perspire
English
Etymology
Borrowed from Old French perspirer, from Latin perspirare (“to breathe everywhere, blow constantly”), from per (“through”) + spirare (“to breath”); see spirit.
Pronunciation
Audio (US): (file)
Verb
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- (transitive, intransitive) To emit (sweat or perspiration) through the skin's pores.
- I was perspiring freely after running the marathon.
- 2010, Susan C. Karant-Nunn, The Reformation of Feeling
- He lists forty reasons, mainly metaphorical, why Christ perspired blood, and his peroration takes twenty-two pages in print.
- (intransitive) To be evacuated or excreted, or to exude, through the pores of the skin.
- A fluid perspires.
Synonyms
Related terms
Translations
sweat — see sweat
Further reading
- “perspire”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- “perspire”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.