breath
(brɛθ)
Forms: 1 brǽþ, Anglian bréþ, 2–3 breð, 3–6 breth, 4 breeth, breeþ, breþ(e, 4–6 brethe, 6 breathe, 6– breath.
[OE. brǽþ, bréþ odour, smell, exhalation as of anything cooking or burning:—WGer. type *brâþ-, OTeut. *bræ̂þo-z:—Aryan *bhrêto-, with original sense ‘exhalation from heat, steam, reek’, f. root *bhrē-, Teut. *bræ̂- to burn, heat: see brede v.1, and brood. Thus related to OHG. brâdam, MHG. bradem, Ger. brodem ‘exhalation, vapour, steam’:—OTeut. type *bræ̂þmo-z:—Aryan ˈbhrē-tmo- (cf. Skr. ˈā-tman, etc.), f. same root. The sense passed in Eng. through that of ‘heated air expired from the lungs’ (often manifest to the sense of smell, as in ‘strong breath’) to ‘the air in the lungs or mouth’, thus taking the place of OE. ǽðm, early ME. ēþem (see ethem), and ME. ande, onde, Sc. aind, aynd, from Old Norse. The original long vowel of OE. brǽþ has only recently been shortened; the 16th c. (breːθ) having become (brɛθ), instead of (briːθ) as in the verb breathe.]
† 1. Odour, smell, scent. Obs.
| c 893 K. ælfred Oros. vi. xxxii. §2 Þa ongon se cealc mid unᵹemete stincan; þa wearþ Iuninianus mid þæm bræþe ofsmorod. a 1100 Ags. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 3 Odor, bræþ. c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 153 Hwenne þe nose bið open to smelle unlofne breð. a 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 613 He may se fra his body com..Alkyn filthe with stynkand brethe. c 1400 Destr. Troy 8804 Bawme, þat was bright, & of brethe noble. |
2. † a. An exhalation or vapour given forth by heated objects, etc.; steam, smoke, reek.
Obs.| a 1300 Pop. Treat. Sc. 203 (Wright) 136 Both of the see and of fersch water he draweth up the breth. a 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 4727 Blode and fire and brethe of smoke. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvii. xxvi. (1495) 619 Whan canell is broke therof comyth a breth as it were a myste. 1561 Hollybush Hom. Apoth. 3 Hold thy nose over it that the vapor or hot breth ascende into thy head. 1667 Milton P.L. iv. 806 Like gentle breaths from Rivers pure. |
b. (with influence of sense 3): The air exhaled from anything, or impregnated with its exhalations, and retaining its characteristic odour. Also
fig. Cf. air n.1| 1625 Bacon Gardens, Ess. (Arb.) 557 Because the Breath of Flowers is farre Sweeter in the Aire..then in the hand. 1830 Tennyson A Spirit haunts 18 The moist rich smell of the rotting leaves, And the breath Of the fading edges of box beneath. 1837 Newman Par. Serm. (ed. 2) III. x. 147 Full of the..breath of the grave. 1874 Blackie Self-Cult. 43 What a student should specially see to..is not to carry the breath of books with him wherever he goes. |
c. with a mixture of the sense of ‘puff’: A little of the air, a whiff.
| 1873 Black Pr. Thule xxv. 424 The remote islands, where a stranger brought..a breath of the outer world with him. |
3. a. The air exhaled from the lungs, originally as made manifest by smell, or as a visible exhalation; hence
to keep (save, spare) one's breath to cool one's (own) porridge: see
porridge n. 4.
b. generally, The air received into and expelled from the lungs in the act of respiration.
to draw breath: to inhale air, breathe;
hence, to live: also
to spend,
waste (one's) breath (as in unprofitable speech). This is now the main sense, which colours all others.
| a. c 1340 Cursor M. 3573 (Trin.) Teeþ to rote, breeþ [earlier MSS. ande] to stynke. c 1386 Chaucer Pard. T. 224 Sour is thi breeth. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. v. xxxvii. (1495) 152 Changynge of breth comyth of vnyuersall corrupcion of the inner membres. 1601 Shakes. Jul. C. i. ii. 249 The rabblement..vttered such a deale of stinking breath. 1642 Fuller Holy & Prof. St. iv. xviii. 333 A Swede fights best when he can see his own breath. 1842 T. Martin in Fraser's Mag. Dec., You will oblige me by keeping your own breath to cool your own porridge. Mod. His breath smelling strong of alcohol. |
| b. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 50 Brethe, anelitus. 1535 Coverdale Ps. cxxxiv[v]. 16 They heare not, nether is there eny breth in their mouthes. c 1534 Pilgrim's T. 476 in Thynne Animadv. App. i. 90 That ever it dreu brethe. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. iv. 699 Draw the vital breath of upper Air. 1712 Steele Spect. No. 426 ¶2 Within ten Hours after the Breath is out of the Body. 1713 Berkeley Hylas & P. iii. Wks. 1871 I. 323, I will no longer spend my breath in defence of it. 1809 W. Irving Knickerb. (1861) 157 Even the inhabitants of New-Amsterdam began to draw short breath. 1842 Tennyson Morte d'Arthur 148 Then spoke King Arthur, drawing thicker breath. 1850 ― In Mem. cxx, I trust I have not wasted breath. |
c. transf. The wind blown into a musical instrument.
poet.| 1605 Shakes. Macb. v. vi. 19 Make all our Trumpets speak, giue them all breath. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. ii. 789 Before the Breath Of brazen Trumpets rung the Peals of Death. 1878 Browning La Saisiaz 36 But the soul is not the body: and the breath is not the flute. |
d. fig. Taken as the type of things unsubstantial, volatile, or fleeting.
| 1593 Shakes. Lucr. 212 A dream, a breath, a froth of fleeting joy. 1603 ― Meas. for M. iii. i. 8 A breath thou art, Seruile to all the skyie-influences. |
4. a. A gentle blowing, a puff; now usually
breath of air or
breath of wind; but in early times used absolutely in sense of ‘wind, breeze, air in motion’.
| c 1325 E.E. Allit. P. C. 107 Þe blyþe breþe at her bak þe bosum he fyndes. Ibid. 138 When boþe breþes con blowe vpon blo watteres. c 1400 Destr. Troy 3697 Þe bre and the brethe burbelit to gedur. 1627 Capt. Smith Seaman's Gram. x. 46 There is not a breath of wind stirring. 1711 Steele Spect. No. 167 ¶3 The least Breath of Wind has often demolished my magnificent Edifices. 1822 Shelley Hellas 4 Sweet as a summer night without a breath. 1833 H. Martineau Manch. Strike vi. 67 A breath of fresh air came in. 1860 Tyndall Glac. i. §18. 133 There was not a breath of air stirring. |
b. In the ‘breath of summer’, ‘of morn’, etc. there is almost always an admixture, great or small, of a
fig. use of senses 2 b, 3 a.
| c 1386 Chaucer Prol. 5 Whan Zephirus eek with his swete breeth Inspired hath..the tendre croppes. c 1600 Shakes. Sonn. liv, When summers breath their masked buds discloses. 1775 Sheridan Duenna i. i. 185 The breath of morn bids hence the night. 1821 Byron Sardan. i. ii. 575 Can I not even breathe The breath of heaven? |
c. fig. In such phrases as ‘the breath of popular favour’ (
cf. Lat. popularis aura), the original notion of the breath of favouring wind which fills the sails, is much mixed with that of spoken or whispered breath, and sometimes with other of the later senses.
| a 1639 Wotton Char. Happy Life in Reliq. Wotton., Untide unto the world by care Of Publike fame or private breath. 1692 South 12 Serm. (1697) I. 32 The Mind can..quickly feel the thinness of a popular Breath. a 1703 Burkitt On N.T. Mark i. 45 Christ retires from the breath of popular applause. 1790 Gouv. Morris in Sparks Life & Writ. (1832) II. 96 They must patiently wait the breath of the Assemblée, and follow as it blows. 1874 H. Reynolds John Bapt. i. §4. 35 Forced into new attitudes by the changing breath of human appreciation. |
5. a. The faculty or action of breathing, respiration. Hence, breathing existence, spirit, life; so
breath of life,
breath of the nostrils.
| a 1300 Seven Sins 41 in E.E.P. (1862) 19 Þe deuil benimiþ him is breþ. 1382 Wyclif Gen. ii. 7 And spiride in to the face of hym an entre of breth of lijf. c 1386 Chaucer Knt.'s T. 2194 Whan with honour vp yolden is his breeth. 1587 Mirr. Mag., Alban lxx, Now faint I feele, my breath begins to fayle. 1611 Shakes. Wint. T. v. i. 83 When your first Queene's againe in breath. 1611 Bible Gen. vii. 22 All in whose nosethrils was the breath of life. 1738 Wesley Psalms No. 121. v, He guards our Souls, he keeps our Breath. 1821 Clare Vill. Minstr. I. 169 Now, poor puss! thou'st lost thy breath, And decent laid the molds beneath. 1850 Tennyson In Mem. xxxvi, And so the Word had breath. |
b. to catch or hold one's breath: to check suddenly or suspend the act of respiration. Also
fig.| 1719 De Foe Crusoe iii, I held my breath..I was ready to burst with holding my breath. 1816 Byron Ch. Har. iii. lxxxiv, In his lair Fix'd Passion holds his breath, until the hour Which shall atone for years. 1833 Marryat P. Simple xlvii, ‘I see her’, replied I, catching my breath with joy. 1864 Glasgow Her. 11 June, It also catches my breath and makes me cough. |
c. to take a person's breath (away): to cause him to hold his breath owing to sudden emotion; hence, to dumbfound, flabbergast.
| 1864 Browning Likeness in Dram. Pers., He never saw..What was able to take his breath away. 1905 T. Dixon Clansman 351 The daring campaign these men were waging took his breath. a 1910 ‘Mark Twain’ Myst. Stranger (1916) 14 He said it placidly, but it took our breath for a moment and made our hearts beat. 1965 Listener 3 June 826/1 It is the really bold planting that takes one's breath away. |
6. An act of breathing; a single respiration. Hence phrases:
in (with) one or the same breath,
at a breath, etc.
| 1483 Cath. Angl. 43 A Breth; vbi ande. 1489 Caxton Faytes of A. ii. xxxix. 164 Taughte to..plonge in to the watre and wyth a long breth to kepe them self therynne. 1571 Buchanan's Detect. Mary in H. Campbell Love-lett. Mary Q. Scots (1824) 148 When she cannot stay him in life, cometh she to receive his last breath? 1588 Marprel. Epist. (Arb.) 3, I cannot very often at one breath come to a full point. 1634 Quarles Embl. i. (1818) 58 Thou swallowest at one breath Both food and poison down. 1717 Pope Eloisa 333 Till ev'ry motion, pulse, and breath, be o'er. 1850 Mrs. Stowe Uncle Tom xvii. 160 I'll fight to the last breath, before they shall take my wife and son. 1858 Hawthorne Fr. & It. Jrnls. I. 83 In the space of half a dozen breaths. 1867 Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) I. vi. 506 The Chroniclers speak of it in the same breath with the election of Harold. |
7. a. Power of breathing, free or easy breathing. Chiefly in phrases:
e.g. out of breath: breathing with difficulty, breathless; so
in breath (
obs.),
to get,
keep,
lose one's breath,
to put out of breath.
| 1590 Shakes. Com. Err. iv. i. 57 You run this humor out of breath. 1602 ― Ham. v. ii. 282 The King shal drinke to Hamlets better breath. 1603 Knolles Hist. Turkes (1621) 1254 The Turkes yet in breath..gave an attempt unto the high Towne. 1782 Cowper J. Gilpin xl, Away went Gilpin out of breath. 1810 Scott Lady of L. i. vii, Two dogs..Unmatched for courage, breath, and speed. 1859 Tennyson Elaine 421 At last he got his breath and answer'd. |
b. to take breath, to breathe freely, to recover free breathing, as by pausing after exertion. Also
fig.| 1581 Nowell & Day in Confer. i. (1584) G iij, Some of vs were fayne to go out of the chauncel to take breath. 1581 J. Bell Haddon's Answ. Osor. 401 To pause awhiles, and to take breath upon good advise, what were best to be done. 1828–41 Tytler Hist. Scot. (1864) I. 112 They sat down to take breath. |
8. a. Opportunity or time for breathing; exercise of the respiratory organs. Also
fig.| 1594 Shakes. Rich. III, iv. ii. 24 Giue me some litle breath, some pawse, deare Lord. 1606 Shakes. Tr. & Cr. ii. iii. 121 He hopes it is no other, But for your health, and your digestion sake, An after Dinners breath. Ibid. iv. v. 92 Their fight..either to the vttermost Or else a breath. 1673 Temple Observ. U. Prov. Wks. 1731 I. 24 The great Breath that was given the States in the Heat of their Affairs. |
† b. Of mines, etc.:
to have breath: to have free passage for foul air or gas.
Obs. rare.
| 1599 Hakluyt Voy. II. i. 83 The mine had vent or breath in two places. |
9. a. transf. Whisper, utterance, articulate sound, speech; judgement or will expressed in words.
| 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xiv. 61 Þorw his breth mowen men & bestes lyuen. Ibid. xviii. 319 With þat breth helle brake. 1589 J. Hart Orthogr. 6 To use as many letters in our writing as we do voyces or breathes in speaking. 1599 Shakes. Much Ado v. i. 273 Art thou the slaue that with thy breath hast kild mine innocent childe? 1612 T. Taylor Comm. Titus i. 9 Noting in one breath of Bellarmine three errors. 1720 Watts Div. Songs xvii. iii, Hard names..and threatening words, That are but noisy breath. 1770 Goldsm. Des. Vill. 54 A breath can make them, as a breath has made. 1785 Burns Cotter's Sat. Nt. xix, Princes and lords are but the breath of kings. 1830 Tennyson Dream Fair Women ii, Dan Chaucer, the first warbler, whose sweet breath Preluded those melodious bursts. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) V. 114 There is an undoubted power in public opinion when no breath is heard adverse to the law. |
b. below or under one's breath: in a low voice or whisper.
bated breath: see
bated ppl. a.
| 1832 Lytton Eug. Aram i. iii, Hush, said Ellinor under her breath. 1865 J. Ussher Lond. to Persep., The Armenian woman can only talk in her own house below her breath. |
10. Phonology. Voiceless expiration of air, forming a hiss, whish, puff, or similar sound.
attrib., as in
breath consonant, a consonant formed by the breath in the mouth without the action of the vocal chords: such are the sounds (
k,
t,
p,
x,
ʃ,
s,
θ,
f).
| 1842 Penny Cycl. XXII. 429/2 It will be observed..that these consonants have no voice throughout their duration; that they each have breath-sound. 1867 A. M. Bell Visible Speech 49 When the breath, or the voice, is moulded by precise dispositions of the parts of the mouth. Ibid. 70 The Breath-glide. 1874 Sweet Hist. Eng. Sounds 76 To determine the laws which govern the distribution of the breath þ and f, and the voice ð and v. 1879 ― in Philol. Soc. Trans. 471 Swedish..final voiced stops..seem to be shorter than in English, and to have a stronger breath off-glide. |
11. Comb., as
breath-bereaving,
breath-blown,
breath-catching,
breath-control,
breath-force,
breath-giver,
breath-giving,
breath-holding n. and
adj.,
breath-stopping,
breath-stream;
breath-bubble, a bubble blown by the breath;
fig. an empty thing, a trifle;
breath-catching a. = breath-taking;
breath-group Phonetics, the succession of words, whether a sentence or part of a sentence, uttered without pause, in a single breath;
† breath-room, room for breathing, breathing-space;
† breath-seller, one who sells perfumes or scents; also, one who speaks for pay;
breath-sounds, respiratory sounds heard in auscultation;
breath-tainted a., having tainted or foul breath; also
fig.;
breath-taking a., surprising, thrilling, dumbfounding (
cf. sense 5 c, above); hence
breath-takingly adv.;
breath-test, measurement of the amount of alcohol in the blood by means of a breathalyser; also
breath-testing vbl. n. and ppl. a.| 1618 R. Brathwait Descr. Death in Farr S.P. (1848) 270 A *breath-bereaving breath..He comes..to rid us of our feares. |
| 1827 Hood Hero & L. xxxviii, A *breath-blown dart Shot sudden from an Indian's hollow cane. |
| 1835 Browning Paracelsus i. 30 Painted toys, *Breath-bubbles, gilded dust. |
| 1868 Mrs. H. Wood Flowers in Argosy June, ‘What's killing him?’ cried Sale, with..a sort of *breath-catching. 1928 Daily Tel. 6 Nov. 14/5 Green, Wood and Violet..do some breath-catching tumbles. |
| 1958 L. W. Tancock in Aspects of Translation 50 His personal endowments of voice and *breath-control. |
| 1935 M. Schubiger Role of Intonation 1 The amount of *breathforce (stress). 1963 English Studies XLIV. 60 Amplitude is not only a function of breath-force but also of vowel quality. |
| 1609 Metamorph. Tobacco (Collier) 9 *Breath-giuing herbe. |
| 1877 H. Sweet Handbk. Phonetics 86–7 The only division actually made in language is that into ‘*breath-groups’... Within each breath-group there is no pause whatever. 1909 D. Jones Pronunc. of Eng. 58 The following are examples of breath-groups: Yes; Good morning; Shall we go out for a walk? 1964 E. A. Nida Toward Sci. Transl. viii. 178 In this type of translating there are several important factors (1) timing, both of syllables and breath groups. |
| 1890 W. James Princ. Psychol. II. xx. 174 The *breath-holding stillness of the boy playing ‘I spy’, to whom the seeker is near. 1937 J. R. Firth Tongues of Men iii. 40 The larynx or Adam's apple—the breath-holding, whisper-, and voice-making instrument. 1968 Brit. Med. Bull. XXIV. 250/1 CO2 excretion is abolished..by breath-holding or by rebreathing. |
| 1669 Worlidge Syst. Agric. viii. §3. 161 Leaving the Plant a little *Breath-room in the middle. |
| 1601 Cornwallyes Ess. ii. xlix. (1631) 310 Call in those *breath-sellers, and perfumers. 1603 Florio Montaigne i. xxii. (1632) 52 A fourth estate of Lawyers, breathsellers, and pettifoggers. |
| 1934 Priebsch & Collinson German Lang. p. xv, A total stoppage of the outgoing *breath-stream. |
| 1645 Quarles Sol. Recant. i. 42 An old *Breath-tainted Churl. |
| 1880 ‘Mark Twain’ Tramp Abroad xxxiii. 324 It was a sort of *breath-taking surprise. 1908 Westm. Gaz. 1 Apr. 7/3 This breath-taking assertion was made to a ‘Westminster’ representative. 1966 Illustr. London News 30 July 35 (Advt.), It tastes like a view from the top of the Eiffel Tower. Breathtaking. |
| 1928 Manch. Guardian Weekly 31 Aug. 175/3 *Breathtakingly beautiful. |
| 1966 Economist 12 Nov. 650/3 She has dropped her proposal for random road-side *breath-tests for drivers. 1968 Listener 21 Mar. 391/3 It has been forecast from recent casualty figures that the breath-test should cut deaths by 1,600 a year. |
| 1960 Daily Tel. 27 Jan. 11/4 He subjected a colleague and myself to analyses of alcohol in the blood on his *breath-testing machine. 1967 Spectator 17 Nov. 605/2 The main object of breath testing is, of course, deterrence. |
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Add:
[11.] breath-test v. trans. = breathalyse v.
| 1981 Washington Post 7 Mar. a12 His research team first studied drivers' drinking habits by stopping, interviewing and *breath-testing nearly 8,000 drivers at 2,000 accident-prone locations in Grand Rapids, Mich. 1986 Independent 26 Nov. 5/2 We will breath-test people when necessary. |
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a breath of fresh air n. a. A (short) period of time spent in the open air for refreshment.
| 1796 tr. A. von Kotzebue Negro Slaves ii. iv. 72 A breath of fresh air was a rare enjoyment. 1849 C. Brontë Shirley II. vii. 173 Joe Scott had sauntered forth from the church to get a breath of fresh air, and there he stood. 1880 Harvard Lampoon 19 Mar. 26/2 During the progress of Rollo's trial Mr. George had left the court-room to take—a breath of fresh air. 1912J. Conrad Secret Sharer i, in 'Twixt Land & Sea 120, I strolled out on the quarter-deck... A breath of fresh air was all I wanted. 1953 Sci. Monthly June 351/2 A baker or a post-office worker coming out for a breath of fresh air. 1998 P. O'Brian Hundred Days (1999) ix. 237 This evening he had come on deck for a breath of fresh air, leaving the sick-bay..in Jacob's care. |
b. fig. Someone or something refreshing; a pleasant and welcome change.
| [1874 L. D. Blake Lord & Master 96 It's just like a breath of fresh air talking to you, Laura.] 1905A. M. Wergeland in Jrnl. Polit. Econ. 13 443 It is certain that the news of the rising of the populace came as a breath of fresh air to all Europe. 1964 Listener 25 June 1036/1 This translation..from the Spanish of an Arabic-Andalusian qasida fragment..epitomizes one aspect of this breath of fresh air from the east. 1990 N.Y. Woman Dec. 20/3, I think she is not only beautiful and talented but a breath of fresh air in these times of tarty, crass, nonprincipled, aggressive starlets. 2000 Org. Gardening Sept.–Oct. 8/2 Your editorial was such a breath of fresh air. It was straightforward, sincere, and most informative. |
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colloq.don't hold your breath: (of a stated or implied situation or event) don't expect it to happen (soon); don't be confident of a successful outcome.
In
quots. 1931 and 1967, used punningly.
| 1931 G. A. Dorsey Man's Own Show 721 What was ‘fermentation’? What was this air that was ‘fixed’, that was present in human breath, and yet would not support life? Well, don't hold your breath till it can be analysed. 1967B. Nelson in Science 20 Oct. 355/1 Don't hold your breath, hoping that the polluted air around you will soon turn fresh, even after you read the hard-hitting rhetoric [in the Senate report on the Air Quality Act]. 1975 Forbes (Nexis) 1 Mar. 6 Don't hold your breath, but the first successful industrial effort to refine coal using the solvent process is currently undergoing advanced testing. 1985D. Lucie Hard Feelings in Progress & Hard Feelings i. iii. 60/2 Rusty: When I've finished you'll have my undivided attention, OK? Annie (to Viv): Don't hold your breath. 2001 Org. Gardening Jan. 30/3 If you want to try your luck, scrounge some semi-ripe cuttings in July and set them in a grit-lined trench in a cold frame. But don't hold your breath. |