aspire
See also: aspiré
English
Etymology
Borrowed from Old French aspirer, from Latin aspirare, present active infinitive of aspiro. Doublet of aspirate.
Pronunciation
Verb
aspire (third-person singular simple present aspires, present participle aspiring, simple past and past participle aspired)
- (intransitive) To hope or dream; especially to hope or work towards a profession or occupation (followed by to as a preposition or infinitive particle).
- He aspires to become a successful doctor.
- Alexander Pope
- Aspiring to be angels, men rebel.
- 1733, [Alexander Pope], “Epistle I”, in An Essay on Man. Address’d to a Friend, new edition, London: Printed for J[ohn] Wilford, at the Three Flower-de-luces, behind the Chapter-house, S. Paul's, OCLC 228762650; republished as An Essay on Man. By Alexander Pope, Esq. A New Edition. To which is Prefixed a Critical Essay, by J[ohn] Aikin, M.D., London: Printed for T[homas] Cadell, Jun., and W. Davies, (successors to Mr. [Thomas] Cadell), Strand, 1796, OCLC 1008157997, stanza IX, lines 259–262, page 55:
- What if the foot, ordain'd the duſt to tread, / Or hand, to toil, aſpir'd to be the head? / What if the head, the eye, or ear repin'd / To ſerve mere engines to the ruling mind; […]
- (transitive, obsolete) To aspire to; to long for; to try to reach; to mount to.
- Shakespeare
- That gallant spirit hath aspired the clouds.
- Shakespeare
- To rise; to ascend; to tower; to soar.
- Waller
- My own breath still foments the fire, / Which flames as high as fancy can aspire.
- Waller
Related terms
Translations
to hope or dream
Asturian
French
Verb
aspire
Galician
Portuguese
Spanish
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