breathe
VerbOpen English WordNet
Verb (9)breathes, breathed, breathing
- draw air into, and expel out of, the lungs“I can breathe better when the air is clean”“The patient is respiring”Synonyms: take a breathrespiresuspireMore general act, moveMore specific sigh, choke, snore, yawn, exhale, wheeze, inhale, respire, hyperventilate, hiccupInvolves exhale, inhaleSimilar respire
- be alive“Every creature that breathes”More general exist, survive
- impart as if by breathing“He breathed new life into the old house”More general instill, transfuse
- allow the passage of air through“Our new synthetic fabric breathes and is perfect for summer wear”More general exist, be
- utter or tell“not breathe a word”More general express, verbalize
- manifest or evince“She breathes the Christian spirit”More general convey
- take a short break from one's activities in order to relaxSynonyms: restcatch one's breathtake a breather
- reach full flavor by absorbing air and being let to stand after having been uncorked“This rare Bordeaux must be allowed to breathe for at least 2 hours”
- expel (gases or odors)Synonyms: emitpass off
What does it mean? Question 1 of today’s quiz
Translations
Verb to draw air in and out
- Spanish
- respirar
- French
- respirer
- German
- atmen
- Italian
- respirare
- Portuguese
- respirar
- Turkish
- solumak
- Russian
- дыша́ть dyšátʹ
- Arabic
- تَنَفَّسَ tanaffasa
- Chinese
- 呼吸 hūxī
- Japanese
- 息をする iki o suru
28 more languages
- Dutch
- ademen
- Polish
- oddychać
- Swedish
- andas
- Greek
- αναπνέω anapnéo
- Korean
- 숨쉬다 sumswida
- Vietnamese
- thở
- Hungarian
- lélegzik
- Portuguese (PT)
- respirar
- Chinese (Trad.)
- 呼吸 hūxī
- Albanian
- marr frymë
- Catalan
- respirar
- Czech
- dýchat
- Danish
- ånde
- Esperanto
- spiri
- Estonian
- hingama
- Finnish
- hengittää
- Hebrew
- נָשַׁם nashám
- Icelandic
- anda
- Latvian
- elpot
- Norwegian
- puste
- Romanian
- respira
- Serbo-Croatian
- disati
- Slovak
- dýchať
- Slovenian
- dihati
- Swahili
- pumua
- Walloon
- respirer
- Welsh
- anadlu
- Yiddish
- אָטעמען otemen
The main translation for each meaning, from the langtolang.com multilingual dictionary. Each word links to its full entry there.
Webster's Dictionary (1913)
Origin: From Breath.
1. To respire; to inhale and exhale air; hence;, to live. “I am in health, I breathe.” William Shakespeare
Breathes there a man with soul so dead Who never to himself hath said, This is my own, my native land!— Sir W. Scott [The Lay of the Last Minstrel].
2. To take breath; to rest from action.
Well! breathe awhile, and then to it again!— William Shakespeare
3. To pass like breath; noiselessly or gently; to exhale; to emanate; to blow gently.
The air breathes upon us here most sweetly.— William Shakespeare
There breathes a living fragrance from the shore.— George Noel Gordon, Ld. Byron
1. To inhale and exhale in the process of respiration; to respire.
To view the light of heaven, and breathe the vital air.— John Dryden
2. To inject by breathing; to infuse; — with into.
Able to breathe life into a stone.— William Shakespeare
And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.— Gen. ii. 7.
3. To emit or utter by the breath; to utter softly; to whisper; as, to breathe a vow.
He softly breathed thy name.— John Dryden
Or let the church, our mother, breathe her curse, A mother's curse, on her revolting son.— William Shakespeare
4. To exhale; to emit, as breath; as, the flowers breathe odors or perfumes.
5. To express; to manifest; to give forth.
Others articles breathe the same severe spirit.— Joseph Milner
6. To act upon by the breath; to cause to sound by breathing. “They breathe the flute.” Matthew Prior
7. To promote free respiration in; to exercise.
And every man should beat thee. I think thou wast created for men to breathe themselves upon thee.— William Shakespeare
8. To suffer to take breath, or recover the natural breathing; to rest; as, to breathe a horse.
A moment breathed his panting steed.— Sir Walter Scott
9. To put out of breath; to exhaust.
Mr. Tulkinghorn arrives in his turret room, a little breathed by the journey up.— Charles Dickens
10. Phonetics To utter without vocality, as the nonvocal consonants.
The same sound may be pronounces either breathed, voiced, or whispered.— Henry Sweet
Breathed elements, being already voiceless, remain unchanged [in whispering].— Henry Sweet
To breathe again, to take breath; to feel a sense of relief, as from danger, responsibility, or press of business. — To breathe one's last, to die; to expire. — To breathe a vein, to open a vein; to let blood. John Dryden
Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), from GCIDE 0.54 · with additions: +PJC