BREATH • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Breath

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/brɛθ/ Listen

noun

Breath n.

1.

The air inhaled and exhaled in respiration; air which, in the process of respiration, has parted with oxygen and has received carbonic acid, aqueous vapor, warmth, etc. "Melted as breath into the wind."

2.

The act of breathing naturally or freely; the power or capacity to breathe freely; as, I am out of breath.

3.

The power of respiration, and hence, life. "Thou takest away their breath, they die."

4.

Time to breathe; respite; pause. "Give me some breath, some little pause."

5.

A single respiration, or the time of making it; a single act; an instant. "He smiles and he frowns in a breath."

6.

Fig.: That which gives or strengthens life. "The earthquake voice of victory, To thee the breath of life."

7.

A single word; the slightest effort; a trifle. "A breath can make them, as a breath has made."

8.

A very slight breeze; air in gentle motion. "Calm and unruffled as a summer's sea, when not a breath of wind flies o'er its surface."

9.

Fragrance; exhalation; odor; perfume. "The breath of flowers."

10.

Gentle exercise, causing a quicker respiration. "An after dinner's breath."

Out of breath, breathless, exhausted; breathing with difficulty.

Under one's breath, in low tones.

See images of 'Breath'

Etymology of 'Breath'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Breath" Quotes from Famous Books

... feel my self But twenty now agen; this fighting fool Wants Policy; I shall revenge my Girl, And make her red again; I pray, my legs Will last that pace that I will carry them, I shall want breath before I ...

— The Maids Tragedy • Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher

... M'Greggor can testify, in spite of my poor face, in hopes of doing some little good, and giving a friendly hint, before an explosion should publicly take place. But you will excuse me, since I find I gain so little credit, and so waste my breath; I can only leave gentlemen and ladies in this emergency, if they will be blind to the danger at this crisis, to follow their ...

— Tales & Novels, Vol. IX - [Contents: Harrington; Thoughts on Bores; Ormond] • Maria Edgeworth

... reader has fetched his breath and looks back at the fearsome list of Geographers he has skipped—Strabo, Anaximander, Hecatoeus, Demoeritus, Eudoxus, Ephorus, Dicoearchus, Erastothenes, Polybius, Posidonius and Charles F. King,—he may well be thankful to find he has fallen ...

— This Giddy Globe • Oliver Herford

... has not been attacked for weeks, and it is disposed as other Regular battalions have been, and no more and no less effectually than they. There isn't an officer or man in the forward trenches who cannot be fully trusted to keep a look-out and to resist an attack to the last breath. There is no need to worry or keep awake, and to do so is practically admitting a distrust of the 7th K.O.A. I trust them fully, and therefore I ought to go ...

— Between the Lines • Boyd Cable

... the wiser part—to drink in deliciously the animation of those quick, illimitable, exquisitely articulated syllables, to surrender one's whole soul to the pure and penetrating precision of those phrases, to follow without a breath the happy swiftness of that fine-spun thread of thought. Then at moments her wit crystallised; the cataract threw off a shower of radiant jewels, which one caught as one might. Some of these have come ...

— Books and Characters - French and English • Lytton Strachey

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