wheeze

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“
This last word came out sounding more like a wheeze, as I had finally found the good sense to bend over and retrieve his walking stick.

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Definitions (12)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (5)

  1. intransitive verb To breathe with difficulty, producing a hoarse whistling sound.
  2. intransitive verb To make a sound resembling laborious breathing.
  3. transitive verb To produce or utter with a hoarse whistling sound: The old locomotive wheezed steam.
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Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (2)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (2)

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Examples (50)

  • George asked warily, but with a look that said he knew the wheeze wasn't going to sound good. —  EQMM, July 2005
  • His breathing was more like a wheeze, but he held his own against her as she sped up to run beside him. —  Karin Slaughter - Kisscut
  • Eventually her laughter turned into a sharp wheeze, then a phlegmy coughing fit. —  Laura Lipmann - By a Spider's Tread
  • The cab glided to a halt with little more than a slight bump; another long wheeze, and the canopy slid open. —  Asimov'sSF,January2008
  • But all I could manage was a wheeze, and waving my arms only twisted the javelin in my ribs. —  F ;SF - vol 098 issue 04 - April 2000
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This word has been looked up 75 times.

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Etymologies (3)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English whesen, probably from Old Norse hvæsa, to hiss; see kwes- in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. Formerly also wheaze; from Middle English hwesen, from Anglo-Saxon hwēsan (preterit hweós), wheeze; perhaps akin to Icelandic hvæsa = Swedish hväsa = Danish hvæse, hiss, wheeze, and to the imitative English words, whisper, whistle. Cf. Sanskrit √ çvas, puff, breathe, Latinqueri (past participle questus), complain: see quest, querulous. For the alleged connection with weasand, see weasand.
  2. from wheeze, v.
 

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/hwiz/
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