humid, a.
(ˈhjuːmɪd)
Also 6–7 humide.
[a. F. humide (15th c. in Hatz.-Darm.) or ad. L. hūmid-us, more correctly ūmid-us, f. ūmēre to be moist.]
Slightly wet as with steam, suspended vapour, or mist; moist, damp.
| 1549 Compl. Scot. vi. 58 The rane..is ane exalatione of humid vapours. 1632 J. Hayward tr. Biondi's Eromena 54 Such musicke, as..drew humid lamentations from the driest eyes. 1667 Milton P.L. ix. 193 The humid Flours, that breathd Thir morning Incense. 1766 Goldsm. Vic. W. xxiii, Those mouldering walls and humid floor. 1870 Yeats Nat. Hist. Comm. 14 Ireland is more humid than England. |
b. In mediæval physiology, said of elements, humours, etc.
| 1604 Jas. I. Counterbl. (Arb.) 102 Because the Braines are colde and humide. 1637 Gillespie Eng. Pop. Cerem. iii. ix. 200 The complexion of a woman..is more humide then the complexion of a man. 1809 Med. Jrnl. XXI. 199 When the choleric, phlegmatic, sanguine, and melancholic temperaments, are said to be occasioned by a humid and dry, hot and cold constitution. |
c. Said of a chemical process in which liquid is used.
| 1800 tr. Lagrange's Chem. I. 411 It is a reduction in the humid way. 1816 J. Smith Panorama Sc. & Art II. 480 Crystallization is of two kinds, the dry and the humid;..the humid crystallization refers to fluids and gases holding solids in solution. 1838 T. Thomson Chem. Org. Bodies 373 Iodine does not act sensibly in the humid way. |
d. Of diseases: Marked by a moist discharge.
| 1813 J. Thomson Lect. Inflam. 507 The French [usually express this difference] by those of humid and dry gangrenes. 1822–34 Good's Study Med. (ed. 4) IV. 484 Laminated Humid Scall. |
Hence humidly adv.; humidness, moistness.
| 1727 Bailey vol. II, Humidness, moisture. 1886 C. Gibbon Clare of Claresmede II. xi. 172 There was..fear in her humidly bright eyes. |