Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To breathe: "And from that one intake of fire/All creatures still warmly suspire” ( Robert Frost).
- v. To sigh.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To fetch a long, deep breath: sigh.
- To breathe.
- To sigh or long for.
- n. A deep breath; a sigh.
Wiktionary
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. To fetch a long, deep breath; to sigh; to breathe.
- n. obsolete A long, deep breath; a sigh.
WordNet 3.0
- v. heave or utter a sigh; breathe deeply and heavily
- v. draw air into, and expel out of, the lungs
Etymologies
- Old French suspirer (Modern soupirer), from Latin. (Wiktionary)
- Middle English suspiren, to sigh, from Old French, from Latin suspīrāre : sub-, from below; see sub- + spīrāre, to breathe. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“The days are yawning in view of the years struggling to suspire”
“Each of the principals, seconded by his particular waiter, after carefully taking his opponent's range and bearings, will suspire and hit him in the eye.”
“Marlow's tale was a powerful one: I could hear Mrs. Marlow suspire faintly, ever so faintly -- the troubled, small, soft sigh of a brave woman indefinably stricken.”
Plum Pudding Of Divers Ingredients, Discreetly Blended & Seasoned
“The elements we feel and see shift and drift and suspire”
“Between pulls he would suspire deeply, so as to get the full assistance of the Climate.”
“But times are bad!" he would suspire in moments of depression.”
“Zadkiel or no Zadkiel, I will suspire, and risk it, "O that I were lying under the olives!”
“Each flight they take: and fire-flies, that suspire”
“You verify in energy, you provide discover energy, you permit it line … you don't essay to kibosh the flow, you don't set and vexation when you suspire whether and where from module added respite come, you foregather permit it become in and go out.”
“2556: Did hee suspire, that light and weightlesse dowlne”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘suspire’.
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A Sequel to 250 Spelling Words
Words to quiz the intermediate and advanced speller alike
sinopia, replevin, lathee, hoisin, kerygma, czardas, amoxicillin, talipes, simoleon, hypermnesia, anodyne, mystique and 238 more...
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Used
halcyon, ineluctable, inspissated, incarnadine, askance, demur, saltation, requisite, effusive, specious, liminality, indomitable and 114 more...
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Logolepsy
"Luciferous Logolepsy is a collection of over 9,000 obscure English words. Though the definition of an 'English' word might seem to be straightforward, it is not. There exist so many adopted, deriv...
Anschauung, Areopagus, Argus, Briarean, Dei gratia, Dei judicium, Deo volente, Duecento, Foehn, Geflugelte Worte, Gegenschein, Hakenkreuz and 9230 more...
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breathing
suffocate, hypoventilation, apnea, suffocation, asphyxiation, hypoxia, anoxia, inhale, breathe, respire, pulmonary reserve, exhale and 54 more...
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spires
arcospire, inspire, squinch, perspire, spirea, aspire, suspire, transpire, leptospire, crocket, whorl, helicoid and 10 more...
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The Vampire Spotter's Guide
Even if you know your Nosferatu from your Dracula, you may not have heard of these before. (Thanks to bilby for the list suggestion on Transpire.)
transpire, empire, umpire, expire, perspire, leptospire, conspire, coconspire, pompire, inspire, spire, aspire and 4 more...
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Just 'cause I like 'em, S
scrunch, solace, sabotage, saccade, sacerdotal, sacrilegious, sacristy, snappy, skew, steadfast, scowl, scorch and 781 more...
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euphonic logorrhea
cephalopodous, plumulaceous, oblomovism, etiolation, pavonine, somnolent, logorrhea, fulguration, gossamer, prestidigitation, daffodil, inchoate and 174 more...
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summer words 2009
how many words can I make mine this summer?
largess, hoyden, catholic, fornicatress, quean, slattern, bildungsroman, sybaritic, descresent, nodus, frittle, callipygian and 529 more...
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ulyssean
... as in "by James Joyce"
stately, plump, aloft, gurgling, untonsured, chrysostomos, jowl, parapet, jesuit, indigestion, scutter, noserag and 688 more...
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stpeter's Words
abase, abasement, abashed, abdicate, aberrant, abeyance, abhor, abhorrent, abide, abject, ablation, abnegation and 3536 more...
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Ironweed
Words gathered while reading Ironweed by William Kennedy.
asteraceae, brogan, gravid, gandy, advent, slithy, dipso, flinty, suspire, henna, heller, nutsy and 90 more...
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persnickety parlance
behoove, ebullient, insouciant, insipient, froth, quandary, quixotic, tendril, maktub, furrow, furl, anastrophe and 1076 more...
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OK
One word from each of Omar Khayyam's rubaiyat as translated by Edward FitzGerald (1st edition)
awake, liquor, tavern, suspire, ruby, incarnadine, cup, blossom, forgot, herbage, verse, drum and 63 more...
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jules07d's Words
apotheosize, rubicund, occult, esoteric, libation, soporific, austere, reticence, bevy, conclave, capricious, vexation and 47 more...
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rduke's Words
misguggle, ken, sere, etiolated, gelid, digladiate, popinjay, bathykolpian, conglaciation, hyperborean, callipygian, vagile and 1253 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for suspire.
john A living, breathing—well, breathing at least—vampire. Mar 25, 2009
brtom -- Lovely! Buck Mulligan suspired amorously.
Joyce, Ulysses, 9 Jan 5, 2007