breathing: Meaning and Definition of

breath•ing

Pronunciation: (brē'ing), [key]
— n.
  1. the act of a person or other animal that breathes; respiration.
  2. a single breath.
  3. the short time required for a single breath.
  4. a pause, as for breath.
  5. utterance or words.
  6. a gentle moving or blowing, as of wind.
    1. the manner of articulating the beginning of a word written with an initial vowel sign, with or without aspiration before the vowel.
    2. one of the two symbols used to indicate this. Cf. rough breathing, smooth breathing.
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.
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