vapourishvaporishadj.
/ˈveɪpərɪʃ/ 1. Of the nature of vapour; dim through the presence of vapour; vapoury.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > gas > [adjective] > of the nature of fumes or vapour
vaporosec1400
vapoury1597
vaporous1604
fumish1613
halituous1616
vapourish1647
vaporific1797
vapouring1821
vaporiform1860
the world > matter > light > darkness or absence of light > dimness or absence of brightness > [adjective] > dimmed > by vapour
waterish1603
vapourish1781
vapoury1818
1647 H. Hexham Copious Eng. & Netherduytch Dict. Vaporish, dompigh, roockachtigh.
1781 W. Hayley Triumphs of Temper i. 287 To drive gross atoms from the rays of noon Or chase the halo from the vapourish moon.
1844 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. 55 166 The conception is generally vague, vapourish, and metaphysical.
1887 H. Caine Son of Hagar ii. viii When Greta set out, the atmosphere was yellow and vapourish.
2.
a. Apt to be troubled with the vapours; inclined to depression or low spirits.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > suffering > dejection > nervous depression > [adjective] > affected with > apt to be
vapourish1716
souffrante1827
1716–20 Lett. from Mist's Jrnl. (1722) I. 97 For, as most other old Maids, she is exceedingly vapourish and fanciful.
1740 S. Richardson Pamela II. 315 Every one sees, that the yawning Husband, and the vapourish Wife, are truly insupportable to one another.
1782 J. E. Smith Mem. (1832) I. 48 It made me vapourish to see so many students going away.
1803 A. Seward Lett. (1811) VI. 60 I see him, with all his inherent good properties, a vapourish egotist.
1844 W. M. Thackeray Barry Lyndon ii. iii, in Fraser's Mag. Dec. 669/1 Lady Lyndon, always vaporish and nervous,..became more agitated than ever.
b. Of the nature of, connected with, arising from, nervous depression.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > suffering > dejection > nervous depression > [adjective]
vapourish1733
vapoury1771
the world > health and disease > mental health > mental illness > degree or type of mental illness > [adjective] > depressive
vapourish1733
vapoury1771
depressive1905
1733 G. Cheyne Eng. Malady ii. iv. 148 Some Headachs..may properly enough be call'd Vapourish or Nervous.
1748 S. Richardson Clarissa III. lii. 258 I am in the depth of vapourish despondency.
1793 W. Roberts Looker-on No. 39. 306 Be tender of using it in this torpid and vapourish condition.
1835 J. W. Carlyle Lett. I. 22 This ‘very penetrating world’—as a maid of my mother's used to call it in vapourish moods.
1879 M. E. Braddon Vixen III. 85 His pretty,..middle-aged wife, whose languid airs and vapourish graces were likely to pall..after a year of married life.
3. Apt to produce vapours. rare.
ΚΠ
1725 R. Bradley Chomel's Dictionaire Œconomique at Flux He must forbear every thing that is hot and vapourish.
Derivatives
ˈvapourishness n.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > suffering > dejection > nervous depression > [noun] > condition of being inclined to
vapourishness1748
the world > existence and causation > existence > substantiality or concreteness > unsubstantiality or abstractness > [noun] > unsubstantiality or lack of substance
airiness1535
slightnessa1616
wanzingness1642
hollowness1648
insubsistence1651
emptiness1695
dreaminess1796
unsubstantiality1838
insubstantiality1848
aeriality1854
vapourishness1860
tenuousness1901
shimmeriness1913
1748 S. Richardson Clarissa IV. i. 1 You will not wonder, that the vapourishness which has laid hold of my heart, should rise to my pen.
1860 W. J. C. Muir Pagan or Christian? in Ess. 116 There is a vapourishness about the design of French Cathedrals and French work generally.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1916; most recently modified version published online June 2021).
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adj.1647