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Webster 1913 Edition

Breeze

Breeze

,
Noun.
[F.
brise
; akin to It.
brezza
breeze, Sp.
briza
,
brisa
, a breeze from northeast, Pg.
briza
northeast wind; of uncertain origin; cf. F.
bise
, Pr.
bisa
, OHG.
bisa
, north wind, Arm.
biz
northeast wind.]
1.
A light, gentle wind; a fresh, soft-blowing wind.
Into a gradual calm the
breezes
sink.
Wordsworth.
2.
An excited or ruffed state of feeling; a flurry of excitement; a disturbance; a quarrel;
as, the discovery produced a
breeze
.
[Colloq.]
Land breeze
,
a wind blowing from the land, generally at night.
–
Sea breeze
,
a breeze or wind blowing, generally in the daytime, from the sea.

Breeze

,
Noun.
[F.
braise
cinders, live coals. See
Brasier
.]
1.
Refuse left in the process of making coke or burning charcoal.
2.
(Brickmaking)
Refuse coal, coal ashes, and cinders, used in the burning of bricks.

Breeze

,
Verb.
I.
To blow gently.
[R.]
J. Barlow.
To breeze up
(Naut.)
,
to blow with increasing freshness.

Webster 1828 Edition

Breeze

BREEZE

,
Noun.
A genus of flies or insects, technically called Tabanus. There are many species,but the most noted is the bovinus, great horsefly, whose mouth is armed with two hooks which penetrate the skin of an animal, while with a proboscis, like a sting, it sucks the blood.

BREEZE

,
Noun.
[Gr. to boil.]
1.
A light wind; a gentle gale.
From land a gentle breeze arose at night.
2.
A shifting wind, that blows from the sea or from the land, for a certain time, by night or by day. Such breezes are common in the tropical regions, and in a good degree regular. The wind from the sea is called a sea breeze, and that from the land, a land breeze. In general, the sea breeze blows in the day time, and the land breeze at night. The like breezes are common, in the summer months, in the temperate latitudes.

BREEZE

,
Verb.
I.
To blow gently; a word common among seamen.
For now the breathing airs, from ocean born,
Breeze up the bay, and lead the lively morn.

Definition 2024

breeze

breeze

English

Alternative forms

Noun

breeze ‎(plural breezes)

  1. A gadfly; a horsefly.
  2. A strong-bodied dipterous insect of the family Tabanidae.

Verb

breeze ‎(third-person singular simple present breezes, present participle breezing, simple past and past participle breezed)

  1. (intransitive) To buzz.

Etymology 2

Attested since 1555, from the earlier (nautical) term brise, brize ‎(“breeze”). Variously supposed to derive from a Germanic source like Saterland Frisian Briese ‎(“breeze”), Dutch bries ‎(“breeze”), or from Spanish brisa ‎(“northeast wind”);[1][2] compare French brise, Italian brezza. Possibly ultimately from the same Indo-European source as Albanian breshër ‎(“hail”).

Alternative forms

  • brize (obsolete)
  • briess (obsolete)

Noun

breeze ‎(plural breezes)

  1. A light, gentle wind.
    The breeze rustled the papers on her desk.‎
    • William Wordsworth (1770-1850)
      Into a gradual calm the breezes sink.
    • 1907, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, “chapter V”, in The Younger Set (Project Gutenberg; EBook #14852), New York, N.Y.: A. L. Burt Company, published 1 February 2005 (Project Gutenberg version), OCLC 4241346:
      Breezes blowing from beds of iris quickened her breath with their perfume; she saw the tufted lilacs sway in the wind, and the streamers of mauve-tinted wistaria swinging, all a-glisten with golden bees; she saw a crimson cardinal winging through the foliage, and amorous tanagers flashing like scarlet flames athwart the pines.
  2. Any activity that is easy, not testing or difficult.
    After studying Latin, Spanish was a breeze.‎
  3. (cricket) Wind blowing across a cricket match, whatever its strength.
  4. Ashes and residue of coal or charcoal, usually from a furnace. See Wikipedia article on Clinker.
  5. An excited or ruffled state of feeling; a flurry of excitement; a disturbance; a quarrel.
    The discovery produced a breeze.‎
Synonyms
Coordinate terms
Translations
See also

Verb

breeze ‎(third-person singular simple present breezes, present participle breezing, simple past and past participle breezed) (intransitive)

  1. (usually with along) To move casually, in a carefree manner.
  2. (weather) To blow gently.
    • 2014 January 21, Hermione Hoby, “Julia Roberts interview for August: Osage County – 'I might actually go to **** for this ...': Julia Roberts reveals why her violent, Oscar-nominated performance in August: Osage County made her feel 'like a terrible person' [print version: 'I might actually go to **** for this ...' (18 January 2014, p. R4)]”, in The Daily Telegraph (Review):
      She's sitting opposite a window that's gently breezing into her face, wafting her hair into cover-girl perfection ...
  3. To take a horse under a light run in order to understand the running characteristics of the horse and to observe it while under motion.
Translations

References

  1. ↑ “breeze” in Dictionary.com Unabridged, v1.0.1, Lexico Publishing Group, 2006.
  2. ↑ “breeze” in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Merriam-Webster Online.

Anagrams

Etymology

From Middle English brese, from Old English brēosa, variant of Old English brimsa ‎(“gadfly”), from Proto-Germanic *bremusī ‎(“gadfly”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰerem- ‎(“to make a noise, buzz, hum”). Cognate with Dutch brems ‎(“horsefly, warblefly”), German Bremse ‎(“gadfly, horsefly”), Danish bremse ‎(“gadfly, horsefly”), Swedish broms ‎(“gadfly, horsefly”). Related also to Middle English brimse ‎(“gadfly”), French brize ‎(“gadfly”), Old English bremman ‎(“to rage, roar”), Latin fremō ‎(“roar, snort, growl, grumble”). See also bream.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /bɹiːz/
  • Rhymes: -iːz

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