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Webster 1913 Edition

Respiration

Resˊpi-ra′tion

(r?sˊp?-r?′sh?n)
,
Noun.
[L.
respiratio
: cf. F.
respiration
. See
Respire
.]
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
respiration
to the just
And 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: (
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.

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.

Webster 1828 Edition

Respiration

RESPIRA'TION

,
Noun.
[L. respiratio.]
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.

Definition 2024

respiration

respiration

English

Noun

respiration ‎(plural respirations)

  1. The process of inhaling and exhaling; breathing, breath.
  2. An act of breathing; a breath.
    • 1931, William Faulkner, Sanctuary, Vintage 1993, p. 76:
      Gowan snored, each respiration choking to a huddle fall, as though he would never breathe again.
  3. Any similar process in an organism that lacks lungs that exchanges gases with its environment.
  4. The process by which cells obtain chemical energy by the consumption of oxygen and the release of carbon dioxide.

Derived terms

Translations

See also

French

Etymology

From Latin respiratio, from respirare.

Pronunciation

Noun

respiration f ‎(plural respirations)

  1. respiration

Anagrams

Etymology

Middle English respiracioun, from Latin respiratio, from respirare.

Pronunciation

  • Rhymes: -eɪʃən

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