vapid, a.
(ˈvæpɪd)
Also 7 vappid.
[ad. L. vapid-us savourless, insipid. Cf. obs. F. vapide (Cotgr.).]
1. Of liquors, beverages, etc.: Devoid of briskness; failing to produce an agreeable effect on the palate; flat, insipid.
| 1656 Blount Glossogr., Vapid, that gives an ill smack, that casts a vapour or ill savour, stinking. 1669 W. Simpson Hydrol. Chym. 116 A sourish, saltish, and..vapid liquor. 1676 Grew Anat. Pl., Anat. Fl. (1682) 158 Now the Liquors, in which these are generated, do always..lose their Tast and Smell, and so become Vapid. 1707 Mortimer Husb. xx. 585 Then away goes the brisk and pleasant Spirits and leave a vapid or sour Drink. 1756 C. Lucas Ess. Waters II. 208 It somewhat resembled vapid French white wine. 1788 F. Burney Diary 24 July, He..made his own cold tea, and drank it weak and vapid. 1823 J. Badcock Dom. Amusem. 47 Vapid, old and worn out trees, producing vapid fruit. 1864 Sala in Daily Tel. 1 Nov., So are bottled mineral waters the vapidest of beverages. |
| fig. 1783 Ld. Bristol A. Young Autobiogr. (1898) vi. 118 When you are vapid, if ever those pétillant spirits of yours are so, come and imbibe some..air at the Downhill. 1848 Dickens Dombey xiii, Such vapid and flat daylight as filtered through the ground-glass windows. |
b. Said of taste or flavour.
| 1677 Grew Anat. Pl. (1682) 280 A soft Taste, is either Vapid, as in Watery Bodies, Whites of Eggs, Starch,..Or Unctuous, as in Oyls, Fat, &c. 1826 Art of Brewing (ed. 2) 32 It gives to the beer a vapid disagreeable flavour. 1837 M. Donovan Dom. Econ. II. 337 The exhilarating effect is produced at the sacrifice of fine flavour, and with the introduction of vapid bitterness. 1859 W. S. Coleman Woodlands (1866) 118 The tempting appearance of which, however, is not borne out by their flavour, which is mawkish and vapid. |
c. Med. Of blood: Devoid of strength or vigour; weak, inert.
| 1684 tr. Bonet's Merc. Compit. xiv. 495 In such Diseases the whole mass of Blood..is otherwise grown vappid as it were. 1744 Berkeley Siris §52 Softening and enriching the sharp and vapid blood. 1834 Good's Study Med. (ed. 4) I. 563 note, Dr. Stevens thinks that the blood first loses its solid parts, and becomes thin, that it then becomes deprived of its saline principles, and turns black and vapid. |
d. Of flowers: Scentless.
rare—1.
| c 1750 Shenstone Rural Elegance 235 To rear some breathless vapid flow'rs. |
2. fig. Devoid of animation, zest, or interest; dull, flat, lifeless, insipid:
a. Of talk, discourse, writings, etc.
| 1758 Johnson Idler No. 34 ¶8 Conversation would become dull and vapid. a 1763 Shenstone Ess. Wks. 1765 II. 204 Vapid frivolous chit-chat serves to pass away the time. 1799 Monthly Rev. XXX. 211 The minute ceremonials and vapid common-place of the German theatre. 1822 Hazlitt Table-T. Ser. ii. i, The news of the morning become stale and vapid by the dinner-hour. 1865 H. Phillips Amer. Paper Curr. II. 112 The newspapers contained as usual vapid and lengthy essays. 1885 Manch. Exam. 11 Feb. 4/7 There is..a great deal of vapid declamation on this subject, but it will soon die out. |
b. Of amusements, pleasures, etc.
| 1790 Burke Fr. Rev. 16 This town..begins to grow satiated with the uniform round of its vapid dissipations. 1799 H. More Fem. Educ. (ed. 4) I. 98 A sophisticated little creature, nursed in these forced, and costly, and vapid pleasures. 1825–9 Mrs. Sherwood Lady of Manor IV. xxviii. 399 One continued round of vapid amusements, some of which are too light and trifling even to amuse a child at a common fete. 1877 Mrs. Forrester Mignon I. i, Mrs. Stratheden's ‘At Homes’ are very different from the general run of those vapid and dreary entertainments. |
c. Of persons or places.
| 1784 Cowper Task i. 393 The languid eye, the..wither'd muscle, and the vapid soul, Reproach their owner. 1824 W. Irving T. Trav. I. 197, I grew so dull, and vapid, and genteel. 1839 [Mrs. Maitland] Lett. fr. Madras (1843) 272 Masulipatam was an ugly place;..nothing to be seen but wide sandy roads,..altogether, a most vapid sort of place. 1873 C. M. Davies Unorth. Lond. (1876) 119 The adoption of the most vapid young lady's perversion of her mother-tongue. |
d. In miscellaneous contexts.
| 1796 F. Burney Camilla I. 236 A scheme of human happiness, which no time, no repetition can make vapid to a feeling heart. 1818 Hazlitt Table-T., On Vulg. & Affect., It is a vapid assumption of superiority. 1847 Disraeli Tancred ii. vii, A smile is..in general vapid. 1861 G. J. Whyte-Melville Market Harb. 10 The vapid demeanour and cool assurance which triumph in a ball-room. 1874 H. R. Reynolds John Bapt. viii. 515 If these pernicious views..be entertained..the renewal of humanity [is] a vapid and foolish dream. |
† 3. Of a damp or steamy character; dank; vaporous.
Obs.| 1660 Boyle New Exp. Phys. Mech. xxii. 169 A vapid Air, or Water rarified into vapor, may..emulate the elastical power of..true Air. 1677 Plot Oxfordsh. 18 Few (if any) vappid and stinking Exhalations can ascend from them to corrupt the Air. 1690 Leybourn Curs. Math. 449, Rheita affirms, that he observed Jupiter to be invested round with a vapid Atmosphere. |
Hence
ˈvapidism.
rare—1.
| 1831 Carlyle Schiller in Fraser's Mag. III. 130 All critical guild-brethren now working diligently..in the calmer sphere of Vapidism or even Nullism. |