Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Plural of effluvium.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Plural form of effluvium.

Etymologies

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Examples

  • Our magic motor stopped, the doors swung open – and we must have been downwind because a certain effluvia crept over us.

    2009 July « Official Harry Harrison News Blog 2009

  • Our magic motor stopped, the doors swung open – and we must have been downwind because a certain effluvia crept over us.

    The Stainless Steel Rat Returns – Chapter 2 « Official Harry Harrison News Blog 2009

  • The watering of the Cairo streets of late years has been excessive; they are now lines of mud in summer as well as in winter and the effluvia from the droppings of animals have, combined with other causes, seriously deteriorated the once charming climate.

    The Book of The Thousand Nights And A Night 2006

  • Just as it is necessary to renew the air round a sick person frequently, to carry off morbid effluvia from the lungs and skin, by maintaining free ventilation, so is it necessary to keep the pores of the skin free from all obstructing excretions.

    Notes on Nursing: What It Is, and What It Is Not 1860

  • Of the fatal effects of the effluvia from the excreta it would seem unnecessary to speak, were they not so constantly neglected.

    Notes on Nursing: What It Is, and What It Is Not 1860

  • Public Access cable channels have allowed areas throughout the nation feature horror host spinoffs, and they’re the fun ones — the ubernerds of today, whacked-out geeks like yours truly whose creativity leads to the creation of a horrorshow persona and the showcasing of random effluvia from the underbelly of American cinema.

    American Scary (Movie Review) « Skid Roche 2007

  • The effluvia are a rank offense to the sensibilities of the fastidious Joru, whose breathing equipment concentrates oxygen from the ambient atmosphere of exotic worlds and tends to amplify smells as well.

    Sagittarius Whorl May, Julian 2001

  • Man, those gigs where you get all the effluvia are the sweetest ones.

    Gawker 2009

  • Man, those gigs where you get all the effluvia are the sweetest ones.

    Gawker 2009

  • Whether these odoriferous particles attend the perspirable matter in consequence of the increased action of the capillary glands, and can properly be called excrementitous; that is, whether any thing is eliminated, which could be hurtful if retained; or whether they may only contain some of the essential oil of the animal; like the smell, which adheres to one's hand on stroking the hides of some dogs; or like the effluvia, which is left upon the ground, from the feet of men and other creatures; and is perceptible by the nicer organs of the dogs, which hunt them, may admit of doubt.

    Zoonomia, Vol. II Or, the Laws of Organic Life Erasmus Darwin 1766

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  • Merriam-Webster Dictionary:

    noun

    Inflected Form(s): plural ef·flu·via also ef·flu·vi·ums

    Etymology: Latin effluvium act of flowing out, from effluere

    Date: 1651

    1: an invisible emanation; especially : an offensive exhalation or smell

    2: a by-product especially in the form of waste

    February 6, 2008

  • Citation on perfumery.

    September 18, 2008

  • Citation on stercoraceous.

    January 3, 2009