Dictionary: smoke   (smōk)

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1. The vaporous system made up of small particles of carbonaceous matter in the air, resulting mainly from the burning of organic material, such as wood or coal.
2. A suspension of fine solid or liquid particles in a gaseous medium.
3. A cloud of fine particles.
4. Something insubstantial, unreal, or transitory.
5. 1. The act of smoking a form of tobacco: went out for a smoke.
   2. The duration of this act.
6. Informal. Tobacco in a form that can be smoked, especially a cigarette: money to buy smokes.
7. A substance used in warfare to produce a smoke screen.
8. Something used to conceal or obscure.
9. A pale to grayish blue to bluish or dark gray.

1. 1. To draw in and exhale smoke from a cigarette, cigar, or pipe: It's forbidden to smoke here.
   2. To engage in smoking regularly or habitually: He smoked for years before stopping.
2. To emit smoke or a smokelike substance: chimneys smoking in the cold air.
3. To emit smoke excessively: The station wagon smoked even after the tune-up.
4. Slang.
   1. To go or proceed at high speed.
   2. To play or perform energetically: The band was really smoking in the second set.

1. 1. To draw in and exhale the smoke of (tobacco, for example): I've never smoked a panatela.
   2. To do so regularly or habitually: I used to smoke filtered cigarettes.
2. To preserve (meat or fish) by exposure to the aromatic smoke of burning hardwood, usually after pickling in salt or brine.
3. 1. To fumigate (a house, for example).
   2. To expose (animals, especially insects) to smoke in order to immobilize or drive away.
4. To expose (glass) to smoke in order to darken or change its color.
5. Slang. To kill; murder.

smoke out

1. To force out of a place of hiding or concealment by or as if by the use of smoke.
2. To detect and bring to public view; expose or reveal: smoke out a scandal.

smoke and mirrors

1. Something that deceives or distorts the truth: Your explanation is nothing but smoke and mirrors.

[Middle English, from Old English smoca.]

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Fumes and smoke are dispersions of finely divided solids or liquids in a gaseous medium. The particle-size range is 0.01–5.0 micrometers. Typical dispersions are smokes from incomplete combustion of organic matter such as tobacco, wood, and coal; soot or carbon black; oil-vapor mists; chemical fumes such as sulfur trioxide (SO₃) and phosphorus pentoxide (P₂O₅) mists, ammonium chloride (NH₄Cl), and metal oxides; and the products of hydrolysis of metal chlorides by moist air. Oil-vapor and P₂O₅ mists (formed by burning phosphorus in moist air) have been extensively used in military operations to produce screening smokes. See also Air pollution.

Idioms beginning with smoke:
smoke out

In addition to the idiom beginning with smoke, also see chain smoker; go up in flames (smoke); holy cow (smoke); no smoke without fire; watch one's dust (smoke).

1. To crash or blow up, usually spectacularly. “The new version smoked, just like the last one.” Used for both hardware (where it often describes an actual physical event), and software (where it's merely colorful).

2. [from automotive slang] To be conspicuously fast. “That processor really smokes.” Compare magic smoke.

Between the introduction of firearms on a large scale in the 16th century and the invention of smokeless powder at the end of the 19th, battlefields were often smoky places. A royalist officer, Capt Richard Atkyns, wrote of Lansdown (1643) that ‘the air was so darkened by the smoke of the powder, that for a quarter of an hour … there was no light seen but what the fire of the volleys of shot gave’. Col Lyman, a Union officer, described the field of Chancellorsville as ‘smoke and bushes’. So great was the smoke produced by cannon and muskets that wind direction conferred tactical advantage: troops with the wind to their backs would have the smoke of their discharges blown into the enemy's faces, while they themselves could aim and fire unimpeded. At sea aggressive captains would often lay their vessels alongside an opponent, fire a last broadside, and then board him in its smoke.

Smoke could also be created deliberately. Crops or buildings were often fired so that the smoke blew back to inconvenience an enemy, or screened the movement of friendly troops. In WW I smoke was delivered in shells fired by artillery, or laid by hand-held smoke candles. It was widely used, usually by an attacker who sought to deny his opponent the advantage of the observed fire of artillery and machine guns. In WW II smoke delivery improved. ‘Base-ejection’ artillery and mortar rounds emitted smoke gradually, while white phosphorous rounds burst to produce an instant smokescreen—and to cause terrible injuries to troops or civilians splashed by the phosphorus. Smoke grenades followed the same lines, with some emitting smoke and others bursting to disgorge phosphorus. Smoke generators, burning fuel oil to create a dense and evil-smelling cloud, were able to screen targets from air or ground attack for extended periods. When the Americans crossed the Moselle at Arnaville, near Metz, in the autumn of 1944 a smoke generator company kept the crossing-site screened for several weeks. Coloured smoke was used to identify friendly units or mark targets. Some tanks could emit smoke, while warships often deliberately made smoke to conceal or confuse.

Smoke remains useful for concealing movement on the battlefield, and can still defeat the light-intensifier sights beloved of snipers, although providing no protection from infra-red or ground radar detection.

— Richard Holmes

1. An air suspension of particles, usually but not necessarily solid.
2. Carbon or soot particles less than 0.1 micron in size which result from the incomplete combustion of carbonaceous materials such as coal and oil.

1. a coat color of cats that consists of white hairs with black or blue tips. The intensity of the tip color varies on different parts of the body so that the face and back are very strongly colored.
2. a color variety of longhaired cats with orange or copper-colored eyes and a blue or black smoke coat color.

• s. bombs — after ignition may contaminate pasture with phosphorus.
• s. inhalation — animals confined in buildings, especially horses, suffer pulmonary congestion and edema after inhaling smoke from a building fire.

For other uses, see Smoke (disambiguation).

Smoke from a wildfire

Smoke is the airborne solid and liquid particulates and gases emitted when a material undergoes pyrolysis or combustion, together with the quantity of air that is entrained or otherwise mixed into the mass. It is commonly an unwanted by-product of fires (including stoves and lamps) and fireplaces, but may also be used for pest control (cf. fumigation), communication (smoke signals), defense (smoke-screen) or smoking (tobacco, marijuana, etc) or inhalation of other drugs. Smoke is sometimes used as a flavouring agent and preservative for various foodstuffs. Smoke is also sometimes a component of internal combustion engine exhaust gas, particularly diesel exhaust.

Smoke inhalation is the primary cause of death in victims of indoor fires. The smoke kills by a combination of thermal damage, poisoning and pulmonary irritation caused by carbon monoxide, hydrogen cyanide and other combustion products.

Smoke particles are actually an aerosol (or mist) of solid particles and liquid droplets that are close to the ideal range of sizes for Mie scattering of visible light. This effect has been likened to three-dimensional textured privacy glass—the smoke cloud does not obstruct an image, but thoroughly scrambles it.

Chemical composition

"Bling-bling": Skywriters use smoke to spell.

The composition of smoke depends on the nature of the burning fuel and the conditions of combustion.

Fires with high availability of oxygen burn in high temperature and with small amount of smoke produced; the particles are mostly composed of ash, or in large temperature differences, of condensed aerosol of water. High temperature also leads to production of nitrogen oxides. Sulfur content yields sulfur dioxide. Carbon and hydrogen get completely oxidized to carbon dioxide and water. Fires burning with lack of oxygen produce significantly wider palette of compounds, many of them toxic. Partial oxidation of carbon produces carbon monoxide, nitrogen-containing materials can yield hydrogen cyanide, ammonia, and nitrogen oxides. Content of chlorine (eg. in polyvinyl chloride) or other halogens may lead to production of eg. hydrogen chloride, phosgene, dioxin, and chloromethane, bromomethane and other halocarbons.

Pyrolysis of the burning material also results in production of large amount of hydrocarbons, both aliphatic (methane, ethane, ethylene, acetylene) and aromatic (benzene and its derivates, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons; eg. benzo[a]pyrene, studied as a cancerogen, or retene), terpenes. Heterocyclic compounds may be also present. Heavier hydrocarbons may condense as tar.

Presence of sulfur can lead to formation of eg. hydrogen sulfide, carbonyl sulfide, sulfur dioxide, carbon disulfide, and thiols; especially thiols tend to get adsorbed on surfaces and produce lingering odor even long after the fire. Partial oxidation of the released hydrocarbons yields in a wide palette of other compounds: aldehydes (eg. formaldehyde, acrolein, and furfural), ketones, alcohols (often aromatic, eg. phenol, guaiacol, syringol, catechol, and cresols), carboxylic acids (formic acid, acetic acid, etc.).

The visible particles in such smokes are most commonly composed of carbon (soot). Other particulates may be composed of drops of condensed tar, or solid particles of ash. Content of metals yields particles of metal oxides. Particles of inorganic salts may also be formed, eg. ammonium sulfate, ammonium nitrate. Many organic compounds, typically the aromatic hydrocarbons, may be also adsorbed on the surface of the solid particles.

Smoke emissions may contain characteristic trace elements. Vanadium is present in emissions from oil fired power plants and refineries; oil plants also emit some nickel. Coal combustion produces emissions containing selenium, arsenic, chromium, cobalt, copper, and aluminium.

Some components of smoke are characteristic for the combustion source. Guaiacol and its derivates are products of pyrolysis of lignin and are characteristic for wood smoke; other markers are syringol and derivates, and other methoxy phenols. Retene, a product of pyrolysis of conifer trees, is an indicator of forest fires. Levoglucosan is a pyrolysis product of cellulose. Hardwood vs softwood smokes differ in the ratio of guaiacols/syringols. Markers for vehicle exhaust include polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, hopanes, steranes, and specific nitroarenes (eg. 1-nitropyrene). The ratio of hopanes and steranes to elemental carbon can be used to distinguish between emissions of gasoline and diesel engines. [1]

Dangers of smoke

Smoke from oxygen-deprived fires contains a significant amount of compounds that are flammable. A cloud of smoke, in contact with atmospheric oxygen, therefore has the potential of being ignited - either by another open flame in the area, or by its own temperature. This leads to effects like backdraft and flashover.

Many compounds of smoke from fires are highly toxic and/or irritant. The most dangerous is the carbon monoxide, leading to carbon monoxide poisoning, sometimes with supporting effect of hydrogen cyanide and phosgene. Smoke inhalation can therefore quickly lead to incapacitation and loss of consciousness.

Smoke can obscure visibility, impeding occupant exiting from fire areas. In fact, the poor visibility due to the smoke that was in the Worcester Cold Storage Warehouse fire in Worcester, Massachusetts was the exact reason why the trapped rescue firefighters couldn't evacuate the building in time. Due to the striking similarity that each floor shared, the dense smoke caused the firefighters to become disoriented.^[1]

Visible and invisible particles of combustion

Depending on particle size, smoke can be visible or invisible to the naked eye. This is best illustrated when toasting bread in a toaster. As the bread heats up, the products of combustion increase in size. These particles begin as invisible but become visible if the toast is burnt.

Smoke from a typical house fire contains hundreds of different chemicals and fumes. As a result, the damage caused by the smoke can often exceed that caused by the actual heat of the fire. In addition to the physical damage caused by the smoke of a fire - which manifests in the form of stains - is the often even harder to eliminate problem of a smokey odor. Just as there are contractors that specialize in rebuilding/repairing homes that have been damaged by fire and smoke, Fabric Restoration companies specialize in restoring fabrics that have been damaged in a fire.

See also

Smoke from a bee smoker, used in beekeeping

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Smoke

• Dust
• Firefighter
• Smoke detector
• Smog
• Smoke hood
• Tobacco
• Skywriting
• Smoking (cooking technique)
• Air safety
• Smoke-screen
• Smoke bomb
• Smoke grenade
• Smoke signal
• Colored smoke
• Smoke test
• Magic smoke
• Fog machine
• Haze machine

References

1. ^ http://www.telegram.com/static/fire/

External links

• Shedding new light on wood smoke
• Chemical constituents of wood smoke
• Health impact of ultrafine particles
• Burning Issues Public Education Site

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

Dansk (Danish)
n. - røg, smøg, cigaret, røgslør, røgsignal, røgsøjle
v. intr. - ryge, ose
v. tr. - ryge, røgsværte, dække med røgslør, tilsløre

idioms:

• go up in smoke    gå op i røg
• no smoke without fire    ingen røg uden ild
• smoke and mirrors    røgslør
• smoke bomb    røgbombe
• smoke out    ryge ud, drive ud ved rygning
• smoke ring    røgring
• smoke screen    røgslør, røgtæppe
• smoke signal    røgsignal
• where there's smoke there's fire    ingen røg uden ild

Nederlands (Dutch)
roken, dampen, walmen, rook

Français (French)
n. - fumée, clope, cigarette, ville
v. intr. - fumer, dégager de la fumée
v. tr. - fumer, (Culin) fumer

idioms:

• go up in smoke    partir en fumée, (fig) tomber à l'eau
• no smoke without fire    pas de fumée sans feu
• smoke and mirrors    miroir aux alouettes
• smoke bomb    grenade fumigène
• smoke out    enfumer, (fig) débusquer
• smoke ring    réseau de la drogue, trafic de la drogue
• smoke screen    rideau de fumée, (Mil) écran de fumée, (fig) diversion
• smoke signal    signal de fumée
• where there's smoke there's fire    il n'y a pas de fumée sans feu

Deutsch (German)
n. - Rauch, Dampf
v. - rauchen, dampfen, räuchern

idioms:

• go up in smoke    in Rauch (und Flammen) aufgehen
• no smoke without fire    kein Rauch ohne Flamme
• smoke and mirrors    Täuschungsmanöver
• smoke bomb    Rauchbombe
• smoke out    ausräuchern
• smoke ring    Rauchring
• smoke screen    Nebelwand
• smoke signal    Rauchzeichen
• where there's smoke there's fire    wo Rauch ist, da ist auch Feuer

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - καπνός, (μτφ.) αέρας, καπνός, (καθομ.) τσιγάρο, φουμάρισμα
v. - καπνίζω, βγάζω/αναδίδω καπνό

idioms:

• go up in smoke    εξανεμίζομαι, (κατα)καίγομαι
• no smoke without fire    δεν υπάρχει καπνός χωρίς φωτιά
• smoke and mirrors    (καθομ.) παραπλανητική τακτική
• smoke bomb    καπνογόνο (βόμβα)
• smoke out    υποχρεώνω (μέλισσες κ.λπ.) σε έξοδο με αναθυμιάσεις καπνού, (καθομ.) ξετρυπώνω, ξεχωνιάζω
• smoke ring    τολύπη καπνού
• smoke screen    (στρατ., μτφ.) προπέτασμα καπνού
• smoke signal    σινιάλο με καπνό
• where there's smoke there's fire    δεν υπάρχει καπνός χωρίς φωτιά

Italiano (Italian)
fumare, fumo

idioms:

• go up in smoke    essere distrutto dalla fiamme
• no smoke without fire    non c'è fumo senza arrosto
• smoke and mirrors    distrazioni
• smoke bomb    bomba fumogena
• smoke out    stanare
• smoke ring    anello di fumo
• smoke screen    cortina fumogena
• smoke signal    segnali di fumo
• where there's smoke there's fire    non c'è fumo senza arrosto

Português (Portuguese)
n. - fumaça (f), fumo (m), vapor (m), cigarro (m), fumarada (f)
v. - fumar, fumegar

idioms:

• go up in smoke    desvanecer, desaparecer
• no smoke without fire    não á fumo sem fogo
• smoke and mirrors    ilusão
• smoke bomb    bomba de fumo que age como uma cortina de fumo
• smoke out    fumigar
• smoke ring    anel de fumaça
• smoke screen    cortina de fumaça
• smoke signal    sinal de fumo
• where there's smoke there's fire    não há fumo sem fogo

Русский (Russian)
курить, дымить, коптить, покрыть сажей, окуривать, ставить дымовую завесу, дым, курение, курево, перекур, туман, суспензия твердых частиц в газе, бледно-голубой цвет

idioms:

• go up in smoke    сгореть, кончиться ничем
• no smoke without fire    нет дыма без огня
• smoke and mirrors    скрывать реальное положение дел
• smoke bomb    дымовой снаряд, дымовая бомба, дождевик (гриб)
• smoke out    выкуривать, разоблачать
• smoke ring    колечко дыма
• smoke screen    прикрытие, личина
• smoke signal    дымовой сигнал
• where there's smoke there's fire    "Нет дыма без огня"

Español (Spanish)
n. - humo, cigarrillo, pitillo
v. intr. - fumar, humear, echar humo, ir echando humo, levantando polvo (al correr)
v. tr. - fumar, ahumar, fumigar, sahumar, incensar, oler, descubrir, sospechar de, vigilar

idioms:

• go up in smoke    ser destruido por un incendio, hacerse humo
• no smoke without fire    cuando el río suena, agua lleva
• smoke and mirrors    algo cuya intención es despistar o disfrazar una situación incómoda
• smoke bomb    bomba fumígena o de humo
• smoke out    ahuyentar con humo, desalojar con bombas fumígenas
• smoke ring    anillos de humo
• smoke screen    pantalla de humo, cortina de humo
• smoke signal    señal de humo
• where there's smoke there's fire    cuando el río suena, agua lleva

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - rök, bloss, rökverk, tobak, cigarr, cigarrett, marijuana, hasch, billig sprit (sl), grogg på träsprit och vatten (sl)
v. - ryka, röka, ånga, ryka in

中文（简体） (Chinese (Simplified))
烟, 抽烟, 无常的事物, 吸烟, 弥漫, 冒烟, 抽, 熏赶, 烟熏, 熏染

idioms:

• go up in smoke    被烧光, 化为乌有
• no smoke without fire    无风不起浪
• smoke and mirrors    骗人的, 把戏
• smoke bomb    烟幕弹
• smoke out    用烟熏出, 查出
• smoke ring    烟圈
• smoke screen    烟幕
• smoke signal    烟雾信号
• where there's smoke there's fire    无风不起浪

中文（繁體） (Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 煙, 抽煙, 無常的事物
v. intr. - 吸煙, 彌漫, 冒煙
v. tr. - 抽, 燻趕, 煙燻, 燻染

idioms:

• go up in smoke    被燒光, 化為烏有
• no smoke without fire    無風不起浪
• smoke and mirrors    騙人的, 把戲
• smoke bomb    煙幕彈
• smoke out    用煙燻出, 查出
• smoke ring    煙圈
• smoke screen    煙幕
• smoke signal    煙霧信號
• where there's smoke there's fire    無風不起浪

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 연기, 애매모호 함, 봉화
v. intr. - 연기를 뿜다, 담배를 피우다, 얼굴을 붉히다
v. tr. - 연기 나게 하다, 훈제하다, (담배 등을) 피우다

idioms:

• go up in smoke    연기처럼 사라지다, 실패로 끝나다
• smoke out    연기를 피워 나오게 하다, (은신처에서 범죄자를) 내어쫓다, (계략 등을) 냄새 맡다

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 煙, 煙に似たもの, 霧, たばこ, たばこの一服, 実体のないもの
v. - たばこを吸う, 吸う, 煙を出す, 煙る, 煙で曇らせる, 薫製にする, 喫煙する

idioms:

• go up in smoke    無に帰す, 盛んに燃える
• no smoke without fire    火のないところに煙は立たず
• smoke and mirrors    見せかけのもの
• smoke bomb    発煙弾
• smoke out    いぶり出す, 暴露する, 探り出す
• smoke ring    煙の輪
• smoke screen    煙幕
• smoke signal    発煙信号

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) سكارة, دخان أو بخار, ضباب رقيق (فعل) يدخني, يطهر أو يعالج بالتعريض للدخان‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮עשן, עישון, סיגרייה, סיגר, כינוי ללונדון‬
v. intr. - ‮העלה עשן, עישן‬
v. tr. - ‮פלט עשן, עישן דגים, פייח, הבריח חרקים ע"י עשן‬

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