v. [ad. med. or mod.L. *tran(s)spīrāre (f. TRANS- + spīrāre to breathe), or a. F. transpirer c. 1560 in Paré).]
1. trans. To emit or cause to pass in the state of vapor through the walls or surface of a body; esp. to give off or discharge (waste matter, etc.) from the body through the skin; of plants: to give off (watery vapor); also, to exhale (an odor); to breathe forth (vapor or fire).
1597. A. M., trans. Guillemeau’s Fr. Chirurg., 40 b/1. When as we desire to transpire, and cause to evaporate, any venomouse vapours.
1647. Crashaw, Hymn, ‘Name of Jesus,’ With wider pores … More freely to transpire That impatient fire.
1664. Evelyn, Sylva (1776), 29. It transpires the rest of the liquid at the Summites and tops of the branches into the atmosphere.
1774. Goldsm., Nat. Hist. (1862), I. viii. 37. At the [quicksilver] mines near the village of Idra … some in a manner transpiring quicksilver at every pore.
1815. Kirby & Sp., Entomol. (1828), I. vi. 201. Aphides that transpire a cottony excretion.
1840. J. Buel, Farmer’s Comp., 122. Some species transpiring their weight of moisture every twenty-four hours.
1878. McNab, Bot., iv. (1883), 101. For the same reason cut flowers wither. The leaves transpire more fluid than the stem can take up.
1908. A. Bennett, Old Wives’ T., III. ii. The air was heavy with the natural human odour which young children transpire.
b. To cause (a gas or liquid) to pass through the pores or walls of a vessel.
1864–72. Watts, Dict. Chem., II. 820. The volume [of gas] transpired in equal times is inversely as the length of the tube.
1889. Anderson, in Nature, 19 Sept. Not only are gases occluded, but they are also transpired under favourable conditions of temperature and pressure.
c. fig. To cause to pass like breath. rare.
1641. J. Jackson, True Evang. T., I. 37. As if Severus had transpired his soule into Maximinus,… he now became the Wolfe, and Leopard.
2. intr. Of a body: † To emit vapor or perfume; to give out an exhalation (obs.); of the animal body (or a person): to give off moisture through the skin; to perspire (obs. exc. as rendering Fr. transpirer); now only of plants: to give off watery vapor from the surface of leaves, etc.
1648. Herrick, Hesper., Appar. of Mistr. Calling him to Elizium, 7. This, that, and ev’ry thicket doth transpire More sweet than storax from the hallowed fire.
1673. O. Walker, Educ., 63. Exercises and recreations … such … as may cause the body to transpire plentifully.
1844. Kinglake, Eöthen, xviii. (1864), 237. I saw that the Doctor was transpiring, profusely.
1878. McNab, Bot., iv. (1883), 102. When the plant is transpiring most rapidly and most water is moving through the stem, the wood cells and vessels are filled with air.
1886. Jrnl. R. Microsc. Soc., Oct., 826. If transpiration is suddenly stopped in branches which ordinarily transpire strongly, the leaves fall.
3. intr. Of a volatile substance: To pass out as vapor through pores (in the human body or any porous substance), to exhale; of a liquid: to escape by evaporation.
1643. Digby, Observ. Relig. Med. (1644), 81. In bodies which have internall principles of Heat and Motion, much continually transpiring out to make roome for the supply of new aliment.
1687. A. Lovell, trans. Thevenot’s Trav., II. 62. Through these Jars the water transpires and percolates into an earthen Vessel underneath.
1746–7. Hervey, Medit. (1818), 161. A fragrance … peculiarly rich and reviving transpires from its opening tufts.
1794. G. Adams, Nat. & Exp. Philos., II. xiii. 17. Moisture can transpire through our skin.
1815. Kirby & Sp., Entomol. (1818), I. ii. 29. One of those species [of Aphides] from the skin of which transpires a white cottony secretion.
1889. Anderson, in Nature, 19 Sept. Common coal-gas under high pressure transpires through the steel of the containing vessel.
b. transf. and fig. of non-material things.
1752. A. Murphy, Gray’s-Inn Jrnl., No. 2. Anxiety and Solicitude, which soon transpire into the Face. Ibid. (1753), No. 51. An elegant Way of Thinking, which will be always sure to transpire into their Compositions.
1886. Stevenson, Dr. Jekyll, ii. The mere radiance of a foul soul that thus transpires through, and transfigures, its clay continent.
† c. trans. To pass through the pores of. Obs. rare–1.
1754. Miles, in Phil. Trans., XLVIII. 526. Occasioned … by warm steams transpiring the earth.
4. fig. ‘To escape from secrecy to notice’ (J.); to become known, esp. by obscure channels, or in spite of secrecy being intended; to ‘get wind,’ ‘leak out.’
1741–2. Ht. Butler, Mem. (1841), II. 96. Yesterday’s quarrel may transpire.
1748. Ld. Chesterfield, Lett. Dayrolles, 26 Jan. This letter goes to you, in that confidence, which I … place in you. And you will therefore not let one word of it transpire.
1754. Richardson, Grandison, xxxvii. (1781), I. 265. Can he have so many Love-secrets, and yet will he not let them transpire to such a Sister?
1799. Hull Advertiser, 1 June, 2/4. The Hainburgh mail … has just arrived, but no particulars have transpired.
1821. T. Jefferson, Autobiog. & Writ. (1892), I. 131. What passed between them did not transpire.
1856. Froude, Hist. Eng., II. vii. 143. The conditions of the contract were not allowed to transpire.
1905. R. Bagot, Passport, xxx. Not allowing the fact of there being any difficulty … to transpire to Donna Bianca.
¶ b. Misused for: To occur, happen, take place.
Evidently arising from misunderstanding such a sentence as ‘What had transpired during his absence he did not know.’ App. began in U.S. about 1800; registered in Webster’s Dict. 1828 (not in Webster 1806).
[1802. M. Cutler, in Life, etc. (1888), II. 92. The most trying scene which has transpired through the course of this long and interesting discussion.]
1804. Age of Inquiry (Hartford, Conn.), 46. When … the reformation transpired in England … almost the whole nation rejoiced.
1810. T. Dudley, Amoroso, I. 14. Could short-sighted mortality … foresee events that are about to transpire.
1828. Webster, Transpire … 3. To happen or come to pass.
1841. W. L. Garrison, in Life (1889), III. 16. An event … which we believe transpired eighteen hundred years ago.
1848. Dickens, Dombey, xxxii. Few changes—hardly any—have transpired among his ship’s company.
1858. Hawthorne, Fr. & It. Note-Bks., I. 225. Accurate information on whatever subject transpired.
1883. L. Oliphant, Altiora Peto, I. 277. His account of what transpired was so utterly unlike what I expected.
¶ c. Of time: To elapse. Obs. rare. erron.
1824. C. Wordsw., Who wrote Eikon Basilike, 197. The interval of years which had transpired between the conversations and the account of them. Ibid. (1827), Chas. I., 1. Whether in the interval which has transpired, the convictions at which I had arrived,… have been in any material degree confirmed, shaken, or modified.
Hence Transpired ppl. a., Transpiring vbl. sb. and ppl. a.
1670. Maynwaring, Physician’s Repos., 21. A strengthening or transpiring Medicine.
1693. A. Van Leeuwenhoek, in Phil. Trans., XVII. 842. As to the Transpiring Parts of our Bodies.
1725. Bradley’s Fam. Dict., s.v. Antimony, This Diaphoretick alone may be taken … in malignant Fevers, to facilitate the transpiring of the Venom thro’ the Pores.
1827. Faraday, Chem. Manip., xv. (1842), 345. The transpired matter on the surface of the skin.
1895. Oliver, trans. Kerner’s Nat. Hist. Plants, I. 274. The sap in the transpiring cells becomes more concentrated.
