| 释义 |
breath|brɛθ|
Forms: 1 brǽþ, Anglian bréþ, 2–3 breð, 3–6 breth, 4 breeth, breeþ, breþ(e, 4–6 brethe, 6 breathe, 6– breath.
[OE. brǽþ, bréþ odour, smell, exhalation as of anything cooking or burning:—WGer. type *brâþ-, OTeut. *bræ̂þo-z:—Aryan *bhrêto-, with original sense ‘exhalation from heat, steam, reek’, f. root *bhrē-, Teut. *bræ̂- to burn, heat: see brede v.1, and brood. Thus related to OHG. brâdam, MHG. bradem, Ger. brodem ‘exhalation, vapour, steam’:—OTeut. type *bræ̂þmo-z:—Aryan ˈbhrē-tmo- (cf. Skr. ˈā-tman, etc.), f. same root. The sense passed in Eng. through that of ‘heated air expired from the lungs’ (often manifest to the sense of smell, as in ‘strong breath’) to ‘the air in the lungs or mouth’, thus taking the place of OE. ǽðm, early ME. ēþem (see ethem), and ME. ande, onde, Sc. aind, aynd, from Old Norse. The original long vowel of OE. brǽþ has only recently been shortened; the 16th c. (breːθ) having become |brɛθ|, instead of |briːθ| as in the verb breathe.]
†1. Odour, smell, scent. Obs.
c893K. ælfred Oros. vi. xxxii. §2 Þa ongon se cealc mid unᵹemete stincan; þa wearþ Iuninianus mid þæm bræþe ofsmorod. a1100Ags. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 3 Odor, bræþ. c1175Lamb. Hom. 153 Hwenne þe nose bið open to smelle unlofne breð. a1340Hampole Pr. Consc. 613 He may se fra his body com..Alkyn filthe with stynkand brethe. c1400Destr. Troy 8804 Bawme, þat was bright, & of brethe noble.
2.
†a. An exhalation or vapour given forth by heated objects, etc.; steam, smoke, reek. Obs.
a1300Pop. Treat. Sc. 203 (Wright) 136 Both of the see and of fersch water he draweth up the breth. a1340Hampole Pr. Consc. 4727 Blode and fire and brethe of smoke. 1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvii. xxvi. (1495) 619 Whan canell is broke therof comyth a breth as it were a myste. 1561Hollybush Hom. Apoth. 3 Hold thy nose over it that the vapor or hot breth ascende into thy head. 1667Milton P.L. iv. 806 Like gentle breaths from Rivers pure.
b. (with influence of sense 3): The air exhaled from anything, or impregnated with its exhalations, and retaining its characteristic odour. Also fig. Cf. air n.1
1625Bacon Gardens, Ess. (Arb.) 557 Because the Breath of Flowers is farre Sweeter in the Aire..then in the hand. 1830Tennyson A Spirit haunts 18 The moist rich smell of the rotting leaves, And the breath Of the fading edges of box beneath. 1837Newman Par. Serm. (ed. 2) III. x. 147 Full of the..breath of the grave. 1874Blackie Self-Cult. 43 What a student should specially see to..is not to carry the breath of books with him wherever he goes.
c. with a mixture of the sense of ‘puff’: A little of the air, a whiff.
1873Black Pr. Thule xxv. 424 The remote islands, where a stranger brought..a breath of the outer world with him.
3. a. The air exhaled from the lungs, originally as made manifest by smell, or as a visible exhalation; hence to keep (save, spare) one's breath to cool one's (own) porridge: see porridge n. 4. b. generally, The air received into and expelled from the lungs in the act of respiration. to draw breath: to inhale air, breathe; hence, to live: also to spend, waste (one's) breath (as in unprofitable speech). This is now the main sense, which colours all others.
a.c1340Cursor M. 3573 (Trin.) Teeþ to rote, breeþ [earlier MSS. ande] to stynke. c1386Chaucer Pard. T. 224 Sour is thi breeth. 1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. v. xxxvii. (1495) 152 Changynge of breth comyth of vnyuersall corrupcion of the inner membres. 1601Shakes. Jul. C. i. ii. 249 The rabblement..vttered such a deale of stinking breath. 1642Fuller Holy & Prof. St. iv. xviii. 333 A Swede fights best when he can see his own breath. 1842T. Martin in Fraser's Mag. Dec., You will oblige me by keeping your own breath to cool your own porridge. Mod. His breath smelling strong of alcohol.
b.c1440Promp. Parv. 50 Brethe, anelitus. 1535Coverdale Ps. cxxxiv[v]. 16 They heare not, nether is there eny breth in their mouthes. c1534Pilgrim's T. 476 in Thynne Animadv. App. i. 90 That ever it dreu brethe. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. iv. 699 Draw the vital breath of upper Air. 1712Steele Spect. No. 426 ⁋2 Within ten Hours after the Breath is out of the Body. 1713Berkeley Hylas & P. iii. Wks. 1871 I. 323, I will no longer spend my breath in defence of it. 1809W. Irving Knickerb. (1861) 157 Even the inhabitants of New-Amsterdam began to draw short breath. 1842Tennyson Morte d'Arthur 148 Then spoke King Arthur, drawing thicker breath. 1850― In Mem. cxx, I trust I have not wasted breath.
c. transf. The wind blown into a musical instrument. poet.
1605Shakes. Macb. v. vi. 19 Make all our Trumpets speak, giue them all breath. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. ii. 789 Before the Breath Of brazen Trumpets rung the Peals of Death. 1878Browning La Saisiaz 36 But the soul is not the body: and the breath is not the flute.
d. fig. Taken as the type of things unsubstantial, volatile, or fleeting.
1593Shakes. Lucr. 212 A dream, a breath, a froth of fleeting joy. 1603― Meas. for M. iii. i. 8 A breath thou art, Seruile to all the skyie-influences.
4. a. A gentle blowing, a puff; now usually breath of air or breath of wind; but in early times used absolutely in sense of ‘wind, breeze, air in motion’.
c1325E.E. Allit. P. C. 107 Þe blyþe breþe at her bak þe bosum he fyndes. Ibid. 138 When boþe breþes con blowe vpon blo watteres. c1400Destr. Troy 3697 Þe bre and the brethe burbelit to gedur. 1627Capt. Smith Seaman's Gram. x. 46 There is not a breath of wind stirring. 1711Steele Spect. No. 167 ⁋3 The least Breath of Wind has often demolished my magnificent Edifices. 1822Shelley Hellas 4 Sweet as a summer night without a breath. 1833H. Martineau Manch. Strike vi. 67 A breath of fresh air came in. 1860Tyndall Glac. i. §18. 133 There was not a breath of air stirring.
b. In the ‘breath of summer’, ‘of morn’, etc. there is almost always an admixture, great or small, of a fig. use of senses 2 b, 3 a.
c1386Chaucer Prol. 5 Whan Zephirus eek with his swete breeth Inspired hath..the tendre croppes. c1600Shakes. Sonn. liv, When summers breath their masked buds discloses. 1775Sheridan Duenna i. i. 185 The breath of morn bids hence the night. 1821Byron Sardan. i. ii. 575 Can I not even breathe The breath of heaven?
c. fig. In such phrases as ‘the breath of popular favour’ (cf. Lat. popularis aura), the original notion of the breath of favouring wind which fills the sails, is much mixed with that of spoken or whispered breath, and sometimes with other of the later senses.
a1639Wotton Char. Happy Life in Reliq. Wotton., Untide unto the world by care Of Publike fame or private breath. 1692South 12 Serm. (1697) I. 32 The Mind can..quickly feel the thinness of a popular Breath. a1703Burkitt On N.T. Mark i. 45 Christ retires from the breath of popular applause. 1790Gouv. Morris in Sparks Life & Writ. (1832) II. 96 They must patiently wait the breath of the Assemblée, and follow as it blows. 1874H. Reynolds John Bapt. i. §4. 35 Forced into new attitudes by the changing breath of human appreciation.
5. a. The faculty or action of breathing, respiration. Hence, breathing existence, spirit, life; so breath of life, breath of the nostrils.
a1300Seven Sins 41 in E.E.P. (1862) 19 Þe deuil benimiþ him is breþ. 1382Wyclif Gen. ii. 7 And spiride in to the face of hym an entre of breth of lijf. c1386Chaucer Knt.'s T. 2194 Whan with honour vp yolden is his breeth. 1587Mirr. Mag., Alban lxx, Now faint I feele, my breath begins to fayle. 1611Shakes. Wint. T. v. i. 83 When your first Queene's againe in breath. 1611Bible Gen. vii. 22 All in whose nosethrils was the breath of life. 1738Wesley Psalms No. 121. v, He guards our Souls, he keeps our Breath. 1821Clare Vill. Minstr. I. 169 Now, poor puss! thou'st lost thy breath, And decent laid the molds beneath. 1850Tennyson In Mem. xxxvi, And so the Word had breath.
b. to catch or hold one's breath: to check suddenly or suspend the act of respiration. Also fig.
1719De Foe Crusoe iii, I held my breath..I was ready to burst with holding my breath. 1816Byron Ch. Har. iii. lxxxiv, In his lair Fix'd Passion holds his breath, until the hour Which shall atone for years. 1833Marryat P. Simple xlvii, ‘I see her’, replied I, catching my breath with joy. 1864Glasgow Her. 11 June, It also catches my breath and makes me cough.
c. to take a person's breath (away): to cause him to hold his breath owing to sudden emotion; hence, to dumbfound, flabbergast.
1864Browning Likeness in Dram. Pers., He never saw..What was able to take his breath away. 1905T. Dixon Clansman 351 The daring campaign these men were waging took his breath. a1910‘Mark Twain’ Myst. Stranger (1916) 14 He said it placidly, but it took our breath for a moment and made our hearts beat. 1965Listener 3 June 826/1 It is the really bold planting that takes one's breath away.
6. An act of breathing; a single respiration. Hence phrases: in (with) one or the same breath, at a breath, etc.
1483Cath. Angl. 43 A Breth; vbi ande. 1489Caxton Faytes of A. ii. xxxix. 164 Taughte to..plonge in to the watre and wyth a long breth to kepe them self therynne. 1571Buchanan's Detect. Mary in H. Campbell Love-lett. Mary Q. Scots (1824) 148 When she cannot stay him in life, cometh she to receive his last breath? 1588Marprel. Epist. (Arb.) 3, I cannot very often at one breath come to a full point. 1634Quarles Embl. i. (1818) 58 Thou swallowest at one breath Both food and poison down. 1717Pope Eloisa 333 Till ev'ry motion, pulse, and breath, be o'er. 1850Mrs. Stowe Uncle Tom xvii. 160 I'll fight to the last breath, before they shall take my wife and son. 1858Hawthorne Fr. & It. Jrnls. I. 83 In the space of half a dozen breaths. 1867Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) I. vi. 506 The Chroniclers speak of it in the same breath with the election of Harold.
7. a. Power of breathing, free or easy breathing. Chiefly in phrases: e.g. out of breath: breathing with difficulty, breathless; so in breath (obs.), to get, keep, lose one's breath, to put out of breath.
1590Shakes. Com. Err. iv. i. 57 You run this humor out of breath. 1602― Ham. v. ii. 282 The King shal drinke to Hamlets better breath. 1603Knolles Hist. Turkes (1621) 1254 The Turkes yet in breath..gave an attempt unto the high Towne. 1782Cowper J. Gilpin xl, Away went Gilpin out of breath. 1810Scott Lady of L. i. vii, Two dogs..Unmatched for courage, breath, and speed. 1859Tennyson Elaine 421 At last he got his breath and answer'd.
b. to take breath, to breathe freely, to recover free breathing, as by pausing after exertion. Also fig.
1581Nowell & Day in Confer. i. (1584) G iij, Some of vs were fayne to go out of the chauncel to take breath. 1581J. Bell Haddon's Answ. Osor. 401 To pause awhiles, and to take breath upon good advise, what were best to be done. 1828–41Tytler Hist. Scot. (1864) I. 112 They sat down to take breath.
8. a. Opportunity or time for breathing; exercise of the respiratory organs. Also fig.
1594Shakes. Rich. III, iv. ii. 24 Giue me some litle breath, some pawse, deare Lord. 1606Shakes. Tr. & Cr. ii. iii. 121 He hopes it is no other, But for your health, and your digestion sake, An after Dinners breath. Ibid. iv. v. 92 Their fight..either to the vttermost Or else a breath. 1673Temple Observ. U. Prov. Wks. 1731 I. 24 The great Breath that was given the States in the Heat of their Affairs.
†b. Of mines, etc.: to have breath: to have free passage for foul air or gas. Obs. rare.
1599Hakluyt Voy. II. i. 83 The mine had vent or breath in two places.
9. a. transf. Whisper, utterance, articulate sound, speech; judgement or will expressed in words.
1377Langl. P. Pl. B. xiv. 61 Þorw his breth mowen men & bestes lyuen. Ibid. xviii. 319 With þat breth helle brake. 1589J. Hart Orthogr. 6 To use as many letters in our writing as we do voyces or breathes in speaking. 1599Shakes. Much Ado v. i. 273 Art thou the slaue that with thy breath hast kild mine innocent childe? 1612T. Taylor Comm. Titus i. 9 Noting in one breath of Bellarmine three errors. 1720Watts Div. Songs xvii. iii, Hard names..and threatening words, That are but noisy breath. 1770Goldsm. Des. Vill. 54 A breath can make them, as a breath has made. 1785Burns Cotter's Sat. Nt. xix, Princes and lords are but the breath of kings. 1830Tennyson Dream Fair Women ii, Dan Chaucer, the first warbler, whose sweet breath Preluded those melodious bursts. 1875Jowett Plato (ed. 2) V. 114 There is an undoubted power in public opinion when no breath is heard adverse to the law.
b. below or under one's breath: in a low voice or whisper. bated breath: see bated ppl. a.
1832Lytton Eug. Aram i. iii, Hush, said Ellinor under her breath. 1865J. Ussher Lond. to Persep., The Armenian woman can only talk in her own house below her breath.
10. Phonology. Voiceless expiration of air, forming a hiss, whish, puff, or similar sound. attrib., as in breath consonant, a consonant formed by the breath in the mouth without the action of the vocal chords: such are the sounds |k, t, p, x, ʃ, s, θ, f|.
1842Penny Cycl. XXII. 429/2 It will be observed..that these consonants have no voice throughout their duration; that they each have breath-sound. 1867A. M. Bell Visible Speech 49 When the breath, or the voice, is moulded by precise dispositions of the parts of the mouth. Ibid. 70 The Breath-glide. 1874Sweet Hist. Eng. Sounds 76 To determine the laws which govern the distribution of the breath þ and f, and the voice ð and v. 1879― in Philol. Soc. Trans. 471 Swedish..final voiced stops..seem to be shorter than in English, and to have a stronger breath off-glide.
11. Comb., as breath-bereaving, breath-blown, breath-catching, breath-control, breath-force, breath-giver, breath-giving, breath-holding n. and adj., breath-stopping, breath-stream; breath-bubble, a bubble blown by the breath; fig. an empty thing, a trifle; breath-catching a. = breath-taking; breath-group Phonetics, the succession of words, whether a sentence or part of a sentence, uttered without pause, in a single breath; † breath-room, room for breathing, breathing-space; † breath-seller, one who sells perfumes or scents; also, one who speaks for pay; breath-sounds, respiratory sounds heard in auscultation; breath-tainted a., having tainted or foul breath; also fig.; breath-taking a., surprising, thrilling, dumbfounding (cf. sense 5 c, above); hence breath-takingly adv.; breath-test, measurement of the amount of alcohol in the blood by means of a breathalyser; also breath-testing vbl. n. and ppl. a.
1618R. Brathwait Descr. Death in Farr S.P. (1848) 270 A *breath-bereaving breath..He comes..to rid us of our feares.
1827Hood Hero & L. xxxviii, A *breath-blown dart Shot sudden from an Indian's hollow cane.
1835Browning Paracelsus i. 30 Painted toys, *Breath-bubbles, gilded dust.
1868Mrs. H. Wood Flowers in Argosy June, ‘What's killing him?’ cried Sale, with..a sort of *breath-catching. 1928Daily Tel. 6 Nov. 14/5 Green, Wood and Violet..do some breath-catching tumbles.
1958L. W. Tancock in Aspects of Translation 50 His personal endowments of voice and *breath-control.
1935M. Schubiger Role of Intonation 1 The amount of *breathforce (stress). 1963English Studies XLIV. 60 Amplitude is not only a function of breath-force but also of vowel quality.
1609Metamorph. Tobacco (Collier) 9 *Breath-giuing herbe.
1877H. Sweet Handbk. Phonetics 86–7 The only division actually made in language is that into ‘*breath-groups’... Within each breath-group there is no pause whatever. 1909D. Jones Pronunc. of Eng. 58 The following are examples of breath-groups: Yes; Good morning; Shall we go out for a walk? 1964E. A. Nida Toward Sci. Transl. viii. 178 In this type of translating there are several important factors (1) timing, both of syllables and breath groups.
1890W. James Princ. Psychol. II. xx. 174 The *breath-holding stillness of the boy playing ‘I spy’, to whom the seeker is near. 1937J. R. Firth Tongues of Men iii. 40 The larynx or Adam's apple—the breath-holding, whisper-, and voice-making instrument. 1968Brit. Med. Bull. XXIV. 250/1 CO2 excretion is abolished..by breath-holding or by rebreathing.
1669Worlidge Syst. Agric. viii. §3. 161 Leaving the Plant a little *Breath-room in the middle.
1601Cornwallyes Ess. ii. xlix. (1631) 310 Call in those *breath-sellers, and perfumers. 1603Florio Montaigne i. xxii. (1632) 52 A fourth estate of Lawyers, breathsellers, and pettifoggers.
1934Priebsch & Collinson German Lang. p. xv, A total stoppage of the outgoing *breath-stream.
1645Quarles Sol. Recant. i. 42 An old *Breath-tainted Churl.
1880‘Mark Twain’ Tramp Abroad xxxiii. 324 It was a sort of *breath-taking surprise. 1908Westm. Gaz. 1 Apr. 7/3 This breath-taking assertion was made to a ‘Westminster’ representative. 1966Illustr. London News 30 July 35 (Advt.), It tastes like a view from the top of the Eiffel Tower. Breathtaking.
1928Manch. Guardian Weekly 31 Aug. 175/3 *Breathtakingly beautiful.
1966Economist 12 Nov. 650/3 She has dropped her proposal for random road-side *breath-tests for drivers. 1968Listener 21 Mar. 391/3 It has been forecast from recent casualty figures that the breath-test should cut deaths by 1,600 a year.
1960Daily Tel. 27 Jan. 11/4 He subjected a colleague and myself to analyses of alcohol in the blood on his *breath-testing machine. 1967Spectator 17 Nov. 605/2 The main object of breath testing is, of course, deterrence.
Add:[11.] breath-test v. trans. = breathalyse v.
1981Washington Post 7 Mar. a12 His research team first studied drivers' drinking habits by stopping, interviewing and *breath-testing nearly 8,000 drivers at 2,000 accident-prone locations in Grand Rapids, Mich. 1986Independent 26 Nov. 5/2 We will breath-test people when necessary.
▸ a breath of fresh air n.a. A (short) period of time spent in the open air for refreshment.
1796tr. A. von Kotzebue Negro Slaves ii. iv. 72 A breath of fresh air was a rare enjoyment. 1849C. Brontë Shirley II. vii. 173 Joe Scott had sauntered forth from the church to get a breath of fresh air, and there he stood. 1880Harvard Lampoon 19 Mar. 26/2 During the progress of Rollo's trial Mr. George had left the court-room to take—a breath of fresh air. 1912J. Conrad Secret Sharer i, in 'Twixt Land & Sea 120, I strolled out on the quarter-deck... A breath of fresh air was all I wanted. 1953Sci. Monthly June 351/2 A baker or a post-office worker coming out for a breath of fresh air. 1998P. O'Brian Hundred Days (1999) ix. 237 This evening he had come on deck for a breath of fresh air, leaving the sick-bay..in Jacob's care.
b. fig. Someone or something refreshing; a pleasant and welcome change.
[1874L. D. Blake Lord & Master 96 It's just like a breath of fresh air talking to you, Laura.] 1905A. M. Wergeland in Jrnl. Polit. Econ. 13 443 It is certain that the news of the rising of the populace came as a breath of fresh air to all Europe. 1964Listener 25 June 1036/1 This translation..from the Spanish of an Arabic-Andalusian qasida fragment..epitomizes one aspect of this breath of fresh air from the east. 1990N.Y. Woman Dec. 20/3, I think she is not only beautiful and talented but a breath of fresh air in these times of tarty, crass, nonprincipled, aggressive starlets. 2000Org. Gardening Sept.–Oct. 8/2 Your editorial was such a breath of fresh air. It was straightforward, sincere, and most informative.
▸ colloq.don't hold your breath: (of a stated or implied situation or event) don't expect it to happen (soon); don't be confident of a successful outcome.
In quots. 1931 and 1967, used punningly.
1931G. A. Dorsey Man's Own Show 721 What was ‘fermentation’? What was this air that was ‘fixed’, that was present in human breath, and yet would not support life? Well, don't hold your breath till it can be analysed. 1967B. Nelson in Science 20 Oct. 355/1 Don't hold your breath, hoping that the polluted air around you will soon turn fresh, even after you read the hard-hitting rhetoric [in the Senate report on the Air Quality Act]. 1975Forbes (Nexis) 1 Mar. 6 Don't hold your breath, but the first successful industrial effort to refine coal using the solvent process is currently undergoing advanced testing. 1985D. Lucie Hard Feelings in Progress & Hard Feelings i. iii. 60/2 Rusty: When I've finished you'll have my undivided attention, OK? Annie (to Viv): Don't hold your breath. 2001Org. Gardening Jan. 30/3 If you want to try your luck, scrounge some semi-ripe cuttings in July and set them in a grit-lined trench in a cold frame. But don't hold your breath. |