# moisture
## English
### Etymology

From Middle English moisture, from Old French moistour (“moisture, dampness, wetness”). Compare French moiteur.

### Pronunciation

* (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /ˈmɔɪs.t͡ʃə/
* (General American) IPA: /ˈmɔɪs.t͡ʃɚ/
* Audio (US):(file)
* Rhymes: -ɔɪstʃə(ɹ)

### Noun

moisture (usually uncountable, plural moistures)
* That which moistens or makes damp or wet; exuding fluid; liquid in small quantity.
    drops / beads of moisture
** c. 1591–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]:I cannot weep; for all my body’s moisture Scarce serves to quench my furnace-burning heart:
** 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Luke 8:6:And some [seed] fell upon a rock; and as soon as it was sprung up, it withered away, because it lacked moisture.
** 1838 March – 1839 October, Charles Dickens, chapter 7, in The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1839, →OCLC:[…] Nicholas Nickleby’s eyes were dimmed with a moisture that might have been taken for tears.
** 1897, Bram Stoker, “Jonathan Harker’s Journal—continued”, in Dracula, New York, N.Y.: Modern Library, →OCLC, chapter III, page 39:[…] as she arched her neck she actually licked her lips like an animal, till I could see in the moonlight the moisture shining on the scarlet lips and on the red tongue as it lapped the white sharp teeth.
** 1962, Rachel Carson, chapter 6, in Silent Spring‎, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, page 65:The sage—low-growing and shrubby—could hold its place on the mountain slopes and on the plains, and within its small gray leaves it could hold moisture enough to defy the thieving winds.
* The state of being moist.
    Synonyms: dampness, humidity, moistness, wetness
** 1631, Francis [Bacon], “IV. Century.”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], 3rd edition, London: […] William Rawley […]; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], →OCLC, page 84:[…] all Exclusion of Open Aire, (which is euer Predatory) maintaineth the Body in his first Freshnesse, and Moisture:
** 1643, John Denham, Coopers Hill‎, page 7:Such was the discord, which did first disperse Forme, order, beauty through the universe; While drynesse moisture, coldnesse heat resists, All that we have, and that we are subsists:
** 1794, Erasmus Darwin, Zoonomia‎, London: J. Johnson, Volume 1, Section 7, I.1, p. 39:[The organs of touch are excited] by the unceasing variations of the heat, moisture, and pressure of the atmosphere;
* (medicine) Skin moisture noted as dry, moist, clammy, or diaphoretic as part of the skin signs assessment.

#### Synonyms

* weakiness

#### Derived terms

* moisture equivalent
* moistureproof
* moisture-repellent
* moisture scan

#### Related terms

* moist
* moisten
* moistness
* moisturise, moisturize
* moisturiser, moisturizer

#### Translations
### Anagrams

* misroute

## Middle English
### Alternative forms

* moistere, mostowre, moyster, moystur, moysture, moystyr

### Etymology

Borrowed from Old French moistour; equivalent to moiste +‎ -ure.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈmɔi̯stiu̯r(ə)/, /ˈmɔi̯stur(ə)/, /ˈmɔi̯stər(ə)/

### Noun

moisture
* moistness, wetness
* moisture, humidity
* fluid, secretion
* (figurative) Something invigorating.

#### Usage notes

* Used as a technical term in alchemy and medicine.

#### Synonyms

* moistnesse

#### Descendants

* English: moisture

#### References

* “moistūr(e, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.