means A vacuum is a space empty of matter — or, more loosely, the suction created when you remove air from an enclosed space.

from Straight from Latin 'vacuum,' the neuter of 'vacuus' meaning 'empty, unoccupied, void' — itself rooted in 'vacare,' 'to be empty.' That same root left fingerprints all over English: 'vacant,' 'vacation,' even 'evacuate' (literally to empty out). The word entered English as a scientific term, and the cleaning-machine sense came much later, named for the partial vacuum the device creates to inhale your dust.