exhaust

views updated May 11 2018

ex·haust / igˈzôst/ • v. [tr.] 1. drain (someone) of their physical or mental resources; tire out: her day trip had exhausted her.2. use up (resources or reserves) completely: the country has exhausted its treasury reserves. ∎  expound on, write about, or explore (a subject or options) so fully that there is nothing further to be said or discovered: she seemed to have exhausted all permissible topics of conversation.• n. waste gases or air expelled from an engine, turbine, or other machine in the course of its operation: buses spewing out black clouds of exhaust [as adj.] exhaust fumes. ∎  the system through which such gases are expelled: [as adj.] an exhaust pipe. DERIVATIVES: ex·haust·er n.ex·haust·i·bil·i·ty / igˌzôstəˈbilitē/ n.ex·haust·i·ble adj.ex·haust·ing·ly adv.

exhaust

views updated May 14 2018

exhaust draw off or out, drain. XVI. f. exhaust-, pp. stem of L. exhaurĩre, f. EX-1 + haurĩre, draw (water), drain.
Hence as sb. XIX. So exhaustion XVII.

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