breathing

▪ I. breathing, vbl. n.
    (ˈbriːðɪŋ)
    [f. breathe v.]
    1. a. Exhalation and inhalation of breath; respiration; a single act of respiration.

1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xi. 349 Some bryddes at þe bille þorwgh brethynge conceyued. 1608 Hieron Wks. I. 736 Forsake mee not, I pray thee, in my last breathing. 1611 Shakes. Cymb. ii. ii. 18 'Tis her breathing that Perfumes the Chamber thus. 1691 Wood Ath. Oxon. I. 260 Our author..surrendred up his last breathings in his house in Magd. Parish. 1815 Scott Ld. of Isles ii. xxx, His breathing came more thick and fast. 1842 Tennyson Day-Dream 93.

    b. The time in which a breath is drawn; a very short time.

1625 F. Markham Bk. Hon. v. iv. §1 Though it be but for a breathing, or short time. 1826 Disraeli Viv. Grey iii. vi. 116 It was there only for the breathing of a second.

    c. Power of retaining the breath, ‘wind’.

1667 Oldenburg in Phil. Trans. II. 431 Pearl-fishers are fed with dry and rosted meat, to give them better breathing.

    d. fig. Influence, inspiration.

1587 Golding De Mornay v. 56 The very benefitte which we receiue by his loue, is secret and insensible through breathing which worketh in us. 1878 B. Taylor Deukalion i. ii. 23 Over all things huge and coarse There came the breathing of a regal sway.

    † 2. Time to breathe, respite, pause, rest. Obs.

1598 Barret Theor. Warres iii. ii. 88 One troupe..ready to second another, and to giue breathing one to another. 1641 J. Jackson True Evang. T. i. 32 The Church had no breathing for whole twenty yeares together. 1687 Lond. Gaz. No. 2262/1 Having received some breathing by a Proclamation.

    3. Exercise taken to stimulate the respiratory organs; a breather.

1755 Mem. Capt. P. Drake iv. 30, I used to go often..to take a Breathing with his Scholars. 1865 Morning Star 2 Feb., The Oxonians..took their first ‘breathing’ over the course from Oxford to Iffley and back this afternoon.

    4. Utterance, divulgence.

1606 Shakes. Ant. & Cl. i. iii. 14, I am sorry to giue breathing to my purpose. 1611 Bible Lament. iii. 55 Hide not thine eare at my breathing, at my crie.

    5. Aspiration (after), longing (for).

a 1652 J. Smith Sel. Disc. iv. 109 Those breathings and gaspings after an eternal participation of him. 1805 D. Johnston Serm. for Blind 39 A pious mind can meditate upon God and send up holy breathings towards him. 1852 Tupper Proverb. Philos. 205 Ye commune of hopes and aspirations, the fervent breathings of the heart.

    6. Of the wind: Gentle blowing.

1635 Swan Spec. M. v. §2 (1643) 170 Redness of the skie..declare[s] that some spirits or windie breathings are above. 1781 Cowper Retirement 530 The breathings of the lightest air that blows. 1802 Wordsw. Sonn. ‘To T. l'Ouv.’ There's not a breathing of the common wind That will forget thee.

    † 7. Ventilation; a place for air or vapour to escape, a vent, air-hole. Obs.

1387 Trevisa Higden Rolls Ser. II. 75 Stues..wiþ streite side weies of breþynge [lateralibus angustiis spiraculi viis]. 1480 Caxton Descr. Brit. 17 Weyes of brething that wonderly cast vp hete. 1483 Cath. Angl. 43 A Brethynge, spiraculum, spiramen. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. i. 131 The Warmth..makes New Breathings, whence new Nourishment she takes.

    8. The opening of a vein in order to let blood.

1612 Woodall Surg. Mate Wks. (1653) 328 By breathing of a Veine..the partie hath bin recovered. 1641 R. Lestrange Relapsed Apost. Introd. 4 Breathing of a Vein with a Dog-whip. 1719 D'Urfey Pills (1872) I. 87 Till the breathing a Vein Corrects the mad Pulse into Quiet.

    9. Gram. An aspiration, an aspirate: spec. (Gr. πνεῦµα, L. spiritus) in Greek grammar, the two signs, (‘) or ‘rough breathing’, and (’) or ‘smooth breathing’, which indicate respectively the presence and absence of the aspirate. See also asper n.¹, aspirate n. 2, aspiration 6.

1746 T. Nugent tr. Port Royal Gr. Gram., The Grammarians call breathing (πνεῦµα) the manner of breathing a Syllable in pronouncing it. These breathings are twofold; one soft and smooth..thus ἐγὼ..The other rough and hard ..thus ἅµα. 1864 Athenæum No. 1934. 672/2 The text is furnished with breathings and accents. 1875 Scrivener Lect. Grk. Test. 20 Breathings and accents were added, at first very irregularly.

    10. Comb. and attrib., as breathing-fit, a breathing-space, pause, rest; breathing-hole, a hole or vent for air; breathing-part, -place, a place or opening for breathing; a pause; breathing-pore, a minute opening for the passage of air, a spiracle or stoma; breathing-room = breathing-space; breathing-space, room or time to breathe; also, a rest; a period of inactivity; so breathing-spell, breathing-time; breathing-tube, a tube through which to breath; breathing-while = breathing-space.

1589 Tri. Love & Fort. iii. in Hazl. Dodsl. VI. 195 Here is a *breathing-fit after hard mischance. 1805 Wordsw. Waggoner i. 37 Many a breathing-fit he takes.

1580 Hollyband Treas. Fr. Tong., Naseaux..the *breathing holes of the nose, the nosethrill. 1856 Kane Arct. Expl. I. xiii. 141 They had worked numerous breathing-holes..in the solid ice.

1644 Bulwer Chiron. 44 To distinguish the Comma's and *breathing parts of a sentence.

1382 Wyclif Prov. xx. 27 The lanterne of the Lord the *brething place [Vulg. spiraculum] of a man. 1581 Sidney Apol. Poetrie (Arb.) 71 That Cæsura or breathing place in the middest of the verse. 1768 G. White Selborne 40 The head of a fallow-deer..furnished with two spiracula, or breathing-places besides the nostrils.

1836 Penny Cycl. V. 374/1 *Breathing-pores..are formed by the juxtaposition of two cells.

1678 R. L'Estrange tr. Seneca's Morals ii. xv. 188 But they had open Ayr, and *Breathing-Room. 1891 W. James Will to Believe (1897) 203 That howling mob of desires, each struggling to get breathing-room for the ideal to which it clings.

1650 R. Stapylton Strada's Low-C. Warres v. 130 They gave her jealousies a short *breathing-space. 1842 Tennyson Locksley Hall 167 There the passions cramp'd no longer shall have scope and breathing-space. 1878 R. B. Smith Carthage 247 He had at least given her a brief breathing space. 1922 D. H. Lawrence et al. tr. Bunin's Gentleman from San Francisco 2 He had almost reached the level of those whom he had taken as his ideals, so he made up his mind to pause for a breathing space.

1599 Sandys Europæ Spec. (1632) 192 Some *breathing time to revive himselfe, after his wearinesse. 1873 Symonds Grk. Poets iii. 68 Here was a breathing-time of indecision and suspense.

1889 Cent. Dict., *Breathing-tube, in entom., the respiratory tube of certain aquatic larvæ and dipterous puparia. 1946 Jane's Fighting Ships 1944–5 229/2 The ‘Schnorkel’, or breathing tube,..enabled submarines to remain submerged for much longer periods.

1593 Shakes. Ven. & Ad. 1142 It shall..Bud and be blasted in a *breathing-while. 1873 Browning Red Cotton Night-Cap Country 416 Turn round and look about, a breathing-while!

▪ II. ˈbreathing, ppl. a.
    [f. as prec. + -ing².]
    Respiring, living; blowing; emitting fragrance; taxing the breath, etc.; in the various senses of the verb.

1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. v. xxxv. (1495) 147 Euery brethynge beest hath lounges. 1591 Spenser Virgil's Gnat xxiv, Gentle murmure of the breathing ayre. 1595 Shakes. John ii. i. 419 Rescue those breathing liues to dye in beds. 1684 Bunyan Pilgr. ii. 66 Christiana began to Pant, and said, I dare say this is a breathing Hill. 1747 Collins Eclog. iii. 6 Or scent the breathing maize at setting day. 1777 Sir W. Jones Pal. Fortune 26 Incense-breathing gales perfum'd the grove. 1816 Southey Lay of Laureate, Dream 62 Infant man..Most weak and helpless of all breathing things. 1845 Hood Decl. Chivalry ix, A battle was a battle then, A breathing piece of work.

    b. fig. Of pictures and statues: Life-like (cf. Vergil's spirantia signa, æra).

1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. ii. 646 Breathing Figures of Corinthian Brass. c 1750 Shenstone Elegy xi. 22 The breathing picture and the living stone. 1813 Shelley Q. Mab 17 That lovely outline..fair As breathing marble.

    † c. breathing with or breathing from: fresh from. Obs.

c 1534 Pol. Verg. Eng. Hist. (1846) I. 274 Hee sawe his enemies stand..freshe and breathinge from the late spoylinge of his contrie. 1603 Knolles Hist. Turkes (1621) 881 Canalis and Quirinus yet breathing with the late slaughter of the Turkes. Ibid. 1227 Yet breathing with victorie.

    d. breathing-sweat: a profuse perspiration.

1744 Wall in Phil. Trans. XLIII. 216 After the second Dose of the Powders, each of them..broke out into an universal breathing Sweat. 1776 Anderson ibid. LXVI. 545 It brought on a breathing sweat.

Oxford English Dictionary