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Fume vs Vapour - What's the difference?

fume | vapour |

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)
  • 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)
    • Don't stand around in there breathing the fumes while the adhesive cures.
  • * T. Warton
    • the fumes of new shorn hay
  • 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.
    • the fumes of passion
    (South)
  • Anything unsubstantial or airy; idle conceit; vain imagination.
  • * Francis Bacon
    • a show of fumes and fancies
  • The incense of praise; inordinate flattery.
  • * Burton
    • to smother him with fumes and eulogies

    Verb

    (fum)
  • To emit fumes.
  • * Milton
    • where the golden altar fumed
  • * Roscommon
    • Silenus lay, / Whose constant cups lay fuming to his brain.
  • To expose something (especially wood) to ammonia fumes in order to produce dark tints.
  • To feel or express great anger.
    • He's still fuming about the argument they had yesterday.
  • * Dryden
    • He frets, he fumes , he stares, he stamps the ground.
  • * Sir Walter Scott
    • Her mother did fret, and her father did fume .
  • To be as in a mist; to be dulled and stupefied.
  • * Shakespeare
    • Keep his brain fuming .
  • To pass off in fumes or vapours.
  • * Cheyne
    • 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

  • Cloudy diffused matter such as mist, steam or fumes suspended in the air.
  • *{{quote-book, year=1892, author=(James Yoxall)
    • , chapter=5, title= The Lonely Pyramid , passage=The desert storm was riding in its strength; the travellers lay beneath the mastery of the fell simoom.
  • The gaseous state of a substance that is normally a solid or liquid.
  • (label) Wind; flatulence.
    • (Francis Bacon)
  • Something unsubstantial, fleeting, or transitory; unreal fancy; vain imagination; idle talk; boasting.
  • * Bible, (w) iv. 14
    • For what is your life? It is even a vapour , that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.
  • (label) Hypochondria; melancholy; the blues; hysteria, or other nervous disorder.
  • * (Alexander Pope) (1688-1744)
    • a fit of vapours
  • (label) Any medicinal agent designed for administration in the form of inhaled vapour.

    • Derived terms

    * vapour pressure * vapour trail * water vapour

    See also

    * dew point

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To become vapour; to be emitted or circulated as vapour.
  • To turn into vapour.
    • to vapour away a heated fluid
  • * Ben Jonson
    • He'd laugh to see one throw his heart away, / Another, sighing, vapour forth his soul.
  • 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:
    • 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.
  • * 1904 , , ‘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.
  • * 1978 , (Lawrence Durrell), Livia'', Faber & Faber 1992 (''Avignon Quintet ), p. 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.
  • To emit vapour or fumes.
  • * Francis Bacon
    • Running waters vapour not so much as standing waters.

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • 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:
    • 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.
  • * 1904 , , ‘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.
  • * 1978 , (Lawrence Durrell), Livia , Faber
    • British English forms