vacuum
/ˈvæ.kjuːm/ noun, verb
Forms vacuums vacua vacuuming vacuumed
- noun A region of space that contains no matter.
- noun The condition of rarefaction, or reduction of pressure below that of the atmosphere, in a vessel, such as the condenser of a steam engine, which is nearly exhausted of air or steam, etc. “a vacuum of 26 inches of mercury, or 13 pounds per square inch”
- noun (physics) A spacetime having tensors of zero magnitude.
- noun (physics) A ground state of a quantum field or of local spacetime, or more abstractly the lowest-energy state of a system.
- noun (string theory) A description of spacetime resulting from a particular compactification of spatial dimensions.
- noun An emptiness in life created by a loss of a person who was close, or of an occupation.
- noun An exercise in which one draws their abdomen towards the spine.
- verb (transitive) To clean (something) with a vacuum cleaner.
- verb (intransitive) To use a vacuum cleaner.
- verb (transitive, databases) To optimise a database or database table by physically removing deleted tuples.
Synonyms
vacancy void hoover vacuum state to do the hoovering to hoover vacuity emptiness vacuum cleaner vacuum-clean
Antonyms
Etymology
Borrowed from New Latin vacuum (“vacuum”), a subsense of Classical Latin vacuum (“empty space”), a substantivised form of vacuus (“empty”); related to vacāre (“to be empty”).
The exercise sense comes from analogy to the sucking action of a vacuum cleaner.
From Dutch vacuüm, from Latin vacuum, the substantive neuter of the adjective vacuus (“empty”); spelt with a diæresis added to specify the trisyllabic pronunciation [ˈvæ.kjuː.əm] (as opposed to the disyllabic * [ˈvæ.kjuːm]).
Webster’s 1913
- noun 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.
- noun 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. Vacuum brake, a kind of continuous brake operated by exhausting the air from some appliance under each car, and so causing the pressure of the atmosphere to apply the brakes.
Etymology [L., fr. vacuus empty. See Vacuous.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “vacuum”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details