Vacuum
['vækjʊəm]
Definition
(noun.) an electrical home appliance that cleans by suction.
(noun.) a region that is devoid of matter.
(noun.) the absence of matter.
(verb.) clean with a vacuum cleaner; 'vacuum the carpets'.
Typist: Wesley--From WordNet
Definition
(n.) A space entirely devoid of matter (called also, by way of distinction, absolute vacuum); hence, in a more general sense, a space, as the interior of a closed vessel, which has been exhausted to a high or the highest degree by an air pump or other artificial means; as, water boils at a reduced temperature in a vacuum.
(n.) The condition of rarefaction, or reduction of pressure below that of the atmosphere, in a vessel, as the condenser of a steam engine, which is nearly exhausted of air or steam, etc.; as, a vacuum of 26 inches of mercury, or 13 pounds per square inch.
Edited by Albert
Synonyms and Synonymous
n. Void, empty space, vacuity.
Inputed by Claude
Examples
- In this a vacuum is maintained by a condenser, the vapors passing from the pan to the condenser through the great curved pipe rising from the top, which pipe is five feet in diameter. Edward W. Byrn. The Progress of Invention in the Nineteenth Century.
- He was isolated as if there were a vacuum round his heart, or a sheath of pure ice. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- This fact he utilized by the means which he has described, a lamp having a filamentary carbon burner in a nearly perfect vacuum. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
- When the first lamp-works were started at Menlo Park, one of my experiments seemed to show that hot mercury gave a better vacuum in the lamp than cold mercury. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
- The vacuum pan was the invention of Howard, an Englishman. Edward W. Byrn. The Progress of Invention in the Nineteenth Century.
- His problem therefore was how best to compress the air, or, as it appeared to him, how to secure a vacuum. Rupert S. Holland. Historic Inventions.
- The most practical methods of refining salt today are known as the Grainer, Vacuum Pan and Alberger systems. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
Edited by Hilda