air-breathe

American  

[air-breeth] / ˈɛərˌbrið /

verb (used without object)

air-breathed, air-breathing

1. (of an engine, aircraft, missile, etc.) to take in air from the atmosphere to oxidize the fuel for combustion.

---

Etymology

Origin of air-breathe

air ¹ + breathe

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

air-breathing

It’s more difficult to rehabilitate an animal like a sawfish than it is for an air-breathing marine creature, such as a dolphin or manatee, officials say.

From Seattle Times ● Apr. 12, 2024

“The only reason organisms can survive at that depth is because they’re more or less the same density as the water around them, so they don’t get deformed like us air-breathing creatures.”

From Scientific American ● Jun. 20, 2023

Aerojet develops and manufactures liquid and solid rocket propulsion, air-breathing hypersonic engines and electric power and propulsion for space, defense, civil and commercial applications.

From Reuters ● Jan. 27, 2023

As its name suggests, the lungfish is equipped with a pair of air-breathing lungs.

From Science Magazine ● Feb. 4, 2015

In one sense there should be nothing mysterious about substances that every air-breathing creature on the globe has been imbibing pretty constantly ever since lungs came into fashion.

From A History of Science, Volume 5(of 5) Aspects Of Recent Science by Williams, Henry Smith