wheeze
- to breathe with difficulty and with a whistling sound: Asthma caused him to wheeze.
- to make a sound resembling difficult breathing: The old locomotive wheezed into the station.
- a wheezing breath or sound.
- an old and frequently used joke, saying, story, etc.
Origin of wheeze
Related Words for wheeze
puff, gasp, cough, snore, hiss, rasp, pant, whisper, sibilate, whistle, murmur, buzzExamples from the Web for wheeze
Contemporary Examples of wheeze
Many sniffle and wheeze antidotes are in the list of the 100 most frequently prescribed medications in 2013.
Historical Examples of wheeze
Of course he had the wheeze all wrong and I saw that he should be in bed.
Ruggles of Red GapHarry Leon Wilson
She was so weak in the chest you could hear her wheeze as far as you could see her.
Christmas Every Day and Other StoriesW. D. Howells
If only he could get that wheeze off: "Phyllis is my only joy!"
Five TalesJohn Galsworthy
I'm the biggest giddy fool at that kind of wheeze that ever lived.
War and the WeirdForbes Phillips
Snuffle and wheeze—snuffle and wheeze of the asthmatic Chinamans breathing.
Dust of the DesertRobert Welles Ritchie
wheeze
- to breathe or utter (something) with a rasping or whistling sound
- (intr) to make or move with a noise suggestive of wheezy breathing
- a husky, rasping, or whistling sound or breathing
- British slang a trick, idea, or plan (esp in the phrase good wheeze)
- informal a hackneyed joke or anecdote
Word Origin for wheeze
Word Origin and History for wheeze
mid-15c., probably from a Scandinavian source (cf. Old Norse hvoesa "to hiss," Danish hvæse) cognate with Old English hwæst "act of blowing," hwosan "to cough," from an imitative root. Related: Wheezed; wheezing. The noun is first recorded 1834.
wheeze
(wēz)- To breathe with difficulty, producing a hoarse whistling sound.
- A wheezing sound.