wheeze

[hweez, weez]

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verb (used without object), wheezed, wheez·ing.

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.

noun

a wheezing breath or sound.

an old and frequently used joke, saying, story, etc.

Origin of wheeze

1425–75; late Middle English whese (v.), probably < Old Norse hvæsa to hiss

Related formswheez·er, nounwheez·ing·ly, adverb

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for wheeze

puff, gasp, cough, snore, hiss, rasp, pant, whisper, sibilate, whistle, murmur, buzz

Examples 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.
Blame Climate Change for Your Terrible Seasonal Allergies
Kent Sepkowitz
May 14, 2014

Historical Examples of wheeze

Of course he had the wheeze all wrong and I saw that he should be in bed.
Ruggles of Red Gap
Harry 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 Stories
W. D. Howells
If only he could get that wheeze off: "Phyllis is my only joy!"
Five Tales
John Galsworthy
I'm the biggest giddy fool at that kind of wheeze that ever lived.
War and the Weird
Forbes Phillips
Snuffle and wheeze—snuffle and wheeze of the asthmatic Chinamans breathing.
Dust of the Desert
Robert Welles Ritchie

British Dictionary definitions for wheeze

wheeze

verb

to breathe or utter (something) with a rasping or whistling sound

(intr) to make or move with a noise suggestive of wheezy breathing

noun

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

Derived Formswheezer, nounwheezy, adjectivewheezily, adverbwheeziness, noun

Word Origin for wheeze

C15: probably from Old Norse hvǣsa to hiss

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 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 in Medicine

wheeze

[wēz]

v.

To breathe with difficulty, producing a hoarse whistling sound.

n.

A wheezing sound.