bellows to mend

phrase

out of breath

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Meanings

phrase
  1. UKobsoleteslangout of breath

    A pause now took place, and some mutual feinting and dodging, it being 'bellows to mend' on each side.

    1897, R. G. Allanson-Winn, Bertram Fletcher Robinson, Boxing, page 72
    1 more example

    This constitutes the process of respiration or breathing, and on its due performance will chiefly depend the health and usefulness of the animal. A horse calling “bellows-to-mend” is fit for little.

    1859, James Crawford Ledlie Carson, The Form of the Horse, page 25
Cite this entry
APA

bellows to mend. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bellows%20to%20mend

MLA

“bellows to mend.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bellows%20to%20mend. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “bellows to mend,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bellows%20to%20mend.

Source: bellows to mend on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.