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Breathe   /brið/   Listen
verb
Breathe  v. t.  
1.
To inhale and exhale in the process of respiration; to respire. "To view the light of heaven, and breathe the vital air."
2.
To inject by breathing; to infuse; with into. "Able to breathe life into a stone." "And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life."
3.
To emit or utter by the breath; to utter softly; to whisper; as, to breathe a vow. "He softly breathed thy name." "Or let the church, our mother, breathe her curse, A mother's curse, on her revolting son."
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."
6.
To act upon by the breath; to cause to sound by breathing. "They breathe the flute."
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."
8.
To suffer to take breath, or recover the natural breathing; to rest; as, to breathe a horse. "A moment breathed his panting steed."
9.
To put out of breath; to exhaust. "Mr. Tulkinghorn arrives in his turret room, a little breathed by the journey up."
10.
(Phonetics) To utter without vocality, as the nonvocal consonants. "The same sound may be pronounces either breathed, voiced, or whispered." "Breathed elements, being already voiceless, remain unchanged Note: (in whispering)."
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.



Breathe  v. i.  (past & past part. breathed; pres. part. breathing)  
1.
To respire; to inhale and exhale air; hence;, to live. "I am in health, I breathe." "Breathes there a man with soul so dead Who never to himself hath said, This is my own, my native land!"
2.
To take breath; to rest from action. "Well! breathe awhile, and then to it again!"
3.
To pass like breath; noiselessly or gently; to exhale; to emanate; to blow gently. "The air breathes upon us here most sweetly." "There breathes a living fragrance from the shore."






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Breathe" Quotes from Famous Books



... his bewildered brain. The desert—the lonely leagues of sand—his fingers gripped as if they felt the stock of a gun—yet that was all over—he was not there—but he was somewhere—and alive, alive. It hurt him to move, to breathe even, and after one effort to turn over, he lay perfectly still, staring up into the black arch of sky, endeavoring to think, to understand—where was he? How had he come there? Was Hawley alive also? A face bent over him, the features faintly visible in the flash of firelight. ...
— Keith of the Border • Randall Parrish

... richest raiment Time, * Long as the birdies on the branchlets chime! And sweetest perfumes breathe within thy walls * And lover meet beloved in bliss sublime. And dwell thy dwellers all in joy and pride * Long as the wandering stars Heaven-hill ...
— The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Volume 8 • Richard F. Burton

... Western Ocean was in arms, are to be ascribed to his unconquerable energy. When in 1678 the States General, exhausted and disheartened, were desirious of repose, his voice was still against sheathing the sword. If peace was made, it was made only because he could not breathe into other men a spirit as fierce and determined as his own. At the very last moment, in the hope of breaking off the negotiation which he knew to be all but concluded, he fought one of the most bloody and obstinate battles of that age. From the day ...
— The History of England from the Accession of James II. - Volume 2 (of 5) • Thomas Babington Macaulay

... returned she reported that Lantier was no longer there. The conversation around the stove that evening never once drifted from that subject. Mme Boche said that she, under similar circumstances, should tell her husband, but Gervaise was horror-struck at this and begged her never to breathe one single word about it. Besides, she fancied her husband had caught a glimpse of Lantier from something he had muttered amid a volley of oaths two or three nights before. She was filled with dread lest these ...
— L'Assommoir • Emile Zola

... display,—though since 1859 no Italian, unless a government official, has been seen in the procession. No gondola has less than two lanterns, and many have eight or ten, shedding mellow lights of blue, and red, and purple, over uniforms and silken robes. The soldiers of the bands breathe from their instruments music the most perfect and exquisite of its kind in the world; and as the procession takes the width of the Grand Canal in its magnificent course, soft crimson flushes play upon the old, weather-darkened ...
— Venetian Life • W. D. Howells


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