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Wheeze definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

WHEEZE, v.i. [L.] To breathe hard and with an audible sound, as persons affected with asthma.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: breathing with a husky or whistling sound
2: (Briticism) a clever or amusing scheme or trick; "a clever wheeze probably succeeded in neutralizing the German espionage threat" v
1: breathe with difficulty

Merriam Webster's

I. intransitive verb (wheezed; wheezing) Etymology: Middle English whesen, probably of Scandinavian origin; akin to Old Norse hvæsa to hiss; akin to Old English hw?st action of blowing, Sanskrit ?vasiti he blows, snorts Date: 15th century 1. to breathe with difficulty usually with a whistling sound 2. to make a sound resembling that of wheezing <the bellows wheezed> II. noun Date: 1800 1. a sound of wheezing 2. a. an often repeated and widely known joke used especially by entertainers b. a trite saying or proverb

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v. & n. --v. 1 intr. breathe with an audible chesty whistling sound. 2 tr. (often foll. by out) utter in this way. --n. 1 a sound of wheezing. 2 colloq. a Brit. a clever scheme. b an actor's interpolated joke etc. c a catch-phrase. Derivatives: wheezer n. wheezingly adv. wheezy adj. (wheezier, wheeziest). wheezily adv. wheeziness n. Etymology: prob. f. ON hvæsa to hiss

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Wheeze Wheeze, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Wheezed; p. pr. & vb. n. Wheezing.] [OE. whesen, AS. hw?san (cf. Icel. hv[ae]sa to hiss, Sw. hv["a]sa, Dan. hv[ae]se); akin to AS. hw?sta a cough, D. hoest, G. husten, OHG. huosto, Icel. h?sti, Lith. kosti to cough, Skr. k?s. [root]43. Cf. Husky hoarse.] To breathe hard, and with an audible piping or whistling sound, as persons affected with asthma. ``Wheezing lungs.'' --Shak.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Wheeze Wheeze, n. 1. A piping or whistling sound caused by difficult respiration. 2. (Phon.) An ordinary whisper exaggerated so as to produce the hoarse sound known as the ``stage whisper.'' It is a forcible whisper with some admixture of tone.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(wheezes, wheezing, wheezed) If someone wheezes, they breathe with difficulty and make a whistling sound. He had quite serious problems with his chest and wheezed and coughed all the time... 'Boy,' wheezed old Pop Ryan. VERB: V, V with quote

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

v. n. Breathe hard, breathe audibly.

Moby Thesaurus

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