suspire

present singular third person suspires · participle present suspiring · participle past suspired · past suspired

1. archaicliteraryTo breathe, especially to exhale

   To him that yesterday did suspire.

   c. 1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Iohn”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iv]

   1 more example

   Fireflies that suspire / In short, soft lapses of transported flame.

   1856, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, “Seventh Book”, in Aurora Leigh, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1857, →OCLC

   Synonyms: breathe

2. literaryTo sigh.

   Now the New Year reviving old Desires, The thoughtful Soul to Solitude retires, Where the White Hand of Moses on the Bough Puts out, and Jesus from the Ground suspires.

   1859, Edward Fitzgerald, The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám: The Astronomer-Poet of Persia, page 2

plural suspires

1. obsoleteA long, deep breath; a sigh.