Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Vapor, gas, or smoke, especially if irritating, harmful, or strong.
  • noun A strong or acrid odor.
  • noun A state of resentment or vexation.
  • intransitive verb To subject to or treat with fumes.
  • intransitive verb To give off in or as if in fumes.
  • intransitive verb To emit fumes.
  • intransitive verb To rise in fumes.
  • intransitive verb To feel or show resentment or vexation.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • 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.
  • noun Smoke.
  • noun Incense.
  • noun 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.
  • noun Any mental agitation regarded as clouding or affecting the understanding; excitement; especially, an irritable or angry mood; passion: generally in the singular.
  • noun Anything comparable to fume or vapor, from being unsubstantial or fleeting, as an idle conceit, a vain imagination, and the like.
  • noun The incense of praise; hence, inordinate flattery.
  • noun 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.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun Exhalation; volatile matter (esp. noxious vapor or smoke) ascending in a dense body; smoke; vapor; reek.
  • noun Rage or excitement which deprives the mind of self-control.
  • noun Anything vaporlike, unsubstantial, or airy; idle conceit; vain imagination.
  • noun The incense of praise; inordinate flattery.
  • noun (Metal.) Solid material deposited by condensation of fumes.
  • noun in ill temper, esp. from impatience.
  • transitive verb To expose to the action of fumes; to treat with vapors, smoke, etc.; ; to fill with fumes, vapors, odors, etc., as a room.
  • transitive verb To praise inordinately; to flatter.
  • transitive verb To throw off in vapor, or as in the form of vapor.
  • intransitive verb To smoke; to throw off fumes, as in combustion or chemical action; to rise up, as vapor.
  • intransitive verb To be as in a mist; to be dulled and stupefied.
  • intransitive verb To pass off in fumes or vapors.
  • intransitive verb To be in a rage; to be hot with anger.
  • intransitive verb to give way to excitement and displeasure; to storm; also, to pass off in fumes.

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

  • 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)
  • noun A material that has been vaporized from the solid state to the gas state and re-coalesced to the solid state.
  • verb Emit fumes.
  • verb Expose something (especially wood) to ammonia fumes in order to produce dark tints.
  • verb To feel or express great anger.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb treat with fumes, expose to fumes, especially with the aim of disinfecting or eradicating pests
  • verb be wet with sweat or blood, as of one's face

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Old French fum, from Latin fūmus.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English, from Old French fum ("smoke, steam, vapour"), from Latin fūmus, from Proto-Indo-European *dʰuh₂mós (“smoke”), from Proto-Indo-European *dhūw- (“to smoke, raise dust”). More at dun, dusk.

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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 2010

  • 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 2010

  • But when the system malfunctions, chemical contaminants can occasionally end up circulating through the airplane, creating a so-called fume event.

    Up in the Air: New Worries About ‘Fume Events’ on Planes 2009

  • 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.

    Airline Travelers in Danger of Aerotoxic Syndrome 2009

  • 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.

    BBC Ouch! Blog BBC Sport 2011

  • 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.

    HEADLINES 2010

  • The word "perfume" comes from the Latin per fume, meaning "through smoke".

    Muti 2008

  • 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.

    South Dakota car registration 2009

  • 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.

    South Dakota car registration 2009

  • 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.

    South Dakota car registration 2009

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