the vapors
Victorian lady's affliction
The vapors is an old-fashioned term for a fainting spell or fit of hysteria, once attributed to women overcome by emotional distress.
The condition was thought to arise from exhalations of bodily organs affecting the brain.
Now used ironically or humorously: She clutched her pearls and nearly got the vapors when she heard the news.
- faintWeak and indistinct
- swoonLose consciousness briefly
- smelling saltsPungent ammonia revival compound
- hysteriaUncontrollable emotional excess
- fainting couchBackless lounger for swooning
drawing room · dizzy · lightheaded · Victorian · lady's maid · delicate · southern belle · mist · steam · fog · fumes · gas · gaseous state · ethereal · wafting · haze · miasma · perfume
- Euphemismspass away, passed away, passed on, expecting, with child
- Fictional Diseasesgreyscale, zombie virus, Trixie, flare, blood curse
- Old Ailmentsconsumption, dropsy, ague, apoplexy, phthisis
- madnessmadness, lunacy, insanity, mania, schizophrenia
the vaporscomposure
Emotional self-control
equanimity · sangfroid · stoicism · self-possession · unflappability
the vaporsstiff upper lip
Controlled emotional restraint
robustness · hardiness · toughness · ruggedness · sturdiness
vapor, vapors, vaporous, vaporize, vaporized, vaporizing, vaporization, vaporizer, evaporate