breath
EnglishEdit
Alternative formsEdit
- breth (obsolete)
EtymologyEdit
From Middle English breeth, breth, from Old English brǣþ (“odor, scent, stink, exhalation, vapor”), from Proto-Germanic *brēþiz (“vapour, waft, exhalation, breath”) (compare German Brodem (“haze, vapor; breath”), of a different but related formation), of unknown origin; perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *gʰwer- (“smell”)[1] or alternatively from *bʰreh₁- (“to blow; breath, vapor, steam”), but without certain Indo-European cognates outside Germanic.[2]
PronunciationEdit
NounEdit
breath (countable and uncountable, plural breaths)
- (uncountable) The act or process of breathing.
- I could hear the breath of the runner behind me.
- The child's breath came quickly and unevenly.
- 1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, “Afterglow”, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, OCLC 24962326, page 168:
- 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.
- (countable) A single act of breathing in or out; a breathing of air.
- I took a deep breath and started the test.
- 1910, Emerson Hough, chapter I, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, OCLC 639762314:
- 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.
- 2012, John Branch, “Snow Fall : The Avalanche at Tunnel Creek”, in New York Time[1]:
- 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.
- (uncountable) Air expelled from the lungs.
- I could feel the runner's breath on my shoulder.
- (countable) A rest or pause.
- Let's stop for a breath when we get to the top of the hill.
- A small amount of something, such as wind, or common sense.
- Even with all the windows open, there is hardly a breath of air in here.
- If she had a breath of common sense, she would never have spoken to the man in the first place.
- (obsolete) Fragrance; exhalation; odor; perfume.
- 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], OCLC 3968433, (please specify |part=prologue or epilogue, or |canto=I to CXXIX):
- Autumn […] Who wakenest with thy balmy breath
- 1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of Gardens”, in The Essayes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret, OCLC 863521290:
- the breath of flowers
- (obsolete) Gentle exercise, causing a quicker respiration.
- 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 606515358, [Act III, scene i]:
- an after dinner's breath
Derived termsEdit
- arse breath
- ass breath
- ass-breath
- baby's breath
- bad breath
- breath and britches
- breath guard
- breath mint
- breath of fresh air
- breath of heaven
- breath play
- breath spray
- breath strip
- breath test
- breath-catching
- breath-catchingly
- breath-holding
- breathe one's last breath
- breather
- breathless
- breathtaking
- breathy
- butt breath
- butt-breath
- catch breath
- catch one's breath
- catch-breath
- don't hold your breath
- draw a sober breath
- draw breath
- draw one's last breath
- fresh breath
- get one's breath back
- good breath
- hold one's breath
- in the same breath
- keep one's breath to cool one's porridge
- morning breath
- out of breath
- save one's breath
- save one's breath to cool one's porridge
- short of breath
- shortness of breath
- take a breath
- take a deep breath
- take one's breath away
- take someone's breath away
- the breath of life
- under one's breath
- under the breath
- underneath one's breath
- waste breath
- wiener breath
- with 'bated breath
- with bated breath
- with every breath
- with one's dying breath
- with one's last breath
Related termsEdit
TranslationsEdit
act or process of breathing
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single act of breathing in and out
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air expelled from the lungs
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rest or pause
|
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
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AdjectiveEdit
breath (not comparable)
- (phonetics, of a consonant or vowel) voiceless, surd; contrasting with voice (breath sounds, voice sounds)
VerbEdit
breath (third-person singular simple present breaths, present participle breathing, simple past and past participle breathed)
- Misspelling of breathe.
- In the polar regions one finds dark cold waters with few places to breath.
See alsoEdit
ReferencesEdit
- ^ Douglas Harper (2001–2023), “breath”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
- ^ Kroonen, Guus (2013), “*brēan-”, in Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 11), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, pages 74–75: “*bʰréh₁-e- (GM)”
AnagramsEdit
IrishEdit
NounEdit
breath f (genitive singular breithe, nominative plural breitheanna)
- Alternative form of breith (“birth; lay; bearing capacity; bringing, taking; seizing; catching, overtaking”)
NounEdit
breath f (genitive singular breithe, nominative plural breitheanna)
- Alternative form of breith (“judgment, decision; injunction”)
DeclensionEdit
Declension of breath
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Bare forms
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Forms with the definite article
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MutationEdit
| Irish mutation | ||
|---|---|---|
| Radical | Lenition | Eclipsis |
| breath | bhreath | mbreath |
| Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs. | ||
ReferencesEdit
- Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977), “breath”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN