moisture
English
Etymology
From Middle English moisture, from Old French moistour (“moisture, dampness, wetness”). Compare French moiteur.
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈmɔɪs.t͡ʃə/
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈmɔɪs.t͡ʃɚ/
Audio (US) (file) - Rhymes: -ɔɪstʃə(ɹ)
Noun
moisture (usually uncountable, plural moistures)
- That which moistens or makes damp or wet; exuding fluid; liquid in small quantity.
- drops / beads of moisture
- c. 1591–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act II, scene i]:
- I cannot weep; for all my body’s moisture
Scarce serves to quench my furnace-burning heart:
- 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981, Luke 8:6:
- And some [seed] fell upon a rock; and as soon as it was sprung up, it withered away, because it lacked moisture.
- 1838 March – 1839 October, Charles Dickens, chapter 7, in The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1839, OCLC 1057107260:
- […] Nicholas Nickleby’s eyes were dimmed with a moisture that might have been taken for tears.
- 1897, Bram Stoker, chapter 3, in Dracula, New York, N.Y.: Modern Library, OCLC 688657546, page 39:
- […] as she arched her neck she actually licked her lips like an animal, till I could see in the moonlight the moisture shining on the scarlet lips and on the red tongue as it lapped the white sharp teeth.
- 1962, Rachel Carson, Silent Spring, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, Chapter 6, p. 65,
- The sage—low-growing and shrubby—could hold its place on the mountain slopes and on the plains, and within its small gray leaves it could hold moisture enough to defy the thieving winds.
- The state of being moist.
- Synonyms: dampness, humidity, moistness, wetness
- 1631, Francis [Bacon], “4. Century.”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], 3rd edition, London: […] William Rawley; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], page 84, OCLC 1044372886:
- […] all Exclusion of Open Aire, (which is euer Predatory) maintaineth the Body in his first Freshnesse, and Moisture:
- 1643, John Denham, Coopers Hill, p. 7,
- Such was the discord, which did first disperse
- Forme, order, beauty through the universe;
- While drynesse moisture, coldnesse heat resists,
- All that we have, and that we are subsists:
- 1794, Erasmus Darwin, Zoonomia, London: J. Johnson, Volume 1, Section 7, I.1, p. 39,
- [The organs of touch are excited] by the unceasing variations of the heat, moisture, and pressure of the atmosphere;
- (medicine) Skin moisture noted as dry, moist, clammy, or diaphoretic as part of the skin signs assessment.
Synonyms
- weakiness
Related terms
- moist
- moisten
- moistness
- moisturise, moisturize
- moisturiser, moisturizer
Translations
that which moistens or makes damp; liquid in small quantity
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the state of being moist — See also translations at moistness
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Anagrams
- misroute
Middle English
Alternative forms
- moistere, mostowre, moyster, moystur, moysture, moystyr
Etymology
Borrowed from Old French moistour; equivalent to moiste + -ure.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈmɔi̯stiu̯r(ə)/, /ˈmɔi̯stur(ə)/, /ˈmɔi̯stər(ə)/
Noun
moisture
- moistness, wetness
- moisture, humidity
- fluid, secretion
- (figurative) Something invigorating.
Usage notes
- Used as a technical term in alchemy and medicine.
Synonyms
- moistnesse
Descendants
- English: moisture
References
- “moistūr(e, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.