expire

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See also: expiré

English[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Borrowed from Middle French expirer, from Latin exspīrō, exspīrāre, from ex- (“out”) + spīrō, spīrāre (“breathe, be alive”).

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA(key): /ɪkˈspaɪə(ɹ)/, /ɛkˈspaɪə(ɹ)/
  • Audio (US)(file)
  • Rhymes: -aɪə(ɹ)
  • Hyphenation: ex‧pire

Verb[edit]

expire (third-person singular simple present expires, present participle expiring, simple past and past participle expired)

  1. (intransitive) To die.
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:die
    The patient expired in hospital.
    • 1748, [Samuel Richardson], “Letter CXIII”, in Clarissa. Or, The History of a Young Lady: […], volume VII, London: […] S[amuel] Richardson; […], OCLC 13631815, page 415:
      And then, his head ſinking on his pillow, he expired; at about half an hour after ten.
    • 1833, R. J. Bertin, Charles W. Chauncy, transl., Treatise on the Diseases of the Heart, and Great Vessels, Philadelphia: Carey, Lea & Blnachard, page 185:
      Soon the patient had no longer sufficient strength to sit up; the trunk of the body was inclined to the right side, the head high and thrown backward, the mouth wide open: she seemed to stifle rather than respire: lastly, speech and respiration failed her; she uttered, however, in a feeble voice, some incoherent words, said she felt she was dying, and, accordingly, expired the sixth day after entrance.
    • 1961 November 10, Joseph Heller, “The Soldier in White”, in Catch-22 […], New York, N.Y.: Simon and Schuster, OCLC 1023879857, page 168:
      People bled to death like gentlemen in an operating room or expired without comment in an oxygen tent.
  2. (intransitive) To lapse and become invalid.
    My library card will expire next week.
  3. (intransitive) To come to an end; to conclude.
  4. (transitive, intransitive) To exhale; to breathe out.
    Antonym: inspire
    • 1672 Gideon Harvey, Morbus Anglicus, Or, The Anatomy of Consumptions
      Anatomy exhibits the lungs in a continual motion of inspiring and expiring air.
    • 1717, John Dryden, Meleager and Atalanta
      This chafed the boar; his nostrils flames expire.
    • 1843, Loring Dudley Chapin
      Animals expire carbon and plants inspire it; plants expire oxygen and animals inspire it.
  5. (transitive) To give forth insensibly or gently, as a fluid or vapour; to emit in minute particles.
    • 1631, Francis [Bacon], “(please specify |century=I to X)”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], 3rd edition, London: […] William Rawley; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], OCLC 1044372886:
      the expiring of cold out of the inward parts of the earth in winter
  6. (transitive) To bring to a close; to terminate.

Derived terms[edit]

Related terms[edit]

Translations[edit]

die — see die
exhale — see exhale

Further reading[edit]

  • expire in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911

Anagrams[edit]

French[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Verb[edit]

expire

  1. inflection of expirer:
    1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
    2. second-person singular imperative

Anagrams[edit]

Portuguese[edit]

Verb[edit]

expire

  1. inflection of expirar:
    1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
    2. third-person singular imperative

Romanian[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Verb[edit]

expire

  1. third-person singular/plural present subjunctive of expira

Spanish[edit]

Verb[edit]

expire

  1. inflection of expirar:
    1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
    2. third-person singular imperative
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