Respire

Origin

From Old French respirer, from Latin respīrō, from re- + spīrō.

Full definition of respire

Verb

1. (intransitive) To breathe in and out.
2. (intransitive) To engage in the process of respiration.
3. (intransitive) To recover one's breath or breathe easily following stress.
• 1671, John Milton, Samson Agonistes, lines 10-11:The breath of heav'n fresh-blowing, pure and sweet,
  With day-spring born; here leave me to respire.
4. (transitive) To inhale and exhale; to breathe.

Related terms

• respiration
• suspire

Noun

1. (obsolete) Rest, respite.
• 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, I.xi: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.

Anagrams

• perries
• reprise