breather

English

Etymology

breathe +‎ -er (agent noun suffix) or +‎ -er (relational noun suffix)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bɹiː.ðə(ɹ)/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːðə(ɹ)

Noun

breather (plural breathers)

1. Something or someone that breathes.
2. (specifically) A heavy breather.
   • 1981 April 25, Martin H. Krieger, “Phone Calls”, in Gay Community News, page 12:

     Most of us make sense of the world through talk and sight, and breathers represent that most anxiety provoking experience, nothingness with a hint of possibility.

3. A short break; a rest or respite.

   After a short breather she was ready to continue up the hill.

4. (physics) A spatially localized, time-periodic excitation in a one-dimensional lattice.
5. (colloquial, dated) That which puts one out of breath, such as violent exercise.
6. (mechanics) An air inlet path to the crankcase

Synonyms

• (short break): hiatus, moratorium, recess; see also Thesaurus:pause

Derived terms

• chest breather
• fire-breather
• mouth-breather
• mouth breather
• take a breather

 

Translations

something that breathes

• Catalan: respirador m
• Finnish: hengittäjä
• German: Atmende m or f
• Spanish: respirador (es) m
• Turkish: nefes alan

short break

• Bulgarian: отдих (bg) m (otdih)
• Finnish: hengähdysaika, hengähdystauko (fi)
• French: pause (fr) f
• German: Verschnaufpause (de) f, (colloquial) Atempause (de) f
• Manx: aash veg f
• Polish: odsapka f
• Slovak: oddych m
• Spanish: respiro (es) m
• Turkish: ara (tr)

physics: kind of excitation

Anagrams

• Eberhart