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breeze1

[breez]
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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 m/sec).
  3. Informal. an easy task; something done or carried on without difficulty: Finding people to join in the adventure was a breeze.
  4. Chiefly British Informal. a disturbance or quarrel.
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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.
  3. 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.
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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.
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Verb Phrases
  1. breeze in, Slang.
    1. to win effortlessly: He breezed in with an election plurality of 200,000.
    2. 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.
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Idioms
  1. shoot/bat the breeze, Slang.
    1. to converse aimlessly; chat.
    2. to talk nonsense or exaggerate the truth: He likes to shoot the breeze, so don't take everything he says seriously.
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Origin of breeze1

1555–65; earlier brize, brise north or northeast wind; compare Dutch bries, East Frisian brîse, French brize, Spanish, Portuguese, Catalan brisa, Italian brezza; orig. and path of transmission disputed
Related formsbreeze·less, adjectivebreeze·like, adjective

Synonyms

See more synonyms for breeze on Thesaurus.com
1. See wind1.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for breezing

Historical Examples

  • Roberts answered, breezing in with an apology which I nipped.

    The Million-Dollar Suitcase

    Alice MacGowan

  • All this time the wind, out of the north-west, was breezing up.

  • It's breezing up, and it'll be cooler than it is in the house.

  • Jerry said, breezing by the waiting reporters with a grin of triumph.

  • It was thro' the chance, afforded by an hour of breezing sea-scape recreation, that I discovered the mysterious chronicle.

    The Spook Ballads

    William Theodore Parkes

British Dictionary definitions for breezing

breeze1

noun
  1. a gentle or light wind
  2. meteorol a wind of force two to six inclusive on the Beaufort scale
  3. informal an easy task or state of easebeing happy here is a breeze
  4. informal, mainly British a disturbance, esp a lively quarrel
  5. shoot the breeze informal to chat
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verb (intr)
  1. to move quickly or casuallyhe breezed into the room
  2. (of wind) to blowthe south wind breezed over the fields
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Word Origin

C16: probably from Old Spanish briza northeast wind

breeze2

noun
  1. an archaic or dialect name for the gadfly
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Word Origin

Old English briosa, of unknown origin

breeze3

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

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

Word Origin and History for breezing

breeze

n.

1560s, "north or northeast wind," from Old Spanish briza "cold northeast wind;" in West Indies and Spanish Main, the sense shifting to "northeast trade wind," then "fresh wind from the sea." English sense of "gentle or light wind" is from 1620s. An alternative possibility is that the English word is from East Frisian brisen "to blow fresh and strong." The slang for "something easy" is American English, c.1928.

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breeze

v.

"move briskly," 1904, from breeze (n.). Related: Breezed; breezing.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper

Idioms and Phrases with breezing

breeze

In addition to the idiom beginning with breeze

also see:

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