Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Respiration
1.
The act of respiring or breathing again, or catching one’s breath.
2.
Relief from toil or suffering: rest.
[Obs.]
Till the day
Appear of
And vengeance to the wicked.
Appear of
respiration
to the justAnd vengeance to the wicked.
Milton.
3.
Interval; intermission.
[Obs.]
Bp. Hall.
4.
(Physiol.)
The act of resping or breathing; the act of taking in and giving out air; the aggregate of those processes bu which oxygen is introduced into the system, and carbon dioxide, or carbonic acid, removed.
☞ Respiration in the higher animals is divided into: (
In the respiration of plants oxygen is likewise absorbed and carbonic acid exhaled, but in the light this process is obscured by another process which goes on with more vigor, in which the plant inhales and absorbs carbonic acid and exhales free oxygen.a
) Internal respiration, or the interchange of oxygen and carbonic acid between the cells of the body and the bathing them, which in one sense is a process of nutrition. (b
) External respiration, or the gaseous interchange taking place in the special respiratory organs, the lungs. This constitutes respiration proper. Gamgee.
Webster 1828 Edition
Respiration
RESPIRA'TION
,Noun.
1.
The act of breathing; the act of inhaling air into the lungs and again exhaling or expelling it, by which animal life is supported. The respiration of fishes, [for these cannot live long without air,] appears to be performed by the air contained in the water acting on the gills.2.
Relief from toil.