breath
n. C / Un. the air that you take into your lungs and then let out again. It can also mean the act of breathing.
n. the air inhaled into or exhaled from the lungs during respiration. Often used figuratively to describe a slight movement of air or a brief pause.
Take a deep breath and try to relax.
The cold morning air was so crisp that she could see her breath as she walked to the station.
The athlete struggled to catch her breath after the final sprint, leaning against the track wall while her heart rate slowly returned to its resting state.
From Middle English breeth, breth, from Old English brǣþ (“odor, scent, stink, exhalation, vapor”), from Proto-West Germanic *brāþi (“vapour, waft, exhalation, breath”) (compare German Brodem (“haze, vapor; breath”), of a different but related formation).
Countable when referring to a single cycle of inhalation and exhalation; uncountable when referring to the general air or the act of breathing.