Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To come to an end; terminate.
  • intransitive verb To breathe one's last breath; die.
  • intransitive verb To exhale; breathe out.
  • intransitive verb To breathe (something) out.
  • intransitive verb Archaic To give (something) off.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To breathe out; expel from the mouth or nostrils in the process of respiration; emit from the lungs: opposed to inspire.
  • To give out or forth insensibly or gently, as a fluid or volatile matter; exhale; yield.
  • To exhaust; wear out; bring to an end.
  • To emit the breath: opposed to inspire. Specifically
  • To emit the last breath; die.
  • To come to an end; close or conclude, as a given period; come to nothing; cease; terminate; fail or perish; end: as, the lease will expire on the first day of May; all his hopes of empire expired.
  • To come out; fly out.
  • Synonyms Perish, etc. See die.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To breathe out; to emit from the lungs; to throw out from the mouth or nostrils in the process of respiration; -- opposed to inspire.
  • transitive verb To give forth insensibly or gently, as a fluid or vapor; to emit in minute particles; to exhale
  • transitive verb obsolete To emit; to give out.
  • transitive verb obsolete To bring to a close; to terminate.
  • intransitive verb To emit the breath.
  • intransitive verb To emit the last breath; to breathe out the life; to die
  • intransitive verb To come to an end; to cease; to terminate; to perish; to become extinct
  • intransitive verb obsolete To burst forth; to fly out with a blast.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb intransitive to die
  • verb intransitive to become invalid
  • verb intransitive to exhale; to breathe (out).
  • verb transitive to exhale (something).

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb pass from physical life and lose all bodily attributes and functions necessary to sustain life
  • verb expel air
  • verb lose validity

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English expiren, from Old French expirer, from Latin exspīrāre : ex-, ex- + spīrāre, to breathe.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin ex- ("out") + spīro ("breathe, be alive")

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Examples

  • Justice David Prosser, one of the four-justice unofficial conservative majority, sees his term expire this year.

    The Full Feed from HuffingtonPost.com The Huffington Post News Editors 2011

  • If conflicts come up, instead of taking all the group's time to address the issues you can simply let the term expire and the group dissolve.

    Anne Hill: How to Start a Dream Group 2009

  • Marsh, a director since 2001, would have seen his term expire in 2012.

    unknown title 2011

  • Dictator during the years of the Republic had his term expire after only a year, yet during that year no-one would argue that during that year there was no dictatorship, even though they often stepped down willingly at the end of their term.

    The Liberty Papers 2009

  • Dictator during the years of the Republic had his term expire after only a year, yet during that year no-one would argue that during that year there was no dictatorship, even though they often stepped down willingly at the end of their term.

    The Liberty Papers 2009

  • Cindy Neathawk, who became vice chairwoman in 2008, will also see her term expire this year, but on Monday she asked the council to be appointed for another term.

    The Roanoke Times: Home page 2009

  • If conflicts come up, instead of taking all the group's time to address the issues you can simply let the term expire and the group dissolve.

    The Full Feed from HuffingtonPost.com 2009

  • But if the term expire, pending the fuit, the plaintiff fhall not recover the poffef - fion, I JO Judgment where the plaintiflf hath a verdift only for part, Hid.

    A Treatise on the Action of Ejectment 1781

  • Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's United Progressive Alliance will see its term expire in May, and India's election rules mean that he can no longer enact any significant policies — a measure adopted to prevent incumbents from stacking the deck with populist sops.

    The Boom From The Bottom 2009

  • Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's United Progressive Alliance will see its term expire in May, and India's election rules mean that he can no longer enact any significant policies — a measure adopted to prevent incumbents from stacking the deck with populist sops.

    The Boom From The Bottom 2009

Comments

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  • A vampire in the sunlight.

    March 25, 2009