Dictionary Definition
breathe
Verb
1 draw air into, and expel out of, the lungs; "I
can breathe better when the air is clean"; "The patient is
respiring" [syn: take a
breath, respire,
suspire]
2 be alive; "Every creature that breathes"
3 impart as if by breathing; "He breathed new
life into the old house"
4 allow the passage of air through; "Our new
synthetic fabric breathes and is perfect for summer wear"
5 utter or tell; "not breathe a word"
6 manifest or evince; "She breathes the Christian
spirit"
7 take a short break from one's activities in
order to relax [syn: rest,
catch
one's breath, take a
breather]
8 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"
User Contributed Dictionary
English
Etymology
See breath.Pronunciation
- /briːð/, /bri:D/
- Rhymes: -iːð
Verb
- To repeatedly draw air into, and expel it from, the lungs in order to extract oxygen from it and excrete waste products.
- To exchange gases with the environment.
- Garments made of ****** and similar new materials breathe well and keep the skin relatively dry during exercise.
- Figuratively, to be relaxed or calm.
- ...a child's peaceful breathing...
- ...the wind breathes through the trees...
- ...a child's peaceful breathing...
- Figuratively, to live.
- I will not allow it, as long as I still breathe.
- To repeatedly draw (something) into, and expel (that thing)
from, the lungs.
- Try not to breathe too much smoke.
- To whisper quietly.
- He breathed the words into her ear, but she understood them all.
Related terms
Translations
to draw air in and out
- Afrikaans: asem, asemhaal
- Albanian: marr frymë
- Catalan: respirar
- Czech: dýchat
- Danish: ånde
- Dutch: ademen, ademhalen
- Faroese: anda
- Finnish: hengittää
- French: respirer, inspirer, expirer
- German: atmen
- Hungarian: lélegzik
- Indonesian: bernafas
- Italian: respirare
- Japanese: 呼吸する (こきゅうする, kokyū-suru)
- Malaysian: bernafas
- Papiamentu: hala rosea
- Polish: oddychać
- Portuguese: espirar, respirar
- Slovene: dihati
- Sranan Tongo: bro
- Swedish: andas
- Turkish: nefes almak, solumak
- West Frisian: sykhelje
to exchange gases
- Finnish: hengittää
- Polish: oddychać
- Slovene: dihati
- Swedish: andas
to be relaxed
- Finnish: henkäillä (wind)
- Polish: odetchnąć
(fig) to live
- Finnish: hengittää, olla hengissä
- Polish: oddychać swobodnie
- Slovene: dihati
- Swedish: andas
to draw sthg into lungs
- Dutch: inademen
- Finnish: hengittää
- German: einatmen
- Slovene: vdihniti
- Swedish: andas in
to whisper
- Dutch: ademen
- Finnish: kuiskata
- German: hauchen
- Slovene: dahniti
- ttbc Catalan: (1): respirar
- ttbc French: (1): respirer
- ttbc Friulian: (1): respirâ
- ttbc Hebrew: לנשום (linshom) (1)
- ttbc Indonesian: bernafas
- ttbc Italian: (1): respirare
- ttbc Korean: 숨쉬다 (sumswida)
- ttbc Norwegian: puste
- ttbc Portuguese: respirar
- ttbc Romanian: respira
- ttbc Spanish: respirar
- ttbc Telugu: శ్వాసించు (SvaasiMchu) (1), ఊపిరి ఆడు (oopiri aaDu) (2)
- ttbc Thai: หายใจเข้า (breath in) hai-jai-kao
- ttbc Turkish: soluk almak (1,2,3) nefes almak (1,2,3)
Extensive Definition
Breathe may be:
- Breathe (band), a British band active in the 1980s
- Breathe (New Zealand band), a New Zealand band active in the late 1990s
- Breathe (Faith Hill album), a 1999 Faith Hill album
- Breathe (Keller Williams album), a 1999 Keller Williams album
- Breathe (Midnight Oil album), a 1996 Midnight Oil album
- Breathe (Midge Ure album), a 1996 Midge Ure album
- "Breathe" (song), a number of different songs
Breathe may also refer to:
- Breath, the act of inhaling and exhaling
breathe in Danish: Breathe
breathe in Hungarian: Breathe
Synonyms, Antonyms and Related Words
He,
affect, air, alert, approve, argue, articulate, aspirate, attest, bark, bawl, be, be alive, be animate, be
aromatic, be construed as, be extant, be found, be in existence, be
met with, be present, be redolent of, be the case, be there,
bellow, bespeak, besprinkle, betoken, blare, blat, blow, blubber, boom, brandish, bray, break, break it to, break the
news, breathe hard, breathe in, breathe out, brew, bring forth, bring forward,
bring into view, bring out, bring to notice, buzz, cackle, chant, chime, chirp, chorus, color, come out with, communicate, confide, confide to, connote, convey, coo, cough, crow, dangle, decoct, deliver, demonstrate, denote, develop, disclose, display, divulgate, divulge, dramatize, draw breath, draw
in, drawl, dredge, dye, embody, emit, emit a smell, enact, entincture, entrust with
information, enunciate, evidence, evince, evulgate, exclaim, exhale, exhaust, exhibit, exist, expel, expire, expose to view, express, fetch breath, flaunt, flavor, fling off, flourish, flute, formulate, furnish evidence,
gasp, give, give confidential
information, give expression, give indication of, give out, give
out with, give sign, give token, give tongue, give utterance, give
vent to, give voice, go to show, growl, grunt, gulp, hack, happen to be, have being,
have life, have place, hiccup, highlight, hint at, hiss, hold, huff, illuminate, illustrate, imbrue, imbue, impart, imply, import, impregnate, incarnate, indicate, infiltrate, infuse, inhale, inspire, instill, involve, keen, knock off, lay off, leaven, let get around, let in
on, let next to, let out, lie by, lilt, lip, live, live and breathe, maffle, make clear, make known,
make plain, manifest,
mark, materialize, mean, mention privately, move, mumble, murmur, mussitate, mutter, nose, obtain, occur, out with, pant, parade, pause, penetrate, perform, permeate, pervade, phonate, phrase, pipe, point to, pour forth,
present, prevail, produce, pronounce, publish, puff, put forth, put hep, put in
words, put next to, raise,
recess, reek, refer to, represent, respire, reveal, roar, roll out, rumble, saturate, say, scent, scream, screech, season, set forth, show, show forth, show signs of,
shriek, sibilate, sigh, signalize, signify, sing, slurp, smell, smell of, snap, snarl, sneeze, sniff, sniffle, snore, snort, snuff, snuff in, snuffle, sob, sound, speak, speak for itself, speak
volumes, spell, spotlight, squall, squawk, squeal, stand, stand for, steep, stink, stop for breath, subsist, suck, suck in, suckle, suffuse, suggest, susurrate, symbolize, symptomatize, take a break,
take a recess, take a rest, take aside, take five, take ten, take
time out, tell, tell
confidentially, temper,
tend to show, throw off, thunder, tincture, tinge, tip, tip off, token, transfuse, trot out, trumpet, twang, unfold, utter, vent, ventilate, verbalize, vocalize, voice, wail, walk the earth, warble, wave, wheeze, whiff, whine, whisper, word, yap, yawp, yell, yelp, yield an
odor