Vaporising

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. The process refers to the conversion of a substance from liquid or solid into vapor through techniques such as heating or applying pressure
2. The action of transforming a liquid or solid into gas by heating or other means
3. Changing a material from its liquid or solid state into an invisible gaseous form

Etymology: Vapour comes from Latin "vapor", meaning steam or breath, and English took it through Old French "vapeur" and Middle English "vapour". The suffix that turns it into a verb has a much longer journey. It descends from an ancient Greek verb ending "-izō", which Latin borrowed as "-izāre" and which passed into French and then English as "-ise". Attaching it to "vapour" creates a verb meaning to turn something into vapour. Because the suffix is so old and so productive, English speakers have stretched it far beyond its Greek roots. A single ending once meant little more than "make into", and it now sits on words from nearly every field of study. The verb itself is simply a transformation tool: heat or pressure turns a liquid or solid into a gas, and the word describes that change.