breath

plural breaths · alternative obsolete breth

1. uncountableThe act or process of breathing.

   The child's breath came quickly and unevenly.

   2 more examples

   I could hear the breath of the runner behind me.

   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

2. countableA single act of breathing in or out; a breathing of air.

   I took a deep breath and started the test.

   2 more examples

   Serene, smiling, enigmatic, she faced him with no fear whatever showing in her dark eyes.[…]She put back a truant curl from her forehead where it had sought egress to the world, and looked him full in the face now, drawing a deep breath which caused the round of her bosom to lift the lace at her throat.

   1910, Emerson Hough, chapter I, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC

   She knew from avalanche safety courses that outstretched hands might puncture the ice surface and alert rescuers. She knew that if victims ended up buried under the snow, cupped hands in front of the face could provide a small pocket of air for the mouth and nose. Without it, the first breaths could create a suffocating ice mask.

   2012 December 26, John Branch, “Snow Fall: The Avalanche at Tunnel Creek”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 14 Nov 2013

3. uncountableAir expelled from the lungs.

   I could feel the runner's breath on my shoulder.

4. countableA rest or pause.

   Let's stop for a breath when we get to the top of the hill.

5. countableuncountableA small amount of something, such as wind, or common sense.

   Even with all the windows open, there is hardly a breath of air in here.

   1 more example

   If she had a breath of common sense, she would never have spoken to the man in the first place.

6. countableobsoleteuncountableFragrance; exhalation; odor; perfume.

   the breath of flowers

   1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of Gardens”, in The Essayes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret, →OCLC

   1 more example

   Autumn[…]Who wakenest with thy balmy breath

   1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “(please specify |part=Prologue or Epilogue, or |canto=I to CXXIX)”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC

7. countableobsoleteuncountableGentle exercise, causing a quicker respiration.

   an after dinner's breath

   c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Measure for Measure”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]

alternative obsolete breth

1. not comparablehuman sciencesvoiceless, surd; contrasting with voice (breath sounds, voice sounds)

alternative obsolete breth

1. misspellingMisspelling of breathe.

   In the polar regions one finds dark cold waters with few places to breath.