pneumatic

• POS: Adjective, Noun
• HYPHEN: pneu=mat=ic

CIDE DICTIONARY

pneumatic, n. 

 A vehicle, as a bicycle, the wheels of which are fitted with pneumatic tires.  [Webster 1913 Suppl.]

pneumatic, a. [L. pneumaticus, Gr. , fr. , , wind, air, to blow, breathe; cf. OHG. fnehan: cf. F. pneumatique. Cf. Pneumonia.].

•  Consisting of, or resembling, air; having the properties of an elastic fluid; gaseous; opposed to dense or solid.  [1913 Webster]

  "The pneumatical substance being, in some bodies, the native spirit of the body."  [1913 Webster]
•  Of or pertaining to air, or to elastic fluids or their properties; pertaining to pneumatics; as, pneumatic experiments.  Stewart.  [1913 Webster]
•  Moved or worked by pressure or flow of air; as, a pneumatic instrument; a pneumatic engine.  [1913 Webster]
•  Fitted to contain air; Having cavities filled with air; as, pneumatic cells; pneumatic bones.  [1913 Webster]
•  Adapted for containing compressed air; inflated with air; as, a pneumatic cushion; a pneumatic tire, a tire formed of an annular tube of flexible fabric, as India rubber, suitable for being inflated with air.  [Webster 1913 Suppl.]

Pneumatic action, or Pneumatic lever (Mus.), a contrivance for overcoming the resistance of the keys and other movable parts in an organ, by causing compressed air from the wind chest to move them. -- Pneumatic dispatch, a system of tubes, leading to various points, through which letters, packages, etc., are sent, by the flow and pressure of air. -- Pneumatic elevator, a hoisting machine worked by compressed air. -- Pneumatic pile, a tubular pile or cylinder of large diameter sunk by atmospheric pressure. -- Pneumatic pump, an air-exhausting or forcing pump. -- Pneumatic railway. See Atmospheric railway, under Atmospheric. -- Pneumatic syringe, a stout tube closed at one end, and provided with a piston, for showing that the heat produced by compressing a gas will ignite substances. -- Pneumatic trough, a trough, generally made of wood or sheet metal, having a perforated shelf, and used, when filled with water or mercury, for collecting gases in chemical operations. -- Pneumatic tube. See Pneumatic dispatch, above.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

pneumatic, adj. & n.
--adj.
1 of or relating to air or wind.
2 containing or operated by compressed air.
3 connected with or containing air cavities esp. in the bones of birds or in fish.

Idiom

pneumatic drill a drill driven by compressed air, for breaking up a hard surface. pneumatic trough a shallow container used in laboratories to collect gases in jars over the surface of water or mercury.

Derivative

pneumatically adv. pneumaticity n.

Etymology

F pneumatique or L pneumaticus f. Gk pneumatikos f. pneuma wind f. pneo breathe

THESAURUS

pneumatic

Junoesque, aerial, aeriform, aerodynamic, aerographic, aerologic, aeromechanical, aerophysical, aerostatic, aerotechnical, aery, agreeable, airish, airlike, airy, alfresco, amply endowed, atmospheric, bagging, baggy, ballooning, becoming, bellying, billowing, billowy, bloated, bonny, bosomy, braw, breezy, built, built for comfort, bulbose, bulbous, bulging, bumped, bumpy, bunched, bunchy, buxom, callipygian, callipygous, comely, curvaceous, curvy, distended, ethereal, exposed, fair, fuming, fumy, gaseous, gasified, gasiform, gaslike, gassy, goddess-like, good-looking, goodly, hillocky, hummocky, light, likely, lovely to behold, mephitic, miasmal, miasmatic, miasmic, moutonnee, open-air, oxyacetylene, oxygenous, ozonic, personable, pleasing, pneumatological, potbellied, pouching, presentable, reeking, reeky, roomy, rounded, shapely, sightly, slender, smoking, smoky, stacked, statuesque, steaming, steamy, swelling, tropospheric, vaporing, vaporish, vaporlike, vaporous, vapory, verrucated, verrucose, warty, well-built, well-favored, well-formed, well-made, well-proportioned, well-shaped, well-stacked