breeze

1
[ breez ]
See synonyms for: breezebreezeless on Thesaurus.com

noun
  1. a wind or current of air, especially a light or moderate one.

  2. a wind of 4–31 miles per hour (2–14 meters per second).

  1. Informal. an easy task; something done or carried on without difficulty: Finding people to join in the adventure was a breeze.

  2. Chiefly British Informal. a disturbance or quarrel.

verb (used without object),breezed, breez·ing.
  1. (of the wind) to blow a breeze (usually used impersonally with it as subject): It breezed from the west all day.

  2. to move in a self-confident or jaunty manner: She breezed up to the police officer and asked for directions.

  1. Informal. to proceed quickly and easily; move rapidly without intense effort (often followed by along, into, or through): He breezed through the task.The car breezed along the highway.

verb (used with object),breezed, breez·ing.
  1. to cause to move in an easy or effortless manner, especially at less than full speed: The boy breezed the horse around the track.

Verb Phrases
  1. breeze in, Informal.

    • to win effortlessly: He breezed in with an election plurality of 200,000.

    • Also breeze into / out. to move or act with a casual or careless attitude: He breezed out without paying attention to anyone.

  2. breeze up, Atlantic States. to become windy.

Idioms about breeze

  1. shoot / bat the breeze, Slang. to converse aimlessly; chat: We sat around most of the afternoon, just shooting the breeze.

Origin of breeze

1
First recorded in 1555–65; earlier brize, brise “north or northeast wind”; compare Dutch bries, East Frisian brîse, French brize, Spanish, Portuguese, Catalan brisa, Italian brezza; further origin uncertain

synonym study For breeze

1. See wind1.

Other words from breeze

  • breezeless, adjective
  • breezelike, adjective

Other definitions for breeze (2 of 2)

breeze2
[ breez ]

noun
  1. cinders, ash, or dust from coal, coke, or charcoal.

  2. concrete, brick, or cinder block in which such materials form a component.

Origin of breeze

2
First recorded in 1720–30; variant of dialect brays, from French braise “live coals, cinders”; see braze2

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use breeze in a sentence

  • If you could go breezing down the FDR Drive in a taxi, then why file into the trenches of the urban wars?

    Who Shrunk America? | Tunku Varadarajan | September 5, 2013 | THE DAILY BEAST
  • I was wondering what could be the matter, when he came breezing in all out of breath.

    Fore! | Charles Emmett Van Loan
  • As they were breezing along with all sails set, over a moonlit sea, they saw a large ship appear in the distance.

    The Story of Don Quixote | Arvid Paulson, Clayton Edwards, and Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
  • It kept breezing on all the time, and the ledge broke higher and higher; but they were having such good luck they hated to leave.

    Jim Spurling, Fisherman | Albert Walter Tolman
  • Shaking the rain from her coat, the lady cop came breezing in.

    Green Eyes | Roy J. Snell
  • The glass is falling, the wind is breezing up, and I won't say but what there's dirt in it.

    The Wrecker | Robert Louis Stevenson and Lloyd Osbourne

British Dictionary definitions for breeze (1 of 3)

breeze1

/ (briːz) /


noun
  1. a gentle or light wind

  2. meteorol a wind of force two to six inclusive on the Beaufort scale

  1. informal an easy task or state of ease: being happy here is a breeze

  2. informal, mainly British a disturbance, esp a lively quarrel

  3. shoot the breeze informal to chat

verb(intr)
  1. to move quickly or casually: he breezed into the room

  2. (of wind) to blow: the south wind breezed over the fields

Origin of breeze

1
C16: probably from Old Spanish briza northeast wind

British Dictionary definitions for breeze (2 of 3)

breeze2

/ (briːz) /


noun
  1. an archaic or dialect name for the gadfly

Origin of breeze

2
Old English briosa, of unknown origin

British Dictionary definitions for breeze (3 of 3)

breeze3

/ (briːz) /


noun
  1. ashes of coal, coke, or charcoal used to make breeze blocks

Origin of breeze

3
C18: from French braise live coals; see braise

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Idioms and Phrases with breeze

breeze

In addition to the idiom beginning with breeze

  • breeze in

also see:

  • hands down (in a breeze)
  • shoot the breeze

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.