Meaning of vacuum in English

Table of contents

Verb
vacuum
Definitions
1. clean with a vacuum cleaner
Examples
- « vacuum the carpets »
Derived terms
Noun
vacuum
Etymology
mid 16th century: modern Latin, neuter of Latin vacuus‘empty’
Definitions
1. the absence of matter
2. an empty area or space
Examples
- « the huge desert voids »
- « the emptiness of outer space »
- « without their support he'll be ruling in a vacuum »
Derived terms
- void
3. a region empty of matter
4. an electrical home appliance that cleans by suction
Derived terms
- hoover
- vacuum-clean

Famous quotes

« Change means movement. Movement means friction. Only in the frictionless vacuum of a nonexistent abstract world can movement or change occur without that abrasive friction of conflict. »
Saul Alinsky
« I must have something to engross my thoughts, some object in life which will fill this vacuum, and prevent this sad wearing away of the heart. »
Elizabeth Blackwell
« It's amazing that something only an atom thick can be an impenetrable barrier. You can have gas on one side and vacuum or liquid on the other, and with a wall only one atom thick, nothing would go through it. »
Paul McEuen
« A vacuum is a hell of a lot better than some of the stuff that nature replaces it with. »
Tennessee Williams
« All of Koons's best art - the encased vacuum cleaners, the stainless-steel Rabbit (the late-twentieth century's signature work of Simulationist sculpture), the amazing gleaming Balloon Dog, and the cast-iron re-creation of a Civil War mortar exhibited last month at the Armory - has simultaneously flaunted extreme realism, idealism, and fantasy. »
Jerry Saltz