get some air

present singular third person gets some air · participle present getting some air · past got some air · UK participle past got some air · US participle past gotten some air · alternative take some air

1. idiomaticTo invigorate oneself by breathing refreshing outdoor air, especially after departing from a building or other enclosed space for this purpose.

   "Ah, I see! You went for a little walk to get some air!"

   1907, F. Marion Crawford, chapter 6, in The Diva's Ruby

   5 more examples

   [I]t was enough to send her rattling away again in a cab, through deserts of gritty streets, where many people crowded at the corner of courts and byways to get some air.

   1870, Charles Dickens, chapter 20, in The Mystery of Edwin Drood

   [H]e took occasion to remark that it was lovely on the balcony: one really got some air, the breeze being from that quarter.

   1891, Henry James, chapter 1, in The Patagonia

   "You'd better begin to get some air and exercise and quit hanging about in the house all day."

   1918, Booth Tarkington, chapter 30, in The Magnificent Ambersons

   "We got out of the van to get some air on the Gower peninsula."

   1995 September 26, Nick Coleman, “Ropin' and a-rhymin'”, in The Independent, UK, retrieved 23 Mar 2014

   Gaza City had become generally calmer on Thursday after a cease-fire between Fatah and Hamas, and residents had emerged into the streets to buy food and get some air.

   2007 May 17, Steven Erlanger, Jon Elsen, “Israeli air strikes target Hamas in Gaza”, in New York Times, retrieved 23 Mar 2014