transpiration

[tran-spuh-rey-shuh n] /ˌtræn spəˈreɪ ʃən/
noun
1.
an action or instance of transpiring.
2.
Botany. the passage of water through a plant from the roots through the vascular system to the atmosphere.
Origin
1545-55; trans- + Latin spīrātiōn-, stem of spīrātiō breathing (spīrāt(us), past participle of spīrāre to breathe + -iōn- -ion); perhaps directly < French or New Latin
Can be confused
evanescence, evaporation, liquefaction, melting, thawing, transpiration, vaporization.
Examples from the web for transpiration
  • As the moisture is lost through transpiration into the atmosphere, the polyacrylamide once again becomes highly absorbent.
  • Plants release water into the atmosphere through a process called transpiration.
  • People might be amazed at what the transpiration from the great mangrove forest actually did.
  • High winds can wreck the flowers and increase transpiration from the leaves, making frequent watering necessary.
  • More leaves mean more water vapor in the atmosphere through transpiration.
  • They do this by sucking water out of the ground and pumping it into the atmosphere by transpiration.
  • Water is returned to the land through the transpiration cycle.
  • Since evergreens don't lose their leaves, they continue to lose moisture through transpiration.
  • Anti-desiccant sprays help to reduce transpiration on sunny winter days, when the temperature rises but plummets at night.
  • Plus with the rains down there the transpiration will cool things down a lot.
Word Origin and History for transpiration
n.

early 15c., from Medieval Latin transpirationem, noun of action from transpirare (see transpire).

transpiration in Medicine

transpiration tran·spi·ra·tion (trān'spə-rā'shən)
n.
The passage of watery vapor through the skin or through any membrane or pore.

transpiration in Science
transpiration
  (trān'spə-rā'shən)   

The process of giving off vapor containing water and waste products, especially through the stomata on leaves or the pores of the skin.

Our Living Language  : Plants need much more water than animals do. But why? Plants use water not only to carry nutrients throughout their tissues, but also to exchange gases with the air in the process known as transpiration. Air, which contains the carbon dioxide that plant cells need for photosynthesis, enters the plant mainly through the stomata (tiny holes under its leaves). The air travels through tiny spaces in the leaf tissue to the cells that conduct photosynthesis. These cells are coated with a thin layer of water. The cell walls do not permit gases to pass through them, but the carbon dioxide can move across the cell walls by dissolving in the water on their surface. The cells remove the carbon dioxide from the water and use the same water to carry out oxygen, the main waste product of photosynthesis. All this mixing of water and air in transpiration, though, has one drawback: more than 90 percent of the water that a plant's roots suck up is lost by evaporation through the stomata. This is why a plant always needs water and why plants that live in dry climates, such as cacti, have reduced leaf surfaces from which less water can escape.