breathe
verbVerb Forms
Idioms Phrasal Verbs| present simple I / you / we / they breathe | |
| he / she / it breathes | |
| past simple breathed | |
| past participle breathed | |
| -ing form breathing |
- [intransitive, transitive]
to take air into your lungs and send it out again through your nose or mouth 呼吸 He breathed deeply before speaking again. 他深深吸一口气，然后继续说下去。 The air was so cold we could hardly breathe. 空气非常寒冷，我们难以呼吸。 She was beginning to breathe more easily. 她呼吸开始较为顺畅了。 He was breathing heavily after his exertions. 努力过后，他呼吸沉重。 - breathe something
Most people don't realize that they are breathing polluted air. 大多数人没有意识到自己正呼吸着污染了的空气。
Extra ExamplesAlways breathe through your nose. 尽量用鼻子呼吸。 He was breathing raggedly, mouth open. 他张着嘴，呼吸不均匀。 I can barely breathe here. 这里我几乎无法呼吸。 I can't breathe properly—I'm gasping for air! 我喘不过气来， 不能顺畅地呼吸！ They were both breathing hard from the steep climb. 爬过一段陡坡，他们俩都很费力地喘着气。 Try to breathe normally. 努力正常呼吸。 He hardly dared breathe in case they heard him. 他几乎不敢呼吸，唯恐他们听到他的声音。 The men breathe air that is filtered to remove any dust or gas. 人们呼吸过滤后的空气来去除灰尘或气体。
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadverb- fast
- quickly
- rapidly
- …
- can
- can barely
- can hardly
- …
- through
- [transitive] breathe something (+ adv./prep.)
to send air, smoke or a particular smell out of your mouth 呼出 He came up close, breathing alcohol fumes all over me. 他走过来靠近我，喷得我满身酒气。 - (figurative)
She rushed into my office breathing fire and threatening me with a lawyer. 她喷着火冲进我的办公室，用律师威胁我。
- [transitive] breathe something | + speech (literary)
to say something quietly 低声说 Extra ExamplesHe breathed the words against her ear. 他对着她的耳朵轻声说出这些话。 ‘Where are you?’ breathed a voice in the dark. “你在哪里，”。在黑暗中发出声音。 I breathed a huge sigh of relief. 我松了一口气。 You know I'd never breathe a word to anyone. 你知道我从来没有对任何人说过一句话。
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadverb- huskily
- quietly
- softly
- …
- [intransitive]
if you allow wine to breathe, you open the bottle and let air get in before you drink it （打开瓶盖，让酒）通气飘香 - [intransitive]
if cloth, leather, skin, etc. can breathe, air can move around or through it 透气 - [transitive] breathe something (formal)
to be full of a particular feeling or quality 充满，散发（某种感情或品质）
air/breath空气；呼吸
say quietly低声说
of wine酒
of cloth/skin布料；皮肤
feeling/quality感觉；品质
Word OriginMiddle English (in the sense ‘exhale, steam’): from breath.
Idioms
breathe (easily/freely) again
to feel calm again after something unpleasant or frightening has ended 平静下来；松一口气 Once he was safely back in prison, she was able to breathe easily again. 一旦他安全回到监狱，她就可以轻松地呼吸了。
breathe down somebody’s neck
- (informal)
to watch closely what somebody is doing in a way that makes them feel anxious and/or annoyed 紧盯着某人看；看得某人发毛（或心烦）；监视 I can’t get any work done with you breathing down my neck. 你盯着我，我什么工作也做不了。
breathe/rest/sleep easy
breathe your last
- (literary)
to die 气绝（身亡）；断气
breathe (new) life into something
to improve something by introducing new ideas and making people more interested in it （给某事物）带来起色，注入活力 The results of their research have breathed new life into the debate. 他们的研究结果给这场辩论注入了新的活力。
Extra ExamplesHe hopes the development will breathe new life into the community. 他希望此次开发会给社区注入新的生机。 They need some new, younger staff to breathe some life into the company. 他们需要一些年轻的新员工为公司注入生机。
live and breathe something