pneumaticadj.n.
/njuːˈmatɪk/, /njᵿˈmatɪk/, U.S. /n(j)uˈmædɪk/ A. adj.
1. Belonging or relating to spirit or spiritual existence; spiritual.Chiefly in the context of New Testament theology.
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the mind > mental capacity > spirituality > [adjective]
inwardc888
innerc900
spiritualc1384
spiritala1393
soulya1500
interiora1513
intern1546
internal1547
soulish1581
soul-like1606
pneumatic1624
thoughtsome1627
psychical1642
pneumatical1644
animastic1651
animastical1651
intimate1671
in-written1684
soular1818
inwardly1820
psychal1822
noetica1834
society > faith > aspects of faith > spirituality > [adjective]
godcundlyeOE
godlyOE
ghostlyOE
spiritualc1384
espiritualc1405
sprituala1450
mystical1542
spiritualized1615
pneumatic1624
mystic1629
spirituousa1631
pneumatical1644
otherworldly1859
metaphysical1876
1624 J. Vicars tr. G. Goodwin Babels Balm 32 Ergo, iudge Popes, pneumaticke-Lords, none can.
1652 E. Benlowes Theophila ii. xi. 24 Then did of th' Elements Dust Mans Bodie frame A perfect Microcosm, the Same He quickned with a sparkle of Pneumatick Flame.
1709 J. Reynolds Death's Vision ix. 50 What Nobler Souls the Nobler Machins Wear, Masters of Sense..What Virtue Kindles their Pneumatic fire, And Whither at Decease they Silently Retire.
1797 Monthly Mag. 3 525/1 This animal spirit, which blessed men have called the pneumatic soul.
1811 J. Jebb Corr. (1834) II. 50 My bodily health has..improved; my mental and pneumatic part has been..dubious.
1890 J. F. Smith tr. O. Pfleiderer Devel. Theol. Germany ii. iv. 162 The God-man as the absolute pneumatic personality of universal spiritual power is not merely the head of men but also of angels.
1899 J. Stalker Christol. of Jesus i. 30 The Gospel of St. John—the pneumatic gospel, as it was called, or gospel of religious genius.
1937 E. Underhill Worship (ed. 3) v. 89 The restrained but genuinely ‘pneumatic’ worship of the Society of Friends waiting upon the lunar Light.
1993 30 Days in Church & in World No. 1. 63/1 The spirit, beyond ‘the prison of the rational and psychological world’, is the place where ‘pneumatic’ man dips directly into the divine.
2.
a. Relating to or operated by means of wind or air; (now) esp. containing or operated by air or gas under pressure.
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the world > matter > gas > air > [adjective] > relating to or acting by means of
pneumatical1609
pneumatic1654
pneumodynamic1877
the world > matter > physics > mechanics > fluid mechanics > [adjective] > utilizing pneumatics
pneumatic1654
society > occupation and work > equipment > machine > machines driven by specific energy source > [adjective] > by wind
pneumatic1654
1654 W. Charleton Physiologia Epicuro-Gassendo-Charltoniana iii. ix. 257 Those, who exercise their Ingenuity in either Hydraulick, or Pneumatick Mechanicks.
1659 J. Leak tr. I. de Caus New Inventions Water-works Pref. 1 Pneumatike Inventions; viz. Engins moving by the force of Air.
1686 R. Boyle Free Enq. Notion Nature 387 The Air is drawn from Them by the Pneumatick Pump, and afterwards permitted to enliven Them again.
1755 Gentleman's Mag. Nov. 494/1 At one end of this cylinder there is screwed a pneumatic gun..furnished with a stop-cock, to be used occasionally.
1825 ‘J. Nicholson’ Operative Mechanic 375 This part of the process I call the pneumatic pressure.
1858 D. Lardner Hand-bk. Nat. Philos.: Hydrostatics, Pneumatics, & Heat (new ed.) 214 The pneumatic screw.—The screw of Archimedes..is also used for the ventilation of mines.
1880 C. A. Edwards Organs ii. v. 65 The pneumatic action is an ingenious arrangement by which the bulk of the pressure is taken from the key, by means of small power-bellows.
1898 F. W. Rogers in Westm. Gaz. 13 July 3/2 The pneumatic brake will do very well for Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire.
1902 Encycl. Brit. XXXI. 803/1 The pneumatic jack..is placed below the piece to be lifted, and operates directly.
1962 L. Zelikov tr. G. Kamenshchikov Forging Pract. viii. 192 Pneumatic hammers are mainly employed for hammer forging miscellaneous work and for forging in bolster dies.
1991 Mech. Engin. Sept. 54/1 From 1983 to 1988, major changes in engine and transmission assembly saw electric motor-driven tools exceed the popularity of pneumatic drives.
b. Originally: designating a wind instrument. Now: spec. designating an instrument, esp. an organ operated by compressed air.
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society > leisure > the arts > music > musical instrument > wind instrument > [adjective]
pneumatical1609
winded1622
pneumatic1695
flabile1727
inflatile1776
windy1841
wind-instrumental1894
1695 J. Edwards Disc. conc. Old & New-Test. III. iv. 176 All other Musical Instruments..whether Pulsative or Pneumatick.
1782 C. Burney Gen. Hist. Music II. 131 It is hardly credible but that they [sc. the Romans] must have obtained from them [sc. the Greeks] the pneumatic organ, as they had the hydraulicon long before.
1903 Times 20 June 12 The only real difference between the hydraulic and the ordinary or ‘pneumatic’ organ is that in the former the wind pressure is derived from the weight of an annular mass of water, instead of from..a folded air bellows.
1997 Cathedral Music Winter 9/1 Though the hydraulis continued to be made up to the 9th or 10th century, it was gradually superseded by the pneumatic organ.
c. More generally: designating things which are inflated, or filled with compressed air, for some purpose.
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the world > matter > gas > air > [adjective] > under pressure > inflated or filled with compressed air
blownc1425
puffed1536
upblown1590
wind-blown1593
huff-pufft1608
flatuous1658
inflated1681
pneumatic1862
out-blowed-
1862 Internat. Exhib.: Illustr. Catal. Industr. Dept. II. xii. §2750 Self-righting, indestructible pneumatic life-boat.
1925 F. S. Fitzgerald Great Gatsby viii. 193 He stopped at the garage for a pneumatic mattress that had amused his guests during the summer, and the chauffeur helped him pump it up.
1943 T. W. Lawson Thirty Seconds over Tokyo vi. 71 My pneumatic lifebelt brought me to the surface.
1990 Times Educ. Suppl. 16 Nov. (Review section) r7/2 Programmes such as Blue Peter will feature teaching aids like the starlab—a huge, pneumatic inflatable planetarium that can be hired out.
d. Transmitted by pneumatic dispatch (see pneumatic dispatch n. at Compounds); designating this type of postal system. Now chiefly historical.
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1877 Times 23 Nov. 3 The pneumatic letter system, or ‘blow post’ as it is characteristically termed, is in operation in Berlin.
1903 Westm. Gaz. 4 Mar. 2/1 Any resident within Paris may either buy at any bureau a blue pneumatic letter-card stamped with a threepenny stamp, and generally known as a petit-bleu.
2000 A. W. Bouis & A. Kucharev tr. A. Vassiliev Beauty in Exile xiv. 34 The next morning he received a pneumatic letter with an invitation from Poiret himself.
e. humorous. Of, relating to, or characteristic of a woman with a well-rounded figure, esp. a large bosom; (of a woman) having a well-rounded figure, esp. large-bosomed.
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the world > life > the body > external parts of body > trunk > front > breast or breasts (of woman) > [adjective] > types of
milky1557
milkful1589
full-breasted1611
liberal?1624
milkless1636
busty1867
bosomful1870
pneumatic1910
bosomy1928
top-heavy1934
breasty1937
well-endowed1951
chesty1955
1910 ‘O. Henry’ Strictly Business 92 The dry-eyed ones [sc. women] have to depend on..silk underskirts, ancestry, rouge, anonymous letters, violet sachet powders, witnesses, revolvers, pneumatic forms, carbolic acid, moonlight, cold cream and the evening newspapers.
1919 T. S. Eliot Whispers of Immortality in Poems Grishkin is nice... Uncorseted, her friendly bust Gives promise of pneumatic bliss.
1932 A. Huxley Brave New World vi. 108 ‘Every one says I'm awfully pneumatic,’ said Lenina reflectively, patting her own legs... ‘You don't think I'm too plump, do you?’
1976 Times Lit. Suppl. 31 Dec. 1643/2 The pneumatic barmaid at their favourite wine-bar.
1994 Sunday Times 6 Mar. (Mag. section) x. 26/1 Making her film debut in 1981 as a pneumatic Texan temp in the office comedy Nine To Five, Dolly Parton was an instant success.
3.
a. Medicine. Relating to breath or breathing; respiratory; pulmonary. Now rare.
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the world > life > the body > respiratory organs > breathing > [adjective]
breathinga1398
spirituala1398
respirative?a1425
breathy1528
spirable1562
spiring1577
respirant?1578
transpirable1578
respiratory1650
respired1667
pneumatic1681
respiring1697
cardiorespiratory1857
respirating1887
1681 Table of Hard Words in S. Pordage tr. T. Willis Remaining Med. Wks. Pneumatic, windy, or belonging to wind or breath.
1732 N. Robinson Disc. Sudden Deaths iv. 44 Which..diverted the natural Course of the Blood, from the Pneumatic Artery, which necessarily occasioned a formal interruption of the Circulation.
1826 W. Kirby & W. Spence Introd. Entomol. IV. xxxviii. 37 The external respiratory organs of insects... Spiracles; Respiratory plates; and branchiform and other pneumatic appendages.
1832 Lancet 8 Sept. 723/2 We observe that Sir Charles Scudamore, in treating of the pneumatic physiology and chemistry of the blood, has described an experiment of similar import to our own.
1903 Contemp. Rev. Jan. 43 Heart weakness, pneumatic troubles and rheumatism.
b. Zoology and Palaeontology. Of a part of the body, esp. that of a bird: naturally filled with air; containing air-filled cavities.Recorded earliest in pneumatic duct n. at Compounds.
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the world > animals > animal body > general parts > [adjective] > containing air-cavities
pneumatic1763
1763 R. Brookes New Syst. Nat. Hist. III. ix. 88 The air bladder is long, clammy, single, and connected to the spine of the back with a pneumatic duct.
1832 D. Brewster Lett. Nat. Magic x. 259 Those beautiful pneumatic contrivances by which insects, fishes, and even some lizards are enabled to support the weight of their bodies against the force of gravity.
1878 L. Holden Human Osteol. (ed. 5) 7 In the ostrich the bones are more pneumatic than in the gulls and in the smaller song-birds.
1899 T. C. Allbutt et al. Syst. Med. VII. 604 The mastoid in children may be as pneumatic or diploetic as in adults.
a1933 J. A. Thomson Biol. for Everyman (1934) I. xix. 517 The bones of pterodactyls are pneumatic, as in birds, thus reducing the weight of the skeleton.
1990 M. J. Benton Vertebr. Palaeontol. vii. 179 Each massive cervical vertebra..has a pneumatic foramen in the side which led into open spaces inside.
4. Science. Gaseous; of, relating to, or involving gases. Also: of or relating to the use of gases in medicine (see pneumatic medicine n. at Compounds). Now historical except in pneumatic trough n. at Compounds.
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the world > matter > gas > [adjective]
pneumatical1626
pneumatic1735
gaseous1805
1735 B. Langrish Mod. Theory & Pract. Physic iii. 126 An animated human Body is not a mere Statue,..but an admirably framed engine, consisting of solid, liquid, and pneumatic Substances.
1795 T. Trotter Med. & Chem. Ess. 126 I shall..leave the pneumatic physician to account, whether this obstruction in the cavity of the auricle, was the cause of the blood not being duly oxygenated by the lungs.
1800 tr. E. J. B. Bouillon-Lagrange Man. Course Chem. I. 54 Fill a bottle with hydrogen gas, and having taken it from the pneumatic tub, immediately apply to its mouth a lighted taper.
1841 Lancet 6 Nov. 178/2 It has given rise to other experiments with pneumatic modes of treatment.
1931 Isis 15 50 His invention of a pneumatic apparatus,..and his application of his discovery of vital air,..give us a high idea of his genius.
2004 Oxf. Dict. National Biogr. (Electronic ed.) at Watt, James Members of the society supported the proposal of Dr Thomas Beddoes for a pneumatic medical institute in 1793. It was proposed to establish a laboratory and hospital where newly discovered gases could be clinically tested to assess their curative properties.
5. History of Science. Designating or relating to a school of (originally ancient Greek) physicians who held that an invisible substance or spirit (cf. pneuma n. 2) permeated the body forming the vital principle on which health and strength depended.
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the world > health and disease > healing > art or science of medicine > medical theories or doctrines > [adjective] > other theories or doctrines
empiric?a1425
empirical1569
dogmatical1596
dogmatic1615
Brunonian1781
Thomsonian1833
pneumatic1842
stœchiological1875
solidistic1876
biochemical1885
orificial1887
physiatric1897
naturopathic1901
orgonomic1949
bioethical1971
1842 R. Dunglison Med. Lexicon (ed. 3) Pneumatic Physicians, name given to a sect of physicians, at the head of whom was Athenæus, who made health and disease to consist in the different proportions of an element—which they called Pneuma.
1974 Encycl. Brit. Micropædia I. 499/3 He [sc. Aretaeus of Cappadocia] adhered to the pneumatic school of medicine, which believed that health was maintained by ‘vital air’, or pneuma.
1992 M. Beagon Rom. Nature 236 Athenaeus of Attaleia, founder of the Pneumatic school, who practised at Rome, possibly in Claudius' principate.
B. n.† 1. = pneumatology n. 1a. Obsolete. rare.
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the mind > mental capacity > philosophy > metaphysics > [noun] > pneumatology
pneumatology1648
pneumatics1695
metaphysics1728
pneumatic philosophy1745
pneumato-philosophy1847
pneumatica1856
a1856 W. Hamilton Lect. Metaphysics (1859) I. viii. 134 (note) The terms Psychology and Pneumatology, or Pneumatic, are not equivalents.
2. In Gnostic theology: a spiritual being of a high order.Often contrasted with hylic and psychic.
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the world > the supernatural > deity > angel > [noun] > in Gnosticism
archon1751
pneumatic1876
1876 tr. J. A. G. Hergenröther Catholic Church & Christian State II. 293 The Church had long rejected the Gnostic distinction between pneumatics and sarcics.
1883 P. Schaff et al. Relig. Encycl. II. 927 The Gnostics taught a transplantation of the highest order (the pneumatics) into the world of the pleroma.
1979 E. Pagels Gnostic Gospels ii. 41 How did members of this circle of ‘pneumatics’ (literally, ‘those who are spiritual’) conduct their meetings?
1989 W. Weaver tr. U. Eco Foucault's Pendulum cxii. 579 And the rest..were unaware of this, or forced themselves to look the other way. Idiots and hylics. While the pneumatics headed straight for their goal, through six centuries.
3.
a. A pneumatic tyre; a vehicle fitted with such tyres.
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society > travel > means of travel > a conveyance > vehicle > vehicle propelled by feet > [noun] > cycle > bicycle > other types of bicycle
forty-four1821
roadster1875
rear-steerer1882
pneumatic1890
path-racer1896
featherweight1901
free-wheeler1908
fairy cycle1920
superbike1935
sit-up-and-beg1939
bakfiets1956
high-riser1965
all-terrain cycle1970
chopper1971
mountain bike1972
shopper1973
mixte1975
BMX1978
cruiser1978
ojek1983
boda boda1995
e-bike1998
fixie2001
ghost bike2004
society > travel > means of travel > a conveyance > vehicle > vehicles according to means of motion > vehicle moving on wheels > [noun] > parts of vehicle moving on wheels > wheel > rubber or pneumatic tyre
rubber1875
tyre1875
tirea1877
pneumatic1890
cushion1891
cushion-tire1891
pneu1891
solid tyre1891
balloon tyre1899
single-tube1904
tubular tyre1908
shoe1917
solid1919
tubular1924
air wheel1930
skin1954
tub1978
1890 F. S. Willoughby & F. C. Lynde Brit. Patent 4206 (1891) 2 The advantages of the pneumatic are as follows.
1891 Bicycling News 21 Feb. Riders of solid-tyred machines, when changing to Pneumatics.
1901 Westm. Gaz. 24 June 10/2 Breakdowns [of motor-cars] are reported in scores; punctured pneumatics and broken wheels without number.
1976 Horse & Hound 3 Dec. (advt.) For exercise and competition work... Small pony carts on pneumatics from £149. 4-wheeled scurry carts and wagonettes for ponies to 13 hands to order.
b. A pneumatic bellows, tube, or other part of the action in a pneumatic organ.
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society > leisure > the arts > music > musical instrument > keyboard instrument > organ > [noun] > bellows
windbag1470
bellows1542
power bellows1880
pneumatic1890
squiffer1914
1890 Cent. Dict. Pneumatic,..in organ-building, one of the members of a pneumatic action, whether a bellows or a tube.
2003 Oregonian (Portland, Oregon) (Nexis) 29 Aug. 3 The Becvars brought tables-full of sample pipes, wind chests, switches, pneumatics and an old movie that showed a Wurlitzer pipe organ being built.
Compounds
pneumatic cabinet n. Medicine (now historical) an airtight chamber in which the air pressure on a patient's body can be maintained at a level higher or lower than atmospheric, used in the treatment of lung diseases.
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1880 Stevens Point (Wisconsin) Jrnl. 31 Jan. He obtained a similar result outside of the pneumatic cabinet.
1889 Lancet 4 May 889/1 The President then exhibited the Pneumatic Cabinet from New York, and explained its construction.
2002 Emerging Infectious Dis. (Nexis) 1 Nov. 1353 Vaccines and therapies, rest cures, tonics, pneumonectomies,..pneumatic cabinet treatments, and antiseptic injections into the pleural spaces.
pneumatic caisson n. a caisson that can be sunk by extracting some of the air from within, and from which water can be subsequently evacuated by means of compressed air, enabling work to take place on the bed of a river, etc.
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1869 N.Y. Herald Tribune 3 June 10 Foundations and pneumatic caissons.
1910 Times 24 Aug. 13/1 This is believed to be the deepest pneumatic caisson ever sunk.
1987 Financial Times (Nexis) 13 Apr. 34 The reinforced concrete structure..will be constructed on the river bank adjacent to an existing 4 metre high weir, and sink as a pneumatic caisson through gravel to its final position 14 metres below river level.
2003 Isis 94 545/2 The affliction known as the ‘Grecian bends’ that workers began to suffer as they dug pneumatic caissons to unprecedented depths of more than sixty feet.
pneumatic chemistry n. now historical a branch of chemistry concerned with the discovery of new gases and the investigation of their properties.
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the world > matter > chemistry > chemistry as a science > branches of chemistry > [noun]
physical chemistry1743
zymology1753
pneumatic chemistry1788
stoicheiometry1807
electrochemistry1811
phytochemistry1837
thermochemistry1844
actinochemistry1845
inorganic chemistry1847
phytochimy1847
biochemistry1848
microchemistry1853
palaeochemistry1854
actinology1855
photochemistry1860
physico-chemistry1860
zymotechny1860
anorganology1876
kinetics1884
structural chemistry1884
stereochemistry1890
spectrochemistry1893
cytochemistry1900
radiochemistry1904
immunochemistry1907
magnetochemistry1914
leptonology1917
surface chemistry1919
crystal chemistry1921
radiation chemistry1926
leptology1928
mechanochemistry1928
agrochemistry1930
sonochemistry1934
quantum chemistry1938
cosmochemistry1940
polymer chemistry1945
conductometry1946
topochemistry1948
proto-chemistry1962
stereology1963
biochem1968
femtochemistry1988
combinatorial chemistry1992
cheminformatics1996
1788 J. Ash Exper. & Observ. Mineral Waters 72 At a late period, researches in the pneumatic chemistry detected a permanently elastic fluid, which had been passed over by Dr. Priestley.
1890 Times 4 Sept. 13/3 Priestley's first publication in pneumatic chemistry, on ‘Impregnating Water with Fixed Air’ (carbonic acid), attracted great attention.
2003 Brit. Jrnl. Hist. Sci. 36 461 The apparatus provides all that would have been necessary for a wide range of experiments in pneumatic chemistry.
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1887 A. H. Buck Ref. Handbk. Med. Sci. IV. 38/2 I allude to the Pneumatic Cabinet, and the method of Pneumatic Differentiation, as perfected and applied by Mr. Joseph Ketchum, a practical physicist of Brooklyn, N.Y.
1889 Lancet 4 May 889/1 (1) Residual air expansion or expiration into a rarefied atmosphere (2) forced inspiration (3) pneumatic differentiation, or the alternation of the above two exercises.
pneumatic dispatch n. now chiefly historical the conveyance of letters, parcels, etc., along tubes by compression or exhaustion of air.
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society > occupation and work > equipment > conveyor > [noun] > pneumatic
pneumatic dispatch1860
society > communication > correspondence > postal services > [noun] > types of service > conveyance of mail by pneumatic tube
pneumatic dispatch1860
blow-post1881
1860 Sci. Amer. 11 Aug. 105/3 We doubt not the pneumatic despatch system will ere long be even more wide spread than the telegraph system has become.
1863 Illustr. London News 28 Feb. 217/3 (heading) Opening of the pneumatic despatch mail service.
a1877 E. H. Knight Pract. Dict. Mech. II. 1756/2 The pneumatic dispatch-tube was started by a company in London in 1859, for conveying parcels and light goods between the Euston Square Station and the Post-Office in Evershott Street, London.
2002 Utopian Stud. (Nexis) 22 Mar. 53 Orders for household goods could be placed to the domestic depot by telephone..and shipped almost instantly via pneumatic dispatch.
pneumatic drill n. a heavy drill for breaking up a road surface, etc., by the rapidly repeated blows of a bit driven by compressed air.
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society > occupation and work > equipment > piercing or boring tools > [noun] > drill > power drills > percussion drills
pneumatic drill1861
percussion drill1871
road drill1907
hammer drill1908
piston drill1910
jackhammer1912
1861 Sci. Amer. 10 Aug. 86/1 Mr. Haupt..speaks of having ‘commenced to build the long-talked-of pneumatic drills and ventilating apparatus’.
a1877 E. H. Knight Pract. Dict. Mech. II. 1753/1 By the pneumatic drill, the Mt. Cenis Tunnel, seven miles in length, was bored through the Alps.
1930 Daily Express 9 Sept. 8/7 The noise of pneumatic drills has..been found to annoy the patients in a London Hospital.
1992 Pract. Fishkeeping (BNC) Apr. 108 My garage is to be demolished very soon and I am worried that the pneumatic drill which may be used to break up the concrete base will upset or even kill my fish.
pneumatic-drilled adj. equipped with a pneumatic drill (figurative in quot. 1947).Apparently an isolated use.
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1947 D. Thomas Let. 14 July in Sel. Lett. (1966) 316 The pick-axed and pneumatic-drilled mosquitoes in the guest's bedroom.
pneumatic duct n. Zoology a short tube connecting the swim bladder of physostomous fishes with the oesophagus.
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1763Pneumatic duct [see sense A. 3b].
1876 H. A. Nicholson Man. Zool. lviii. 401 The swim-bladder is single,..with a pneumatic duct and glottis.
1997 G. S. Helfman et al. Diversity of Fishes v. 63/2 The gas bladder is derived as an outpocket from the esophagus, and in some groups it retains its connection to the gut via the pneumatic duct (the physostomous condition).
pneumatic engine n. now historical an air pump.
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1663 Minute 4 Nov. in T. Birch Hist. Royal Soc. (1756) i. 324 Mr. Boyle, [thanked] for his pneumatic-engine.
1713 W. Derham Physico-theol. i. i. 9 In a Glass-Receiver of the Pneumatick Engine.
1825 ‘J. Nicholson’ Operative Mechanic 670 The application of Mr. Brown's pneumatic, or vacuum engine.
1901 M. Foster Lect. Hist. Physiol. 179 With his new pneumatic engine, or air-pump..he made many researches on the spring or elater of air.
2002 Independent on Sunday (Nexis) 1 Sept. (Features section) 15 He invented a weather clock, a pen for writing in the dark, a pneumatic engine, and a sign language for the deaf.
pneumatic medicine n. (a) the theory or practice of using the inhalation of gases in the treatment of disease (now historical); †(b) a medicinal substance delivered by inhalation (obsolete).
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1793 T. Beddoes Let. to E. Darwin 59 We owe to Pneumatic Chemistry the command of the elements which compose animal substances;..it is the business of Pneumatic Medicine to apply them with caution and intelligence.
1822 J. M. Good Study Med. I. 571 When pneumatic medicine was at the height of its popularity, much benefit was supposed to be derived from the use of oxygene and hydrogene gasses [in asthma].
1847 Brit. & Foreign Med. Rev. 23 566 Pneumatic Medicine has never been productive of great practical benefits.
1911 Science 11 Aug. 161/2 The discovery of hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen and nitrous oxide—pneumatic chemistry, as it were—created a field of pneumatic medicine.
1996 Hist. European Ideas 220 296 He [sc. Thomas Beddoes] was a ‘brilliant physician’, who spearheaded the discovery of anesthesia with his creative medical experiments in ‘pneumatic medicine’.
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c1841 J. H. Abbott in N. Amer. Rev. (1841) Jan. 273 (title) An attempt to determine by experimental research, the true theory of the pneumatic paradox.
1890 Manufacturer & Builder Dec. 278/3 This is one form of the ‘pneumatic paradox’ so called, and..is due entirely to the action of ‘lateral’ or ‘induced currents’ of air.
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the mind > mental capacity > philosophy > metaphysics > [noun] > pneumatology > adherent of
pneumatopyrist1682
pneumatic philosophera1744
a1744 H. Bolingbroke Ess. ii. viii, in Philos. Wks. (1754) II. 79 Those..may be called..by the title..of pneumatic philosophers, since their object is spirit and spiritual substances.
pneumatic philosophy n. now historical = pneumatology n. 1.
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the mind > mental capacity > philosophy > metaphysics > [noun] > pneumatology
pneumatology1648
pneumatics1695
metaphysics1728
pneumatic philosophy1745
pneumato-philosophy1847
pneumatica1856
1745 Sir J. Pringle Let. 19 Mar. in A. Bower Hist. Univ. Edinb. II. 294 I do hereby resign my office of Professor of ethic and pneumatic philosophy in the University of Edinburgh.
1908 New Schaff-Herzog Encycl. Relig. Knowl. 403 He [sc. David Hume] failed of election to the chair of ethics and pneumatic philosophy in the University of Edinburgh.
1997 Sunday Times (Nexis) 2 Feb. (Features section) You would be professor of mathematics, of geography, of physic and of pneumatic philosophy (Adam Smith) all at once.
pneumatic railway n. now historical a type of railway in which a tube with a longitudinal slot in the top was laid between the rails, containing a piston which was joined to the train by a rigid arm passing through the slot, the train moving by the pressure of air on the piston within the tube.
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1839 Times 9 Dec. 6 The company were to pay him..for his patent for a pneumatic railway.
1986 D. Knight Age of Sci. viii. 141 He [sc. J. F. Bateman, on 18 Mar. 1870] urged the building of a channel tunnel, at a cost of eight million pounds, with a pneumatic railway running through it.
2000 Guardian (Nexis) 3 Jan. 13 Stefan Collini's reference to Felix Holt..prompts me to write to you about the ‘pneumatic railway’ at Crystal Palace.
pneumatic release n. Photography a form of shutter release operating remotely by air pressure when a small rubber bulb, connected by tubing to a trigger on the camera, is squeezed; cf. cable release n. at cable n. Additions.
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1890 Fallowfield's Photogr. Ann. 1890 95 The ‘Plunge’ Shutter... The smallest outside Shutter in the market... Prices, complete with Pneumatic Release.
1997 Jrnl. Field Archaeol. 24 223/1 One [control cable] is a standard pneumatic release to activate the camera shutter.
pneumatic-shod adj. now rare fitted with pneumatic tyres.
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society > travel > means of travel > a conveyance > vehicle > vehicles according to means of motion > vehicle moving on wheels > [adjective] > fitted with tyres > fitted with specific type of tyres
pneumatic-tyred1890
solid-tyred1891
pneumatic-shod1894
balloon-tyred1895
high profile1916
1894 Woodland (Calif.) Daily Democrat 26 Feb. Just then Hon. R. H. Beamer hove in sight gracefully treading his pneumatic-shod steed.
1909 Westm. Gaz. 3 June 4/2 Although they [sc. motor-cars] are pneumatic-shod, the tyres do not come into contact with the track.
1936 Bismarck (N. Dakota) Tribune 10 Nov. Ohio State university's school of agricultural engineering reported Tuesday that the pneumatic shod vehicles performed better..than those with the old fashioned steel wheels.
pneumatic telegraph n. †(a) an early form of telegraph in which a signal was transmitted by means of an impulse given either to a column of water by air pressure or else to one end of a sealed tube of air (obsolete); (b) a pneumatic dispatch system.
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1839 Jrnl. Franklin Inst. 24 206 Mr. Crosley's Pneumatic Telegraph... In establishments where the telegraphic communications do not require the constant attendance of a person to observe them,..the signals may be correctly registered on paper, by connecting with..an instrument called a pressure register.
a1877 E. H. Knight Pract. Dict. Mech. II. 1755/2 Pneumatic Telegraph, a telegraph used before the times of Morse and Wheatstone for communicating information by the impulse given to a column of water by pneumatic pressure.
1978 R. Grayson Murders at Impasse Louvain xvi. 113 He had sent her..a ‘petit bleu’ or message by the pneumatic telegraph.
1999 Crains Chicago Business (Nexis) 7 June e23 They fed their high-speed T-1 digital telephone lines through the pneumatic telegraph tubes.
pneumatic trough n. a vessel filled with liquid (usually water or mercury) used for collecting gas by displacing liquid from a jar inverted in the vessel; cf. hydro-pneumatic adj.
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the world > matter > chemistry > equipment or apparatus > [noun] > general vessels > others
aludela1400
sublimatoryc1405
rotumbea1475
capel1527
firepot1595
digestory1676
digester1681
capsule1727
pneumatic trough1800
receiver1808
collector1860
cartridge1920
1800 tr. F. A. C. Gren Princ. Mod. Chem. I. i. 88 The pneumatic-trough..is a kind of reservoir for the liquid, through which the gas is conveyed, and caused to rise.
1823 W. Henry Elements Exper. Chem. (ed. 9) I. i. 21 Place the jar filled with water and inverted, over one of the funnels of the shelf of the pneumatic trough.
1960 F. G. Mann & B. C. Saunders Pract. Org. Chem. (ed. 4) ii. 82 A second delivery-tube leads from B into a beehive stand..in a pneumatic trough.
pneumatic tube n. now chiefly historical a tube used for conveying letters, parcels, etc., in pneumatic dispatch.
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1863 Times 10 Feb. 4 The company was registered..with limited liability, for the establishment in the metropolis of lines of pneumatic tube.
1898 E. Howard To-morrow 48 Subways for sewerage and surface drainage,..pneumatic tubes for postal purposes, have come to be regarded as economic if not essential.
1992 N.Y. Times 12 July v. 16/5 Even the turn-of-the-century system of delivering express letters through pneumatic tubes survives. It now connects only Government ministries and Parliament.
pneumatic tyre n. (also pneumatic tire) a tyre inflated with compressed air.
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1889 Freeman's Jrnl. (Dublin) 23 Nov. 2/8 There is every reason to expect that a large business can be done in fixing the Pneumatic Tyre to the wheels of carriages, invalid chairs, etc.
1891 F. S. Willoughby & F. C. Lynde Brit. Patent 4206/1890 1 Large rubber tyres..known commercially as (1) Pneumatic tyres, (2) Cushion tyres.
1937 Amer. Home Apr. 160/3 (advt.) You'll never hear ‘quiet please’ with the Coldwell Suburban! And no wonder. Goodyear pneumatic tires, rubber covered guard roller, ball bearings throughout.
1994 Sunday Times 6 Mar. (Style & Travel section) viii. 62/2 Donkeys and moth-eaten horses attached to carts with pneumatic tyres.
pneumatic-tyred adj. fitted with pneumatic tyres.
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society > travel > means of travel > a conveyance > vehicle > vehicles according to means of motion > vehicle moving on wheels > [adjective] > fitted with tyres > fitted with specific type of tyres
pneumatic-tyred1890
solid-tyred1891
pneumatic-shod1894
balloon-tyred1895
high profile1916
1890 Bismarck (N. Dakota) Daily Tribune 21 Sept. 4 A great two mile record was made on a pneumatic tired safety bicycle in England during the last week of July.
1983 M. Cox M. R. James x. 108 Cambridge..took his first holiday abroad on a pneumatic-tyred safety bicycle.
2003 Hobart Mercury (Austral.) (Nexis) 16 Apr. Why not convert them [sc. trams] to diesel-powered, steerable, pneumatic-tyred vehicles to permit the flexibility of extended routes if necessary.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2006; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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adj.n.1624