▪ I. expiring, vbl. n.
(ɛkˈspaɪərɪŋ)
[f. as prec. + -ing1.]
The action of the vb. expire in its various senses.
| 1612 R. Sheldon Serm. St. Martin's 26 From the day of his circumcision..vntill the apertion of his side, after his expiring. 1626 Bacon Sylva §69 The Expiring of cold out of the Inward Parts of the Earth in Winter. 1639 Duke of Hamilton in H. Papers (Camden) 80 The day befor the expayering of the 8 gevene in your Matis last proclamatione. 1662 Stillingfl. Orig. Sacr. ii. vi. §5 At the expiring of the LXX. years. |
b. attrib.
| 1661 Walton Angler (ed. 3) i. i. 9 If the inspiring and expiring Organ of any animal be stopt, it suddenly dies. 1665 Boyle Occas. Refl., The opportunity 'tis hop'd an expiring State may give Men for Repentance. |
▪ II. expiring, ppl. a.
(ɛkˈspaɪərɪŋ)
[f. as prec. + -ing2.]
That expires (in senses of verb).
1. That breathes out air from the lungs, etc.
2. Of a person or animal: That is in the act of breathing his or its last; dying; often applied metonymically (like ‘dying’) to the breath, words, etc. of a person expiring. Of a flame, etc.: That is dying out, becoming extinguished.
| 1634 Habington Castara (Arb.) 104 My name..even thy expiring breath Did call upon. 1683 T. Hoy Agathocles 3 Left in danger of th' expireing Light. 1746–7 Hervey Medit. (1818) 194 The last accents which quiver on your pale, expiring lips. 1822 Bp. Heber in Bp. Taylor's Wks. (1839) I. cxxxv, A few expiring lamentations..were to expiate for many years of obstinate transgression. 1838 Dickens Nich. Nick. viii, An expiring candle shone before his eyes. 1870 Disraeli Lothair xxviii. 121 It frantically moved its expiring wings. |
| fig. 1660 Milton Free Commw. 453 The last words of our expiring liberty. 1696 Tate & Brady Ps. cxiii. 9 To rescue their exspiring Fame. 1776 Gibbon Decl. & F. I. 328 The expiring senate..blazed for a moment, and was extinguished for ever. 1849 Ruskin Sev. Lamps iii. §20. 87 Like bubbles in expiring foam. 1862 Stanley Jew. Ch. (1877) I. viii. 154 It was the last expiring effort of the old traditions. |
3. Of a period of time: That comes to an end; that is in the act of coming to an end.
| 1609 Tourneur Fun. Poem 14 Nor can Death or Fate Confine his fame to an expiring date. 1665 J. Spencer Prophecies 112 The last daies, being the expiring times of the Jewish Oeconomie. 1705 J. Logan in Pa. Hist. Soc. Mem. X. 46 The expiring year will by that time show what has been done. 1823 Byron Age of Bronze xiv, The impatient hope of the expiring lease. |
Hence exˈpiringly adv., like a thing expiring; as if dying away.
| 1835 New Monthly Mag. XLIII. 167 The tones were so expiringly soft and low. |