Idioms for air
Origin of air
1
1150–1200; Middle English
eir < Old French
air < Latin
āēr- (accusative
āerem) < Greek
āer- (stem of
āḗr) the lower atmosphere; conflated with
(especially for defs 4, 5) French
air, Old French
aire nature, character < Latin
ager field (cf.
acre) and
ārea threshing floor, clearing,
area; and with
(for def 7) French
air < Italian
aria
aria
OTHER WORDS FROM air
air·like, adjective un·aired, adjective well-aired, adjectiveWords nearby air
British Dictionary definitions for into thin air (1 of 3)
AIR
abbreviation for
All India Radio
British Dictionary definitions for into thin air (2 of 3)
air
/ (ɛə) /
noun
verb
See also
airs
Word Origin for air
C13: via Old French and Latin from Greek
aēr the lower atmosphere
British Dictionary definitions for into thin air (3 of 3)
Aïr
/ (ˈɑːɪə) /
noun
a mountainous region of N central Niger, in the Sahara, rising to 1500 m (5000 ft): a former native kingdom. Area: about 77 700 sq km (30 000 sq miles)
Also called: Azbine, Asben
Medical definitions for into thin air
air
[ âr ]
n.
A colorless, odorless, tasteless, gaseous mixture, approximately 78 percent nitrogen and approximately 21 percent oxygen with lesser amounts of argon, carbon dioxide, hydrogen, neon, helium, and other gases.
This mixture, with varying amounts of moisture and particulate matter, enveloping Earth; the atmosphere.
Any of various respiratory gases. No longer in technical use.
Scientific definitions for into thin air
air
[ âr ]
The colorless, odorless, tasteless mixture of gases that surrounds the Earth. Air consists of about 78 percent nitrogen and 21 percent oxygen, with the remaining part made up mainly of argon, carbon dioxide, neon, helium, methane, and krypton in decreasing order of volume. Air also contains varying amounts of water vapor, particulate matter such as dust and soot, and chemical pollutants.
Idioms and Phrases with into thin air (1 of 2)
into thin air
Also, into the blue. Completely disappeared, as in The report was here on my desk and now it's gone, vanished into thin air, or I don't know where they've gone—into the blue, for all I know. Both of these hyperbolic expressions, often preceded by vanish as in the first example, use the rarefied atmosphere far above the earth as a metaphor for an unknown location. Shakespeare wrote of ghosts that “melted . . . into thin air” (The Tempest, 4:1). An antonym for both is out of thin air, meaning “from an unknown place or source.” For example, She made up this excuse out of thin air, or The car appeared out of thin air. However, out of the blue is not precisely an antonym (see under out of a clear blue sky).
Idioms and Phrases with into thin air (2 of 2)
air