different between breathe vs breath

English

Etymology

From Middle English brethen (“to breathe, blow, exhale, odour”), derived from Middle English breth (“breath”). Eclipsed Middle English ethien and orðiæn, from Old English ?þian and orþian (“to breathe”); as well as Middle English anden, onden, from Old Norse anda (“to breathe”). More at breath.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: br?th, IPA^(key): /b?i?ð/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /b?ið/
• Rhymes: -i?ð

Verb

breathe (third-person singular simple present breathes, present participle breathing, simple past and past participle breathed)

1. (intransitive) To draw air into (inhale), and expel air from (exhale), the lungs in order to extract oxygen and excrete waste gases.
2. (intransitive) To take in needed gases and expel waste gases in a similar way.

3. (transitive) To inhale (a gas) to sustain life.

4. (intransitive, figuratively) To live.
   • Breathes there a man with soul so dead?

5. (transitive) To draw something into the lungs.

6. (intransitive) To expel air from the lungs, exhale.

7. (transitive) To exhale or expel (something) in the manner of breath.
   • 2012, Timothy Groves, The Book Of Creatures (?ISBN), page 85:

     Mountain Drakes breathe fire, Ice Drakes breathe ice, Swamp Drakes breathe acid, and Forest Drakes breathe lightning.

8. (transitive) To give an impression of, to exude.

9. (transitive) To whisper quietly.

10. To pass like breath; noiselessly or gently; to emanate; to blow gently.
11. (chiefly Evangelical and Charismatic Christianity, with God as agent) To inspire (scripture).
    • 1850, John Howard Hinton, On the Divine Inspiration of the Scriptures. A lecture, etc, page 16:

      The affirmation before us, then, will be, "All scripture is divinely breathed."

    • 1917, J. C. Ferdinand Pittman, Bible Truths Illustrated: For the Use of Preachers, Teachers, Bible-school, Christian Endeavor, Temperance and Other Christian Workers, page 168:

      […] that God, who breathed the Scriptures, "cannot lie," […]

    • 2010, Jay E. Adams, The Christian Counselor's Manual: The Practice of Nouthetic Counseling, Zondervan (?ISBN)

      Paul says that since God breathed the Scriptures, they are therefore useful; he did not put it the other way around (i.e., that they are useful, therefore inspired).

12. (intransitive) To exchange gases with the environment.

13. (intransitive, now rare) To rest; to stop and catch one's breath.
    • Well! breathe awhile, and then to it again!

14. (transitive) To stop, to give (a horse) an opportunity to catch its breath.

15. (transitive) To exercise; to tire by brisk exercise.
16. (transitive, figuratively) To passionately devote much of one's life to (an activity, etc.).

Conjugation

Synonyms

• (to draw air in and out): see Thesaurus:breathe
• (to be passionate about): live and breathe

Derived terms

Related terms

• breath

Translations

Anagrams

• beareth, beheart, herb tea

English

Alternative forms

• breth (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English breeth, breth, from Old English br?þ (“odor, scent, stink, exhalation, vapor”), from Proto-Germanic *br?þaz (“vapour, waft, exhalation, breath”) of unknown origin, perhaps from *g?wer- (“smell”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: brêth, IPA^(key): /b???/
• Rhymes: -??

Noun

breath (countable and uncountable, plural breaths)

1. (uncountable) The act or process of breathing.

   • Breezes blowing from beds of iris quickened her breath with their perfume; she saw the tufted lilacs sway in the wind, and the streamers of mauve-tinted wistaria swinging, all a-glisten with golden bees; she saw a crimson cardinal winging through the foliage, and amorous tanagers flashing like scarlet flames athwart the pines.

2. (countable) A single act of breathing in or out; a breathing of air.

   • Serene, smiling, enigmatic, she faced him with no fear whatever showing in her dark eyes. […] She put back a truant curl from her forehead where it had sought egress to the world, and looked him full in the face now, drawing a deep breath which caused the round of her bosom to lift the lace at her throat.

   • She knew from avalanche safety courses that outstretched hands might puncture the ice surface and alert rescuers. She knew that if victims ended up buried under the snow, cupped hands in front of the face could provide a small pocket of air for the mouth and nose. Without it, the first breaths could create a suffocating ice mask.

3. (uncountable) Air expelled from the lungs.

4. (countable) A rest or pause.

5. A small amount of something, such as wind, or common sense.

6. (obsolete) Fragrance; exhalation; odor; perfume.
   • 1625, Francis Bacon, Of Gardens

     the breath of flowers

7. (obsolete) Gentle exercise, causing a quicker respiration.

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Verb

breath (third-person singular simple present breaths, present participle breathing, simple past and past participle breathed)

1. Misspelling of breathe.

   In the polar regions one finds dark cold waters with few places to breath.

See also

• exhalation
• inhalation
• respiration

Anagrams

• Bertha, bareth, bather, bertha

Irish

Noun 1

breath f (genitive singular breithe, nominative plural breitheanna)

1. Alternative form of breith (“birth; lay; bearing capacity; bringing, taking; seizing; catching, overtaking”)

Noun 2

breath f (genitive singular breithe, nominative plural breitheanna)

1. Alternative form of breith (“judgment, decision; injunction”)

Declension

Mutation

References

• "breath" in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, An Gúm, 1977, by Niall Ó Dónaill.