short of breath

short of breath (not comparable)

1. short-winded; panting; breathless; in a state of breathlessness
   • 1941 October, “Notes and News: A Highland Runaway”, in Railway Magazine, page 469:

     They were all doomed to be disappointed, however, for the errant engine decided at Stanley junction to spend the remainder of its crowded hour of freedom on the Aberdeen line, and finally came to rest, short of breath, in the dip between Ballathie and Cargill, near the bridge over the Tay.

• shortness of breath

• “short of breath”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.