wheeze
English
Etymology
From Middle English whesen, perhaps from Old Norse hvæsa (“to hiss”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱwes- (“to pant”).
Pronunciation
- enPR: wēz, IPA(key): /ʍiːz/, /wiːz/
- Rhymes: -iːz
- Homophones: wees, Wiis (in accents with the wine-whine merger)
Noun
wheeze (plural wheezes)
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- A piping or whistling sound caused by difficult respiration.
- An ordinary whisper exaggerated so as to produce the hoarse sound known as the "stage whisper"; a forcible whisper with some admixture of tone.
- (Britain, slang) An ulterior scheme or plan
- 2011 "Road rage; High petrol prices hurt, but will not throttle the economy", The Economist 19 November 2011:
- The main point of fuel duty, though, is as a fiscal wheeze: it made up 5% of the tax take in 2010.
- 2011 "Road rage; High petrol prices hurt, but will not throttle the economy", The Economist 19 November 2011:
- (slang) Something very humorous or laughable.
- The new comedy is a wheeze.
- You think you're going to win? That's a real wheeze!
Synonyms
- See also Thesaurus:joke
Translations
piping or whistling sound caused by difficult respiration
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exaggerated whisper
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.
Translations to be checked: "breathing hard"
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Verb
wheeze (third-person singular simple present wheezes, present participle wheezing, simple past and past participle wheezed)
- To breathe hard, and with an audible piping or whistling sound, as persons affected with asthma.
- 2001, Joyce Carol Oates, Middle Age: A Romance (Fourth Estate, paperback edition, 443)
- If the air smelled even faintly of dog, Lionel coughed, wheezed and sneezed.
- 2001, Joyce Carol Oates, Middle Age: A Romance (Fourth Estate, paperback edition, 443)
Translations
breathe hard
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