breathingbreath‧ing /ˈbriːðɪŋ/ ●○○ noun [uncountable] 
His breathing was deep and regular. When I picked up the phone, all I heard was heavy breathing (=loud breathing).
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER DICTIONARIES
- Breathing became more difficult as we got higher up the mountain.
- Deep breathing is good for relaxing your mind and your body.
- The disease in his lungs made breathing very painful.
- When I picked up the phone all I heard was heavy breathing.
- My chest is relaxing, my breathing is steady and light.
- She found she was sweating and her breathing had quickened.
- She massaged her collarbone gingerly and tried to calm her ragged breathing.
Longman Language Activatorthe action of breathing
the process of breathing air in and out: · The disease in his lungs made breathing very painful.· Breathing became more difficult as we got higher up the mountain.deep breathing (=breathing a lot of air into your lungs): · Deep breathing is good for relaxing your mind and your body.heavy breathing (=loud breathing): · When I picked up the phone all I heard was heavy breathing.
the air that you breathe in or out: · It was so cold they could see their breath.· I could feel the horse's breath on the back of my neck.hold your breath (=stop yourself from breathing for a short time): · How long can you hold your breath underwater?bad breath (=breath that smells unpleasant): · His teeth were rotten and he had bad breath.
to force someone to do something · You don't have to come if you don't want to. Nobody's forcing you.force somebody to do something · Women's organizations are trying to force the government to appoint more women to senior positions.force somebody into doing something · Her parents are trying to force her into marrying a man she hardly knows.force somebody into something · I had never thought of buying an insurance policy, and I wasn't going to be forced into it by some young salesman.force somebody out of · Eddie feels that he was forced out of his job in order to make way for a younger man.
to force someone to do something that they do not want to do. Make is less formal than force: · I really didn't want to go, but she made me.make somebody do something: · I wanted to watch the film, but Dad made me do my homework.· Karen made him promise never to discuss the subject again.
to keep trying to persuade someone to do something, for example by saying that it is their duty or that it will help other people: put pressure on somebody to do something: · Our parents were putting pressure on us to get married.· Advertising puts pressure on parents to work long hours, in order to buy things that their children don't need.
also pressurise British, /pressure American to try to make someone do something by persuading them very strongly and making them feel that they should do it: · I'll get this done as soon as I can -- just don't pressure me, OK!· If she feels you're trying to pressurize her, she won't do it.pressurize/pressure somebody into doing something: · School children are often pressurized into studying very hard from an early age by their parents.· The committee pressured him into resigning.pressure somebody to do something: · Her boyfriend is pressuring her to have an abortion.
to strongly encourage someone to do something: push somebody to do something: · My parents keep pushing me to get a good job.push somebody into doing something: · Don't let them push you into a making a decision before you're ready.push somebody into something: · Are you sure you want to marry me? I don't want to push you into anything.
to force someone to do what you want them to do by repeatedly asking them to do it until they finally agree: · The salesman tried browbeating me but it didn't work.browbeat somebody into (doing) something: · The miners were browbeaten into working in a part of the mine that the company knew to be dangerous.· I really didn't want to make this speech -- I was browbeaten into it by my colleagues.
an attempt to force someone to do something, by making them feel guilty for not doing it: · She's always using emotional blackmail and playing on other people's feelings.· Any relationship that has to depend on emotional blackmail can't be a healthy one.
informal if someone is breathing down your neck about something, they keep asking you to do it in order to make you do it sooner: · I'm already really busy today, and now Paul's breathing down my neck saying he wants the Paris deal completed.have somebody breathing down your neck: · We'd better start sending out those letters soon -- I've had the sales manager breathing down my neck about it all week.
informal to be trying to make someone do something they do not want to do, especially by telling them several times to do it: · Nick knew that the coach would be on his back if he missed another training session.be on sb's back about: · Aunt Mimi was always on his back about him "wasting time playing that silly guitar".
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE ENTRY When I picked up the phone, all I heard was heavy breathing (=loud breathing).COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES This deal should give the company some extra breathing room before its loans are due. She was breathing freely. He lay there unconscious, breathing shallowly.COLLOCATIONS FROM THE CORPUSADJECTIVE
When I picked up the phone, all I heard was heavy breathing (=loud breathing). This deal should give the company some extra breathing room before its loans are due.· She was taken to hospital with breathing difficulties.
· We do breathing exercises in my yoga class.
She was breathing freely. (=your heart beats faster because you are afraid, excited etc) She caught sight of Rob and felt her heart quicken.
She caught sight of Rob and felt her heart quicken. He lay there unconscious, breathing shallowly.· Calm your nerves by deep breathing, not by having a stiff drink.· A tickling, dry, hard cough; great soreness in the chest on coughing or deep breathing.· How different is this deep breathing from the shallow, uncontrolled breathing which uses only a very small part of the lungs.· It may also be possible to promote rest by teaching some specific relaxation technique, e.g. deep breathing, yoga.· Not least fascinating is the suggestion that deep breathing could render valium superfluous.· Laughter is an exhilarating exercise which, like deep breathing, massages the internal organs.· Sore chest or stitching pain with the cough or deep breathing.
· The staff relaxed, until the building started expanding and contracting - an effect they described as akin to heavy breathing.· Faces and flames. Heavy breathing in shadows.· They heard heavy breathing and a figure appeared round the corner, clothed in the grey garb of Godstowe Priory.· Now she could hear heavy breathing, gasps and a grunt as some one scrambled up the rubble in front of her.· She heard heavy breathing like panting.· No heavy breathing, mouth noises.· In fact, all you could hear was the repetitive pounding of rubber on tarmac and a lot of heavy breathing.
· This might be a typical presentation of acute hyperventilation caused by rapid shallow breathing during moments of high anxiety.· If there is severe difficulty in breathing - shortness of breath, wheezing, laboured, rapid or shallow breathing.
· After recovering from an attack of shallow breathing he recovered and one nurse said he was smiling and cooing in his cot.· This might be a typical presentation of acute hyperventilation caused by rapid shallow breathing during moments of high anxiety.· Holding your breath builds up tension and shallow breathing denies your body the oxygen it needs to function at maximum efficiency.· How different is this deep breathing from the shallow, uncontrolled breathing which uses only a very small part of the lungs.· Jezrael's heart beat faster but she forced herself to slow the shallow breathing of panic.· If there is severe difficulty in breathing - shortness of breath, wheezing, laboured, rapid or shallow breathing.· Ursula Dean's palms were damp as panic pumped through her, escaping in hasty, shallow breathing and agitated heartbeats.
VERB· She felt his breathing quicken and the beat of his heart.· She could feel her breathing quicken.· She could smell the sweat on his body and feel his excited breathing.· Look, listen and feel for breathing.· I asked first about my bag and felt my breathing quicken when the chief seemed unable to find my deposition.· Riven could feel Madra's soft breathing beside him.· She gazed at the ceiling, feeling her heartbeat and breathing slowing to normal, her body quietening.
· She heard the breathing of the sea.· She heard Walter breathing next to her.· He could hear Karen's regular breathing coming from a cot near the back.· She could hear her breathing but still the whitegirl said nothing.· They heard heavy breathing and a figure appeared round the corner, clothed in the grey garb of Godstowe Priory.· Now she could hear heavy breathing, gasps and a grunt as some one scrambled up the rubble in front of her.· She stood outside Anna's door until she could hear the child's breathing.· She heard heavy breathing like panting.
· For a long time she listened to his breathing, praying for sleep.· Kate finished her cocoa, listening to Mr Blakey breathing while he drank his tea beside her.· Look, listen and feel for breathing.
· His team-mates seemed to have stopped breathing.· The idea had almost made Simon stop breathing.· When her youngest child was a year old, she stopped breathing.· Sabine realised she had almost stopped breathing.· When he stopped coughing, it was because he had stopped breathing.· Ten seconds in which some one had stopped breathing.· Her eyes closed, Polly stopped breathing.· We stop breathing when we are frightened - in sudden fear of any kind we hold our breath.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES► pardon me for breathing/living
- The cabin was full of heavy breathing and the stink of our sweat.
- The rustling of bushes and the sounds of heavy breathing at the sandbar to the north deepened the stillness of dusk.
- The staff relaxed, until the building started expanding and contracting - an effect they described as akin to heavy breathing.
- There was no sound except the heavy breathing around him; the whole world seemed asleep.
- They heard heavy breathing and a figure appeared round the corner, clothed in the grey garb of Godstowe Priory.
- After recovering from an attack of shallow breathing he recovered and one nurse said he was smiling and cooing in his cot.
- Holding your breath builds up tension and shallow breathing denies your body the oxygen it needs to function at maximum efficiency.
- If there is severe difficulty in breathing - shortness of breath, wheezing, laboured, rapid or shallow breathing.
- Jezrael's heart beat faster but she forced herself to slow the shallow breathing of panic.
- This might be a typical presentation of acute hyperventilation caused by rapid shallow breathing during moments of high anxiety.
- Ursula Dean's palms were damp as panic pumped through her, escaping in hasty, shallow breathing and agitated heartbeats.
WORD FAMILYnounbreathbreatherbreathingadjectivebreathlessbreathyverbbreatheadverbbreathlessly
the process of breathing air in and out: His breathing was deep and regular. When I picked up the phone, all I heard was heavy breathing (=loud breathing).