breath
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: enpr: brĕth
ipa: /bɹɛθ/
ipa: [bɹ̠ʷɛθ]
rhymes: -ɛθ
ipa: /brɛːθ/
ipa: /brɛθ/
Forms: form: breaths
form: breth
Etymology: From Middle English breeth, breth, from Old English brǣþ (“odor, scent, stink, exhalation, vapor”), from Proto-West Germanic *brāþi (“vapour, waft, exhalation, breath”) (compare German Brodem (“haze, vapor; breath”), of a different but related formation).
Senses: examples: text: I could hear the breath of the runner behind me.
text: The child's breath came quickly and unevenly.
text: Breezes blowing from beds of iris quickened her breath with their perfume; she saw the tufted lilacs sway in the wind, and the streamers of mauve-tinted wistaria swinging, all a-glisten with golden bees; she saw a crimson cardinal winging through the foliage, and amorous tanagers flashing like scarlet flames athwart the pines.
ref: 1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, “Afterglow”, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC, page 168:
glosses: The act or process of breathing.
examples: text: I took a deep breath and started the test.
text: Serene, smiling, enigmatic, she faced him with no fear whatever showing in her dark eyes.[…]She put back a truant curl from her forehead where it had sought egress to the world, and looked him full in the face now, drawing a deep breath which caused the round of her bosom to lift the lace at her throat.
ref: 1910, Emerson Hough, chapter I, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
text: She knew from avalanche safety courses that outstretched hands might puncture the ice surface and alert rescuers. She knew that if victims ended up buried under the snow, cupped hands in front of the face could provide a small pocket of air for the mouth and nose. Without it, the first breaths could create a suffocating ice mask.
ref: 2012 December 26, John Branch, “Snow Fall: The Avalanche at Tunnel Creek”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 14 Nov 2013:
glosses: A single act of breathing in or out; a breathing of air.
examples: text: I could feel the runner's breath on my shoulder.
glosses: Air expelled from the lungs.
examples: text: Let's stop for a breath when we get to the top of the hill.
glosses: A rest or pause.
examples: text: Even with all the windows open, there is hardly a breath of air in here.
text: If she had a breath of common sense, she would never have spoken to the man in the first place.
glosses: A small amount of something, such as wind, or common sense.
examples: text: Autumn[…]Who wakenest with thy balmy breath
ref: 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “(please specify |part=Prologue or Rpilogue, or |canto=I to CXXIX)”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC:
text: the breath of flowers
ref: 1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of Gardens”, in The Essayes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret, →OCLC:
glosses: Fragrance; exhalation; odor; perfume.
examples: text: an after dinner's breath
ref: c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Measure for Measure”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]:
glosses: Gentle exercise, causing a quicker respiration.
Derived terms: arse breath
arsebreath
ass-breath
ass breath
assbreath
baby's breath
bad breath
beanbreath
breathalyzer
breath and britches
breatharian
breath-catching
breath-catchingly
breath check
breathe one's last breath
breather
breathful
breath guard
breathhold
breath-holding
breathless
breathlike
breathly
breath mint
breath of fresh air
breath of heaven
breath of life
breath play
breathplay
breathsome
breath spray
breath strip
breathtaker
breathtaking
breath test
breathwork
breathy
butt breath
butt-breath
buttbreath
catch breath
catch-breath
catch one's breath
cockbreath
commission breath
cuntbreath
devil's breath
dickbreath
dogbreath
don't hold your breath
dragonbreath
dragonsbreath
draw a sober breath
draw breath
draw one's last breath
fart-breath
fresh breath
get one's breath back
good breath
hold one's breath
inbreath
interbreath
in the same breath
keep one's breath to cool one's porridge
Lizardbreath
midbreath
minibreath
morning breath
outbreath
out of breath
pissbreath
pussybreath
save one's breath
save one's breath to cool one's porridge
scumbreath
shitbreath
shortness of breath
short of breath
superbreath
take a breath
take a deep breath
take breath
take one's breath away
take someone's breath away
the breath of life
underbreath
underneath one's breath
under one's breath
under the breath
vase breath
waste breath
waste of breath
wiener breath
with bated breath
with 'bated breath
with every breath
with one's dying breath
with one's last breath
Related terms: breathe
breather