Respire

//ɹɪˈspʌɪə// noun, verb

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Rest, respite. obsolete

    "He cast to suffer him no more respire, But gan his sturdie sterne about to weld, And him so strongly stroke, that to the ground him feld."

Verb
  1. 1
    To breathe in and out successively. intransitive
  2. 2
    draw air into, and expel out of, the lungs wordnet
  3. 3
    To breathe in and out successively.; To recover one's breath or breathe easily following stress. intransitive

    "The breath of heav'n fresh-blowing, pure and sweet, / With day-spring born; here leave me to respire."

  4. 4
    undergo the biomedical and metabolic processes of respiration by taking up oxygen and producing carbon monoxide wordnet
  5. 5
    To take up oxygen and produce carbon dioxide (as animals do), or vice versa (as plants do). intransitive

    "All living things respire or breathe. To many of us this means that they take in oxygen and give out carbon dioxide."

Show 3 more definitions
  1. 6
    breathe easily again, as after exertion or anxiety wordnet
  2. 7
    To (inhale and) exhale; to breathe. transitive

    "It is my opinion, that these animals, while they continue in the state of larvae, respire water and not air; and that they inspire the water, not by the mask, but by their posterior part, through which also they discharge it."

  3. 8
    To recover hope, courage, or strength after a time of difficulty. archaic, intransitive

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Middle English respiren, borrowed from Old French respirer or Latin respīrō (“to blow back, breathe out”), from re- (“back”) + spīrō (“to breathe, blow”).

Etymology 2

From Middle English respiren, borrowed from Old French respirer or Latin respīrō (“to blow back, breathe out”), from re- (“back”) + spīrō (“to breathe, blow”).

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