to emit or exhale, as fumes or vapor.
giant stacks fuming their sooty smoke.
to treat with or expose to fumes.
(intr) to be overcome with anger or fury; rage
to give off (fumes) or (of fumes) to be given off, esp during a chemical reaction
(tr) to subject to or treat with fumes; fumigate
(often plural) a pungent or toxic vapour
a sharp or pungent odour
a condition of anger
1350–1400; Middle English < Old French fum < Latin fūmus smoke, steam, fume
To fume is to feel or express great anger. You would fume if your teacher accused you of cheating when you didn't. As a verb, fume is usually used figuratively to mean "to feel very angry," whereas as a noun, it is used more as its Latin root fumus "smoke, steam, vapor." A strong-smelling gas, smoke or vapor is also called a fume. In cartoons, when a character is fuming, it is often drawn with fumes coming out of its ears. You may fume about the inconsiderate person who sits in the car with the engine running, spewing clouds of exhaust fumes.
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Fume events are typically characterized by a “dirty sock” odor, at least in cases where engine oil leaks into the air supply.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 23, 2025
Suzanne Gutierrez, who lives in Lake Balboa and is co-founder of Fume Fighters, a community advocacy group, called the decision to approve the lease “a real slap in the face to the community.”
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 4, 2024
Fume sales dipped after the ban, but the company launched a slew of new products, posting $42 million in U.S. sales in the third quarter of 2023, the data shows.
From Seattle Times • Dec. 30, 2023
Fume Inhaler: I think it’s wisest to avoid contact with this neighbor as much as possible and continue to stay in touch with the landlord regarding efforts to evict her.
From Washington Post • Jun. 29, 2021
Metals in fusion do not flame for want of a copious Fume, except Spelter, which fumes copiously, and thereby flames.
From Opticks or, a Treatise of the Reflections, Refractions, Inflections, and Colours of Light by Newton, Isaac, Sir
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
