Vacuum
now means a space from which air has been expelled. Descartes says, “If a vacuum could be effected in a vessel the sides would be pressed into contact.” Galileo said, “Nature abhors a vacuum,” to account for the rise of water in pumps. (See Point.)
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Entry taken from
Dictionary of Phrase and Fable,
edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.