breathing: Meaning and Definition of

breath•ing

1. the act of a person or other animal that breathes; respiration.
2. a single breath.
3. the short time required for a single breath.
4. a pause, as for breath.
5. utterance or words.
6. a gentle moving or blowing, as of wind.
1. the manner of articulating the beginning of a word written with an initial vowel sign, with or without aspiration before the vowel.
2. one of the two symbols used to indicate this. Cf. rough breathing, smooth breathing.