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h, and itself from the Egyptian origin. The Aleph was a consonant letter, with a guttural breath sound that was not an element of Greek articulation; and the Greeks took it to represent their vowel Alpha with the ä sound, the Phoenician alphabet having no vowel symbols. This letter, in English, is used for several diff…

A blowing or breathing on; inspiration.

A breath or blast of wind.

The fluid which we breathe, and which surrounds the earth; the atmosphere. It is invisible, inodorous, insipid, transparent, compressible, elastic, and ponderable.

in the visceral cavity of many fishes. It originates in the same way as the lungs of air-breathing vertebrates, and in the adult may retain a tubular connection with the pharynx or esophagus.

est chain of mountains in Europe, containing the lofty mountains of Switzerland, etc. Nor breath of vernal air from snowy alp. Milton. Hills peep o'er hills, and alps on alps arise. Pope.

cking out a little air, the bottom springs into a concave form with a smart crack; and by breathing or blowing gently into the orifice, the bottom, with a like noise, springs into its former convex form.

t, croup, etc., especially such as tends to produce suffocation, choking, or shortness of breath. Angina pectoris, a peculiarly painful disease, so named from a sense of suffocating contraction or tightening of the lower part of the chest; -- called also breast pang, spasm of the chest.

Short and rapid breathing; a panting; asthma. Glanvill.

To pant; to be breathlessly anxious or eager (for). [Obs.] They anhele . . . for the fruit of our convocation. Latimer.

Short of breath; panting.

Partial privation or suspension of breath; suffocation.

Destitute of a siphon or breathing tube; -- said of many bivalve shells. -- n.

The rough breathing; a mark placed over an initial vowel sound or over h before it; thus hws, pronounced h, hrj'twr, pronounced hra\'b6t.

To pronounce with a breathing, an aspirate, or an h sound; as, we aspirate the words horse and house; to aspirate a vowel or a liquid consonant.

Pronounced with the h sound or with audible breath. But yet they are not aspirate, i. e., with such an aspiration as h. Holder.

The act of aspirating; the pronunciation of a letter with a full or strong emission of breath; an aspirated sound. If aspiration be defined to be an impetus of breathing. Wilkins.

Of or pertaining to breathing; suited to the inhaling of air

To rise; to ascend; to tower; to soar. My own breath still foments the fire, Which flames as high as fancy can aspire. Waller.

A disease, characterized by difficulty of breathing (due to a spasmodic contraction of the bronchi), recurring at intervals, accompanied with a wheezing sound, a sense of constriction in the chest, a cough, and expectoration.