expiration
(ɛkspɪˈreɪʃən)
Also 7 exsp-.
[ad. L. ex(s)pīrātiōn-em, n. of action f. ex(s)pīrāre to expire.]
The action of expiring.
1. The action of breathing out (air, etc.); emission (of air, wind, etc.); an instance of this. Const. of.
| 1642 Preparative for Fast 4 This tends to the very expiration of the animall and vitall spirits. 1796 Morse Amer. Geog. I. 613 Regular inspirations and expirations of air, by caverns and fissures. 1874 T. Hardy Madding Crowd II. vi. 80 There came finally an utter expiration of air from the whole heaven in the form of a slow breeze. |
| fig. 1839 Bailey Festus xxix. (1848) 340 Prayer is..The expiration of the thing inspired. |
† b. = respiration.
Obs.| 1638 Wilkins New World i. xiv. (1684) 180 The extream thinness of it [air]..may make it unfit for Expiration. |
2. The action, or an act, of breathing out air from the lungs; also applied to a supposed analogous action in plants.
| 1603 Holland Plutarch's Mor. 689 (R.) It [the breast] transmitteth back againe the superfluity thereof into the lungs, whereby it [the wind] is sent forth by way of exspiration. 1624 Heywood Gunaik. iv. 189 In her last expiration expressing the invincible spirit of her son Alexander. 1793 Beddoes Let. to Darwin 44 Having by a strong expiration expelled from his lungs as much atmospheric air as possible. 1807 J. E. Smith Phys. Bot. 202 He is recorded as the discoverer of the expiration of plants. 1861 F. H. Ramadge Curab. Consumption 36 The impeded expiration..caused..the lower lobes of the lungs to be exceedingly enlarged. |
† 3. The action of exhaling or evaporating; exhalation.
Obs.| 1626 Bacon Sylva §866 The true Cause of Cold, is an Expiration from the Globe of the Earth. 1643 J. Steer tr. Fabricius' Exp. Chyrurg. xvi. 66 They doe hinder the expiration of the venome. c 1645 Howell Lett. IV. l, By the expiration of such Atomes, the dogg finds the sent as he hunts. 1755 in Johnson. 1847 in Craig. |
† b. concr. That which is expired or exhaled; an exhalation.
Obs.| 1576 Newton tr. Lemnie's Complex. (1633) 13 The spirit is a certaine vapour..or expiration proceeding out of the humours. 1664 Power Exp. Philos. iii. 154 The Magnetical Exspirations of the Loadstone may..be seen in the form of a mist. 1667 Phil. Trans. II. 579 The moist steams and exspirations of the Heart. 1755 in Johnson. |
† 4. The action of breathing one's last; death, decease.
Obs.| 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 210 Yf [he] had taken his body to lyfe agayn, streyght after his expiracyon. 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1673) 450 She lyeth down as though she were dead..shutting her eyes, and shewing all other tokens of expiration. 1647 Clarendon Hist. Reb. i. (1702) I. 41 The Lord Treasurer..had notice of the Clark's expiration. 1779–81 Johnson L.P., Pope Wks. IV. 87 The attendants did not discern the exact time of his expiration. 1807 G. Chalmers Caledonia I. iii. vii. 383 He died, by a quiet expiration, at his castle of Dunadeer. 1847 in Craig; and in mod. Dicts. |
† b. transf. and
fig. Of a flame, a sentiment, etc.: The fact or process of dying out; the state of being extinct.
Obs.| 1649 Jer. Taylor Gt. Exemp. iii. §1 A very great cause of the dryness and expiration of men's devotion. 1660 Boyle New Exp. Phys. Mech. xiii. 85 To satisfie our selves of its expiration, we had darken'd the Room, and in vain endeavored to discover any spark of Fire. |
5. The fact of coming to an end; termination, end, close:
a. of a period of time, or of something made to last a certain time, as a law, truce, etc.
| 1562 Act 5 Eliz. c. 15 §1 Sithence the Expiration and Ending of the Statute. 1593 Shakes. Rich. II, ii. iii. 111 Thou..art come Before th'expiration of thy time. 1647 Clarendon Hist. Reb. viii. (1843) 538/1 A fortnight after the expiration of the treaty at Uxbridge. 1664 Evelyn Kal. Hort. (1729) 197 About the Expiration of this Month carry into the Shade..Auriculas's. 1790 Paley Horæ Paul. Rom. ii. 19 The shaving of the head denoted the expiration of the Nazaritic vow. 1841 Lane Arab. Nts. I. 110 And thus she continued to do..until the expiration of the second year. 1862 Merivale Rom. Emp. (1871) V. xlii. 148 The government of the Gaulish provinces..followed on the expiration of his functions in the city. |
† b. of a race, the world.
Obs.| 1677 Plot Oxfordsh. 181 After the expiration of which ancient Race, there came..another Colony [of bees]. 1684 T. Burnet Th. Earth II. 32 What hath appear'd..relating to the chronology of the world: giving..certain marks of its expiration. |