(~s, breathing, ~d)
Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English.
1.
When people or animals ~, they take air into their lungs and let it out again. When they ~ smoke or a particular kind of air, they take it into their lungs and let it out again as they ~.
He stood there breathing deeply and evenly...
No American should have to drive out of town to ~ clean air...
A thirteen year old girl is being treated after breathing in smoke.
VERB: V, V n, V n with in/out
breathing
Her breathing became slow and heavy...
He heard only deep breathing.
N-UNCOUNT: usu with supp
2.
If someone ~s something, they say it very quietly. (LITERARY)
‘You don’t understand,’ he ~d.
VERB: V with quote, also V n
3.
If you do not ~ a word about something, you say nothing about it, because it is a secret.
He never ~d a word about our conversation.
VERB: with brd-neg, no cont, V n
4.
If someone ~s life, confidence, or excitement into something, they improve it by adding this quality. (WRITTEN)
It is the readers who ~ life into a newspaper with their letters.
= instil
VERB: V n into n
5.
to be breathing down someone’s neck: see neck
to ~ a sigh of relief: see sigh