breeze

plural breezes · alternative brize · alternative briess

1. A light, gentle wind.

   The breeze rustled the papers on her desk.

   3 more examples

   Into a gradual calm the breezes sink.

   1793, William Wordsworth, An Evening Walk

   Breezes blowing from beds of iris quickened her breath with their perfume; she saw the tufted lilacs sway in the wind, and the streamers of mauve-tinted wistaria swinging, all a-glisten with golden bees; she saw a crimson cardinal winging through the foliage, and amorous tanagers flashing like scarlet flames athwart the pines.

   1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, “Afterglow”, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC, page 168

   little flutters of breeze shook the white hats of the daisies

   1878, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Poganuc People: Their Loves and Lives, page 199

2. figurativelyAny activity that is easy, not testing or difficult.

   After studying Latin, Spanish was a breeze.

   1 more example

   The eight-minute connection to East Midlands Railway is a breeze. The train is 170208, its First Class downrated, so I enjoy the wider seats for the hour to Ely, where I arrive a couple of minutes early.

   2025 October 15, 'Mystery Shopper', “About Anglia... and high scores”, in RAIL, number 1046, page 54

3. ball gamesWind blowing across a cricket match, whatever its strength.
4. An excited or ruffled state of feeling; a flurry of excitement; a disturbance; a quarrel.

   The discovery produced a breeze.

5. A brief workout for a racehorse.

present singular third person breezes · participle present breezing · participle past breezed · past breezed · alternative brize · alternative briess

1. intransitiveusuallyTo move casually, in a carefree manner.

   Resting most of their first-choice players for Sunday's vital Euro 2024 qualifier against Croatia, Wales started with four debutants and breezed into an early lead thanks to headers by captain Ben Davies and Kieffer Moore.

   2023 October 11, Dafydd Pritchard, “Wales 4-0 Gibraltar”, in BBC Sport

2. intransitiveclimatologyTo blow gently.

   She's sitting opposite a window that's gently breezing into her face, wafting her hair into cover-girl perfection ...

   2014 January 21, Hermione Hoby, “Julia Roberts interview for August: Osage County – 'I might actually go to hell for this ...': Julia Roberts reveals why her violent, Oscar-nominated performance in August: Osage County made her feel 'like a terrible person' [print version: 'I might actually go to hell for this ...' (18 January 2014, p. R4)]”, in The Daily Telegraph (Review)

3. intransitiveTo take a horse on a light run in order to understand the running characteristics of the horse and to observe it while under motion.
4. intransitiveTo swim near the surface of the water, causing ripples in the surface.

   The first was a school of medium-sized ( 10-pound average ) fish that breezed frequently but bit poorly.

   1970, Commercial Fisheries Review - Volume 32, page 37

   2 more examples

   The Queen Mary stood by while a speedboat moved ahead of a breezing school of tuna to deploy the sound projector and a sonobuoy (Figure 6).

   1979, Frank T. Awbrey, Thomas Duffy, WIlliam E. Evans, C. Scott Johnson, Wesley Parks, John DeBeer, The Tuna/Porpoise Problem: Dedicated Vessel Research Program, page 10

   An intermediate line has its place when chasing breezing tuna that are moving at mach speed on the surface.

   2011, Mike Rieser, Fly Fishing the Baja and Beyond, page 143

plural breezes · alternative breese · alternative brize

1. intransitiveA gadfly; a horsefly; a strong-bodied dipterous insect of the family Tabanidae.

present singular third person breezes · participle present breezing · participle past breezed · past breezed · alternative breese · alternative brize

1. intransitiveTo buzz.

plural breezes

1. intransitiveAshes and residue of coal or charcoal, usually from a furnace. See Wikipedia article on Clinker.

plural Breezes

1. A surname.