aspiration
(æspɪˈreɪʃən)
Also 6 adsp-.
[ad. L. aspīrātiōn-em, n. of action f. aspīrāre: see aspire and -ation.]
I. From aspire.
† 1. The action of breathing into; inspiration.
| a 1535 More Wks. 357 (R.) Without the adspiracion and helpe of whose especiall grace no laboure of man can profite. c 1534 tr. Pol. Verg. Eng. Hist. (1846) I. 169 Which thinge [he]..sayde not withoute the aspiration and assent of the Hollie Spirit. |
2. The action of breathing or drawing one's breath; a breath, sigh. techn. The drawing in of air in, or as in, breathing.
| 1607 Topsell Serpents 746 Corrupt inflamation taking away freedom or easinesse of aspiration. 1659 J. Leak Waterwks. 7 One..of those Syphons containes so much Air that it cannot be drawn forth by aspiration. 1775 Sheridan Rivals ii. i. (1883) 93 There is..not an aspiration of the breeze, but hints some cause. 1823 F. Cooper Pioneer xxv. (1869) 110/2 She sighed with an aspiration so low that it was scarcely audible. 1869 Eng. Mech. 31 Dec. 379/2 Valves of aspiration..send the air into the body of the apparatus. |
† 3. That which is breathed out, an exhalation.
| 1635 Swan Spec. Mundi vi. §2 (1643) 196 An hot and drie aspiration exhaled out of the earth. |
4. The action of aspiring; steadfast desire or longing for something above one.
| 1606 Shakes. Tr. & Cr. iv. v. 16 That spirit of his In aspiration lifts him from the earth. a 1748 Watts (J.) A soul inspired with the warmest aspirations after celestial beatitude. 1862 Trollope Orley F. xlvii. 340 Assured that he need regard no woman as too high for his aspirations. 1866 Alger Solit. Nat. & Man iii. 120 Aspiration is a pure upward desire for excellence. |
II. From aspirate.
5. The action of aspirating: see aspirate v.
| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xviii. lxxxv. (1495) 835 This name Pigargus hath none aspiracion..and so it shall not be wryten wyth . h . but some men wryte Phigargus: and done amys. 1546 Langley Pol. Verg. De Invent. i. vi. 13 b, H is no letter but a signe of aspiracion. 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. 130 The addition of an h, or aspiration of the letter π. 1845 O'Donovan Irish Gram. 39 Aspiration..of the Celtic..may be defined as the changing of the radical sounds of the consonants from being stops of the breath to a sibilance, or from a stronger to a weaker sibilance. |
6. An aspirated sound or letter; the letter h or its equivalent; the breathings (‘) and (’) in Greek; = aspirate n.
| c 1550 Grafton Briteyn (R.) Pritannia in Greke, with a circumflexed aspiracion, doth signifie metalles. 1605 J. Dove Confut. Ath. 61 The letter {hebhe} He, which is but an aspiration. 1645 Fuller Good Th. in Bad T. (1841) 62 What is no substantial letter but a bare aspiration. 1673 Hickeringill Greg. Father Greyb. 292 Of less standing in the University, than Greek accents and aspirations. 1824 J. Johnson Typogr. II. 282 The Greek vowels admit of two aspirations, viz. spiritus asper [‘] and spiritus lenis [’]. |
7. The action or process of drawing in, out, or through by suction; esp. the drawing out (of fluids, gases, etc.) by means of an aspirator.
| 1842 Civil Engin. & Archit. Jrnl. V. 203/2 The fluid was absorbed throughout all the pores of the [felled] tree, by a process which is termed ‘aspiration’. 1879 Encycl. Brit. IX. 344/2 Apparatus, in which the principle of aspiration, or drawing currents of air through the grain, is now extensively employed. 1881 Trans. Obstetr. Soc. Lond. XXII. 57 Aspiration was frequently resorted to, with the view of arresting the growth of the fœtus. 1950 Engineering CLXIX. 31/1 ‘Aspiration’, or separation by means of ascending air currents, is much used in [flour] milling. |
| attrib. 1902 C. N. & A. M. Williamson Lightning Conductor 18 The ‘aspiration pipe’..had worked loose. |
¶ Written asperation: see aspirate n. ¶ .
| 1581 Marbeck Bk. of Notes 558 The letter of Asperation being altered out of his place. |