Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Vapor, gas, or smoke, especially if irritating, harmful, or strong.
- n. A strong or acrid odor.
- n. A state of resentment or vexation.
- v. To subject to or treat with fumes.
- v. To give off in or as if in fumes.
- v. To emit fumes.
- v. To rise in fumes.
- v. To feel or show resentment or vexation.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. Smoke.
- n. Incense.
- n. Any smoky or invisible vaporous exhalation, especially if possessing narcotic, stifling, or other marked properties; volatile matter arising from anything; an exhalation: generally in the plural: as, the fumes of tobacco; the fumes of burning sulphur; the fumes of wine.
- n. Any mental agitation regarded as clouding or affecting the understanding; excitement; especially, an irritable or angry mood; passion: generally in the singular.
- n. Anything comparable to fume or vapor, from being unsubstantial or fleeting, as an idle conceit, a vain imagination, and the like.
- n. The incense of praise; hence, inordinate flattery.
- n. One apt to get into a fume; a passionate person.
- To smoke; throw off smoke in combustion.
- To emit any smoky or invisible vaporous exhalation; throw off narcotic, stifling, pungent, fragrant, or otherwise noticeable volatile matter.
- To be confused by emotion, excitement, or excess, as if by stupefying or poisonous fumes.
- To pass off in vapor.
- To be angered or irritated; be in a passion.
- To fret, chafe, storm.
- To smoke; dry in smoke; fumigate.
- To treat with fumes, as of a chemical substance.
- To perfume.
- To disperse or drive away in vapors; send up as vapor.
- To offer incense to; hence, to flatter excessively.
- Smoked: as, verve fume (‘smoked glass’).
- Smoky; having a smoky tint: as, quartz fumé.
- That has been subjected to the process of fuming, as oak, in order to obtain an antique appearance.
Wiktionary
- n. 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)
- n. A material that has been vaporized from the solid state to the gas state and re-coalesced to the solid state.
- v. Emit fumes.
- v. Expose something (especially wood) to ammonia fumes in order to produce dark tints.
- v. To feel or express great anger.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. Exhalation; volatile matter (esp. noxious vapor or smoke) ascending in a dense body; smoke; vapor; reek.
- n. Rage or excitement which deprives the mind of self-control.
- n. Anything vaporlike, unsubstantial, or airy; idle conceit; vain imagination.
- n. The incense of praise; inordinate flattery.
- n. Solid material deposited by condensation of fumes.
- v. To smoke; to throw off fumes, as in combustion or chemical action; to rise up, as vapor.
- v. To be as in a mist; to be dulled and stupefied.
- v. To pass off in fumes or vapors.
- v. To be in a rage; to be hot with anger.
- v. To expose to the action of fumes; to treat with vapors, smoke, etc.; ; to fill with fumes, vapors, odors, etc., as a room.
- v. To praise inordinately; to flatter.
- v. To throw off in vapor, or as in the form of vapor.
WordNet 3.0
- v. treat with fumes, expose to fumes, especially with the aim of disinfecting or eradicating pests
- v. be wet with sweat or blood, as of one's face
- v. emit a cloud of fine particles
- n. a cloud of fine particles suspended in a gas
- v. be mad, angry, or furious
Etymologies
- Middle English, from Old French fum, from Latin fūmus.
Examples
“Every day the Mayor delays and the bloggers fume is one more day that old, ugly, unsafe structure stays up.”
Council Should Unite Behind McGinn On The Tunnel Cost Overrun Provision « PubliCola
“Every day the Mayor delays and the bloggers fume is one more day that old, ugly, unsafe structure stays up.”
Council Should Unite Behind McGinn On The Tunnel Cost Overrun Provision « PubliCola
“But when the system malfunctions, chemical contaminants can occasionally end up circulating through the airplane, creating a so-called fume event.”
The Wall Street Journal: Up in the Air: New Worries About ‘Fume Events’ on Planes
“It is possible according to government sources that one flight in 100 may suffer a "fume" event (contamination may even be more frequent), but it is accepted most events are never reported at all.”
“Dalglish can well "fume" at the penalty decision but there were many shots of this and there WAS contact from behind - despite Berbatov's theatre.”
“The "fume" or "smell" events occur when oil seeps from faulty engine oil seals into the compressor bleed air used to ventilate and pressurise the cabin.”
“The word "perfume" comes from the Latin per fume, meaning "through smoke".”
“The reason I fume at this Clay County debacle is that, simply because we live in Mexico and have no U.S. address, we cannot open a bank checking account up there nor open a credit card account unless I already had them when I got here despite the fact that we had perfect credit over 40 years before moving here and I´m a U. S.citizen.”
“It is a conduit of commerce as well: hopeful taxis prowl the curbs, fume-engulfed buses clog the lanes, cars and trucks dash from light to light, practised pedestrians flirt with catastrophe, and sanguine cyclists weave through the maelstrom.”
“My meaningless 2000 vote for Nader in a blue lock was my favorite one I ever cast, and watching the commissars rage and fume about it eight years later never ceases to bring me joy.”
Matthew Yglesias » The Real German Resistance to Hitler: The Social Democrats
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘fume’.
-
sound (quiet)
words for quiet sounds
( randomness, descriptive )sigh, murmur, whisper, whir, rustle, patter, hum, snap, hiss(sss), crackle, bleat, peep and 185 more...
-
Words in which "u" is pronounced "yu"
cute, uniform, puny, municipal, butte, fume, perfume, puke, cucumber, huge, demure, cube and 56 more...
-
Cloudy
with a chance of mizzle
puff, nebulous, fog, overcast, becloud, bedim, taint, befog, dapple, mottle, sully, pother and 83 more...

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