Adjacent Words

Expire definitions

	Tweet

Webster's 1828 Dictionary

EXPI'RE, v.t. [L. expiro, for exspiro; ex and spiro, to breathe.]
1. To breathe out; to throw out the breath from the lungs; opposed to inspire. We expire air at every breath.
2. To exhale; to emit in minute particles, as a fluid or volatile matter. The earth expires a damp or warm vapor; the body expires fluid matter from the pores; plants expire odors.
3. To conclude.
EXPI'RE, v.i. To emit the last breath, as an animal; to die; to breathe the last.
1. To perish; to end; to fail or be destroyed; to come to nothing; to be frustrated.
With the loss of battle all his hopes of empire expired.
2. To fly out; to be thrown out with force. [Unusual.]
The ponderous ball expires.
3. To come to an end; to cease; to terminate; to close or conclude,as a given period. A lease will expire on the first of May. The year expires on Monday. The contract will expire at Michaelmas. The days had not expired.
When forty years had expired. Acts 7.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

v
1: lose validity; "My passports expired last month" [syn: run out, expire]
2: pass from physical life and lose all bodily attributes and functions necessary to sustain life; "She died from cancer"; "The children perished in the fire"; "The patient went peacefully"; "The old guy kicked the bucket at the age of 102" [syn: die, decease, perish, go, exit, pass away, expire, pass, kick the bucket, cash in one's chips, buy the farm, conk, give-up the ghost, drop dead, pop off, choke, croak, snuff it] [ant: be born]
3: expel air; "Exhale when you lift the weight" [syn: exhale, expire, breathe out] [ant: breathe in, inhale, inspire]

Merriam Webster's

verb (expired; expiring) Etymology: Middle English, from Middle French or Latin; Anglo-French espirer to breathe out, from Latin exspirare, from ex- + spirare to breathe Date: 15th century intransitive verb 1. to breathe one's last breath ; die 2. to come to an end 3. to emit the breath transitive verb 1. obsolete conclude 2. to breathe out from or as if from the lungs 3. archaic emit

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v. 1 intr. (of a period of time, validity, etc.) come to an end. 2 intr. (of a document, authorization, etc.) cease to be valid; become void. 3 intr. (of a person) die. 4 tr. (usu. foll. by from; also absol.) exhale (air etc.) from the lungs. Derivatives: expiratory adj. (in sense 4). Etymology: ME f. OF expirer f. L exspirare (as EX-(1), spirare breathe)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Expire Ex*pire", v. i. 1. To emit the breath. 2. To emit the last breath; to breathe out the life; to die; as, to expire calmly; to expire in agony. 3. To come to an end; to cease; to terminate; to perish; to become extinct; as, the flame expired; his lease expires to-day; the month expired on Saturday. 4. To burst forth; to fly out with a blast. [Obs.] ``The ponderous ball expires.'' --Dryden.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Expire Ex*pire", v. t. [imp. & p. p. Expired; p. pr & vb. n. Expiring.] [L. expirare, exspirare, expiratum, exspiratum; ex out + spirare to breathe: cf. F. expirer. See Spirit.] 1. To breathe out; to emit from the lungs; to throw out from the mouth or nostrils in the process of respiration; -- opposed to inspire. Anatomy exhibits the lungs in a continual motion of inspiring and expiring air. --Harvey. This chafed the boar; his nostrils flames expire. --Dryden. 2. To give forth insensibly or gently, as a fluid or vapor; to emit in minute particles; to exhale; as, the earth expires a damp vapor; plants expire odors. The expiring of cold out of the inward parts of the earth in winter. --Bacon. 3. To emit; to give out. [Obs.] --Dryden. 4. To bring to a close; to terminate. [Obs.] Expire the term Of a despised life. --Shak.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(expires, expiring, expired) When something such as a contract, deadline, or visa expires, it comes to an end or is no longer valid. He had lived illegally in the United States for five years after his visitor's visa expired. = run out VERB: V

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. v. a. Breathe out, emit from the lungs. II. v. n. 1. Decease, draw the last breath. See die. 2. End, terminate, cease, conclude, stop, come to an end.

Moby Thesaurus

advance, be all over, be annihilated, be destroyed, be done for, be lost, be no more, be wiped out, become extinct, become void, blow, blow over, breathe, breathe hard, breathe in, breathe out, cease, cease to be, cease to exist, cease to live, close, come to naught, come to nothing, conclude, conk, conk out, continue, cough, croak, decease, demise, depart, depart this life, die, die away, die out, disappear, discontinue, dissolve, elapse, emit, end, endure, evacuate, evaporate, exhale, exhaust, expel, fade, fade away, fade out, fall, fall asleep, finish, flee, flit, flow, flow on, fly, fume, gasp, give off, give out, give vent to, glide, go, go by, go on, go out, gulp, hack, have it, have its time, hiccup, huff, inhale, inspire, kick off, lapse, last, leave no trace, let out, melt away, open the floodgates, open the sluices, pant, part, pass, pass away, pass by, pass on, pass over, peg out, perish, peter out, press on, proceed, puff, put off mortality, quit this world, reek, respire, return to dust, roll on, run, run its course, run on, run out, sigh, slide, slip, smoke, sneeze, sniff, sniffle, snore, snort, snuff, snuffle, steam, stop breathing, succumb, terminate, throw off, up and die, vanish, vapor, wear away, wear off, wheeze, yield the ghost