«Vape» (to vape) – became the “Word of the Year” according the Oxford English Dictionary. Vape – a verb that means smoking electronic cigarettes. This was reported in the official blog of the dictionary Oxford.
The definition of the verb «to vape» appeared in the dictionary in August 2014: “inhale and exhale of the vapors produced by the electronic cigarette or similar device.”
Editors of this academic publication noted that in recent years, electronic cigarettes have been used much more than before and therefore, related concepts are included in everyday vocabulary of more and more people.
For example, in countries where the population speaks mostly in English, the word «vape» in this year was used two times more frequently than in the past year. Their choice, lexicographers explain directly with the growing popularity of electronic cigarettes. The frequency use of the word «vape» rose sharply in April 2014, when in London was opened the first vape-cafe, and in New York held a protests against the ban on smoking electronic cigarettes indoors.
In the short-list of candidates for the title of “Word of the Year”, also were included the words «normcore» ( the desire to wear emphasized featureless clothes as fashionable), «contactless» (non-contact – about wireless phone technology, smart cards and similar devices) and «slacktivism» (participation in political activities in the Internet, which don’t require much effort from the person – for example, signing an online petition).
According to another version of English Dictionary (Collins English Dictionary), the “Word of the Year” has become a verb «to photobomb». A word is defined in the publication as follows: “to appear in the someone’s photo without his knowledge.”