perspire, v.
(pəˈspaɪə(r))
[ad. L. perspīrā-re, etymologically, to breathe through (f. per- 1 + spīrāre to breathe), but in ancient L. used only in the senses ‘to breathe’, and ‘to blow constantly (of the wind)’. This verb is not retained in the modern Romanic langs.]
† 1. intr. Of the wind: To breathe or blow gently through. Obs. rare.
| 1648 Herrick Hesper, Farewell Frost, What gentle winds perspire! As if here Never had been the northern plunderer To strip the trees. |
† 2. intr. Of any volatile substance: To pass out or escape in the form of vapour through pores (in the human body or any porous body or substance); to escape by evaporation; to evaporate; to exhale.
Obs. (or
arch.)
| 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. 196 A man in the morning is lighter in the scale, because in sleep some pounds have perspired. 1664 Power Exp. Philos. i. 29 The Effluvium's that continually perspire out of all Plants whatsoever. 1669 Worlidge Syst. Agric. (1681) 7 This Spiritus Mundi..in some places perspires more freely than in other, and causes that different verdant colour of the Grass in certain rings or circles, where the Country people fancy the Fairies dance. 1676 ― Cyder (1691) 137 The cork being..porous, part of the spirits..perspire. 1695 Woodward Nat. Hist. Earth iii. i. (1723) 161 [Heat] perspiring-forth at the same Outlets with the Water. 1799 G. Smith Laboratory I. 436 The water will perspire through the pores of the cup. |
† b. fig. To transpire; to come out, become public; to ‘get wind’.
Obs. rare.
| 1766 Entick London I. 142 It never perspired what the..sum amounted unto. Ibid. 265 The affair perspiring. |
3. intr. Of a person (or the animal body): To give out watery fluid through the pores of the skin. Originally of insensible perspiration; later including sensible perspiration or sweating. (Now the ordinary sense.)
| 1725 N. Robinson Th. Physick 180 Dropsical People are generally observ'd to sweat much, but perspire little. 176. Wesley Serm. 1 Cor. xiii. 9 During a night's sleep, a healthy man perspires one part in four less when he sweats, than when he does not. 1791 Gentl. Mag. LXI. ii. 1099 It is well known that for some time past, neither man, woman nor child..has been subject to that gross kind of exudation which was formerly known by the name of sweat;..now every mortal, except carters, coal-heavers and Irish Chair⁓men..merely perspires. 1799 Med. Jrnl. II. 394 A child is much more liable to perspire than an adult. 1841 Lane Arab. Nts. I. 121 The heat causes him immediately to perspire profusely. |
4. trans. † a. To breathe out; to exhale; to emit or give off (air, gas, vapour, fire).
Obs. (or
fig. of b.)
b. To give off (liquid) through pores, either insensibly as vapour, or sensibly as moisture: said of organic bodies.
| a. 1680 Morden Geog. Rect. (1685) 329 The Grotta..famous for those pestilential Vapors which it perspires. 1683–4 Robinson in Phil. Trans. XXIX. 483 The various Effluvia perspir'd out of our Globe. a 1711 Ken Preparatives Poet. Wks. 1721 IV. 54 To make Love infinite perspire Devouring Fire. a 1774 Goldsm. Surv. Exp. Philos. (1776) II. 39 The vapours perspired by the clove tree. |
| b. 1707 Floyer Physic. Pulse-Watch 88 But when the great quantity of Chyle is perspir'd,..the Spirits are more increas'd, and the Blood is well rarify'd. 1759 tr. Duhamel's Husb. iii. xii. (1762) 385 To perspire off the crudities of the sap. 1799 Med. Jrnl. II. 141 The matter he perspired generally smelt sour. 1807 J. E. Smith Phys. Bot. 67 The liquor perspired becomes sensible to us by being collected from a branch introduced into any sufficiently capacious glass vessel. 1837 Penny Cycl. IX. 18 After the blossom unfolds it perspires a sweet honey-like fluid. |
Hence
perspired (
-ˈaɪəd)
ppl. a.;
perˈspiring vbl. n. and ppl. a. (whence
perˈspiringly adv.);
perˈspiry a. (
colloq.), full of perspiration.
| 1664 H. More Myst. Iniq., Apol. iii. xv. 503 An Atmosphere of perspired vapours. 1699 Bentley Phal. xiii. 392 Like the perspiring Bodies of living Creatures. 1733 Tull Horse-Hoeing Husb. ii. 19 note, As soon as the perspiring State returns. 1857 G. Bird's Urin. Deposits (ed. 5) 163 If..an organic acid..be an element of the perspired fluid. 1860 All Year Round No. 63. 302 Two seedy old women,..with..black, perspiry old gloves. 1864 Evening Standard 26 May, A Jack-in-the-Green..disporting himself, perspiringly, for the sake of a hardly-earned copper. 1897 M. Kingsley W. Africa 689 Conscientiously rolled in your blanket until the perspiring stage is well over. 1899 Allbutt's Syst. Med. VIII. 725 In health, an actively perspiring skin is usually a flushed skin. |