference between fume and vapour
is that fume is to emit fumes while vapour is to become vapour; to be emitted or circulated as vapour.fume
English
Noun
(en noun)- Don't stand around in there breathing the fumes while the adhesive cures.
- the fumes of new shorn hay
- the fumes of passion
- (South)
- a show of fumes and fancies
- to smother him with fumes and eulogies
Verb
(fum)- where the golden altar fumed
- Silenus lay, / Whose constant cups lay fuming to his brain.
- He's still fuming about the argument they had yesterday.
- He frets, he fumes , he stares, he stamps the ground.
- Her mother did fret, and her father did fume .
- Keep his brain fuming .
- Their parts are kept from fuming away by their fixity.
Usage notes
* In the sense of strong-smelling or dangerous vapor, the noun is typically plural, as in the example. ----vapour
English
Alternative forms
* vapor (US)Noun
The Lonely Pyramid, passage=The desert storm was riding in its strength; the travellers lay beneath the mastery of the fell simoom.
- (Francis Bacon)
- For what is your life? It is even a vapour , that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.
- a fit of vapours
Derived terms
* vapour pressure * vapour trail * water vapourSee also
* dew pointVerb
(en verb)- to vapour away a heated fluid
- He'd laugh to see one throw his heart away, / Another, sighing, vapour forth his soul.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Running waters vapour not so much as standing waters.
Verb
(en verb)- 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.
- 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.