# breathe

Pronunciation: say "BREETH" US /bɹið/, UK /bɹiːð/

## Verb

1. To draw air into the lungs and push it back out, taking in oxygen and getting rid of waste gases.
   - Simple: To take air into your lungs and let it out again to get oxygen.
   - _Doctors told him to breathe deeply during the examination._
   - _Divers learn to breathe steadily to conserve their air supply._
2. To push air out of the lungs; to exhale.
   - Simple: To push air out of your lungs, the opposite of breathing in.
   - _Breathe out fully before taking your next deep breath._
   - _He breathed gently on his hands to warm them._
3. To draw something, such as air, smoke, or dust, into the lungs.
   - Simple: To pull something, like air or smoke, into your lungs.
   - _Try not to breathe the dust while sanding the floor._
   - _He breathed the fresh mountain air deep into his chest._
4. To take in a gas, especially oxygen, in order to stay alive.
   - Simple: To take in a gas, like oxygen, that your body needs to stay alive.
   - _Climbers at high altitude breathe bottled oxygen to survive._
   - _Without plants, we could not breathe the oxygen our cells require._
5. To take in needed gases and release waste gases, in a way similar to how lungs work.
   - Simple: To take in the gases an animal or plant needs and let out the waste gases.
   - _Many insects breathe through openings called spiracles rather than lungs._
   - _Earthworms breathe through their moist skin._
6. To exchange gases with the surrounding environment, taking some in and giving others off.
   - Simple: To swap gases with the air or water around you.
   - _Gills allow fish to breathe in water._
   - _Trees breathe through pores in their bark and leaves._
7. To be alive; to go on living.
   - Simple: To go on living and be alive.
   - _He swore that while he still breathed, the cause would never die._
   - _As long as we breathe, there is hope for change._
8. To utter something very softly, as if in a whisper.
   - Simple: To say something very softly, almost in a whisper.
   - _He breathed a quiet prayer before stepping onto the stage._
   - _She leaned close to breathe a secret in his ear._
9. To give a strong impression of a quality, as if giving it off.
   - Simple: To seem to send out a feeling or quality very strongly.
   - _The whole novel breathes nostalgia for a vanished world._
   - _These ancient streets breathe history at every corner._
10. To devote yourself so completely to an activity that it seems to fill your whole life.
   - Simple: To care about an activity so much that it fills your whole life.
   - _He breathes politics, reading about it from dawn to midnight._
   - _The best chefs truly breathe their craft._
11. To send something out from the mouth in the way air is pushed out when exhaling.
   - Simple: To send something out from your mouth the way you push out air.
   - _The dragon in the story breathes flames at any knight who approaches._
   - _In freezing weather, runners breathe clouds of white mist._
12. To move or pass gently and quietly, like a soft breath, drifting or blowing softly.
   - Simple: To move gently and quietly, like a soft breath of air.
   - _A soft breeze breathed over the still water at dawn._
   - _Evening air seemed to breathe through the quiet garden._
13. To let a horse pause and rest so that it can recover its breath.
   - Simple: To let a horse stop and rest so it can catch its breath.
   - _The huntsman paused to breathe the horses before the next field._
   - _She breathed her mare in the shade before riding on._
14. To exercise someone or something briskly, working them until they are out of breath.
   - Simple: To make someone or something work hard until they are out of breath.
   - _The trainer breathed the horses with a brisk gallop across the field._
   - _Such a demanding drill will breathe the strongest players._
16. To bring scripture into being through divine inspiration, as God working through human writers.
   - Simple: To give holy scripture to people by inspiring those who wrote it.
   - _Pastors teach that God breathed the scriptures, guiding every author's hand._
   - _They believe the Spirit continues to breathe the sacred text for each generation._

## Verb

15. To pause and rest until normal breathing returns. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: To stop for a moment and rest until you can breathe normally again.
   - _The travelers paused to breathe awhile beneath the spreading oak._
   - _After the long ascent, they sat down to breathe._

## Origin

From Middle English brethen ("to breathe, blow, exhale"), derived from Middle English breth ("breath"). It replaced older words such as Middle English ethien (from Old English ēþian and orþian) and anden (from Old Norse anda), all meaning "to breathe."

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/breathe (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).