Van"tage, v. t. To profit; to aid. [Obs.] Spenser.
{ Vant"brace (?), Vant"brass (?), } n. [F. avant fore + bras arm: cf.
F. brassard armor for the arm, brace, forearm. Cf. Vambrace.] (Anc.
Armor) Armor for the arm; vambrace. Milton.
{ Vant"-cou`ri*er (?), n. } An avant- courier. See Van-courier. [Obs.]
Holland.
Van"ward (?), a. Being on, or towards, the van, or front. "The vanward
frontier." De Quincey.
Vap (vp), n. [See Vapid.] That which is vapid, insipid, or lifeless;
especially, the lifeless part of liquor or wine. [Obs.]
In vain it is to wash a goblet, if you mean to put into it nothing but
the dead lees and vap of wine.
Jer. Taylor.
Vap"id (?), a. [L. vapidus having lost its lire and spirit, vapid; akin
to vappa vapid wine, vapor vapor. See Vapor.] Having lost its life and
spirit; dead; spiritless; insipid; flat; dull; unanimated; as, vapid
beer; a vapid speech; a vapid state of the blood.
A cheap, bloodless reformation, a guiltless liberty, appear flat and
vapid to their taste.
Burke.
— Vap"id*ly (#), adv. — Vap"id*ness, n.
Va*pid"i*ty (?), n. The quality or state of being vapid; vapidness.
Va"por (?), n. [OE. vapour, OF. vapour, vapor, vapeur, F. vapeur, L.
vapor; probably for cvapor, and akin to Gr. &?; smoke, &?; to breathe
forth, Lith. kvepti to breathe, smell, Russ. kopote fine soot. Cf.
Vapid.] [Written also vapour.]
1. (Physics) Any substance in the gaseous, or aëriform, state, the
condition of which is ordinarily that of a liquid or solid.
The term vapor is sometimes used in a more extended sense, as identical
with gas; and the difference between the two is not so much one of kind
as of degree, the latter being applied to all permanently elastic
fluids except atmospheric air, the former to those elastic fluids which
lose that condition at ordinary temperatures. The atmosphere contains
more or less vapor of water, a portion of which, on a reduction of
temperature, becomes condensed into liquid water in the form of rain or
dew. The vapor of water produced by boiling, especially in its economic
relations, is called steam.
Vapor is any substance in the gaseous condition at the maximum of
density consistent with that condition. This is the strict and proper
meaning of the word vapor.
Nichol.
2. In a loose and popular sense, any visible diffused substance
floating in the atmosphere and impairing its transparency, as smoke,
fog, etc.
The vapour which that fro the earth glood [glided].
Chaucer.
Fire and hail; snow and vapors; stormy wind fulfilling his word.
Ps. cxlviii. 8.