suspire

Late Middle English, from Latin suspīrāre, present active infinitive of suspīrō. Cognate with Old French sospirer (modern soupirer) and Spanish suspirar.

• IPA^(key): /səˈspaɪə(ɹ)/
• Rhymes: -aɪə(ɹ)

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

suspire (third-person singular simple present suspires, present participle suspiring, simple past and past participle suspired)

1. (literary) To breathe.
   • 1856, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, “Seventh Book”, in Aurora Leigh, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1857, →OCLC:

     Fireflies that suspire / In short, soft lapses of transported flame.

2. (literary) To exhale.
   • c. 1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Iohn”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iv]:

     To him that yesterday did suspire.

3. (literary) To sigh.
   • 1859, Edward Fitzgerald, The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám: The Astronomer-Poet of Persia, page 2:

     Now the New Year reviving old Desires,
     The thoughtful Soul to Solitude retires,
     Where the White Hand of Moses on the Bough
     Puts out, and Jesus from the Ground suspires.

• (to breathe): see Thesaurus:breathe

• suspiral
• suspiration
• suspirious

suspire (plural suspires)

1. (obsolete) A long, deep breath; a sigh.

• pussier, rises up, uprises

suspire

1. inflection of suspirar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

suspire

1. inflection of suspirar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

suspire

1. inflection of suspirar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative