Library / English Dictionary

TRANSPIRE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Give off (water) through the skin

Classified under:

Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care

Hypernyms (to "transpire" is one way to...):

exudate; exude; ooze; ooze out; transude (release (a liquid) in drops or small quantities)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Derivation:

transpiration (the process of giving off or exhaling water vapor through the skin or mucous membranes)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Come about, happen, or occur

Example:

Several important events transpired last week

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "transpire" is one way to...):

come about; fall out; go on; hap; happen; occur; pass; pass off; take place (come to pass)

Sentence frame:

Something is ----ing PP

Sense 3

Meaning:

Come to light; become known

Example:

It transpired that she had worked as spy in East Germany

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "transpire" is one way to...):

change (undergo a change; become different in essence; losing one's or its original nature)

Sentence frame:

It ----s that CLAUSE

Sense 4

Meaning:

Exude water vapor

Example:

plants transpire

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "transpire" is one way to...):

evaporate; vaporise; vaporize (lose or cause to lose liquid by vaporization leaving a more concentrated residue)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Derivation:

transpiration (the emission of water vapor from the leaves of plants)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Pass through the tissue or substance or its pores or interstices, as of gas

Synonyms:

transpirate; transpire

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "transpire" is one way to...):

flow; flux (move or progress freely as if in a stream)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Something is ----ing PP

Derivation:

transpiration (the passage of gases through fine tubes because of differences in pressure or temperature)

Credits

 Context examples: 

I briefly related to him what had transpired: the strange laugh I had heard in the gallery: the step ascending to the third storey; the smoke,—the smell of fire which had conducted me to his room; in what state I had found matters there, and how I had deluged him with all the water I could lay hands on.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the dressing-table.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The measurements showed that, during the transition from dry to wet season, transpired water becomes a significant moisture source for the atmosphere, and in particular for the middle troposphere, where the increasing water vapor provides the fuel needed to start the rainy season.

(New Study Shows the Amazon Makes Its Own Rainy Season, NASA)

It transpired after a confused five minutes that the man had heard Gatsby's name around his office in a connection which he either wouldn't reveal or didn't fully understand. This was his day off and with laudable initiative he had hurried out "to see."

(The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald)