expire
See also: expiré
English
Etymology
Borrowed from Middle French expirer, from Latin exspīrō, exspīrāre, from ex- (“out”) + spīrō, spīrāre (“breathe, be alive”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ɪkˈspaɪə(ɹ)/, /ɛkˈspaɪə(ɹ)/
Audio (US) (file) - Rhymes: -aɪə(ɹ)
- Hyphenation: ex‧pire
Verb
expire (third-person singular simple present expires, present participle expiring, simple past and past participle expired)
- (intransitive) To die.
- Synonyms: see Thesaurus:die
- The patient expired in hospital.
- 1748, [Samuel Richardson], “Letter CXIII”, in Clarissa. Or, The History of a Young Lady: […], volume VII, London: […] S[amuel] Richardson; […], OCLC 13631815, page 415:
- And then, his head ſinking on his pillow, he expired; at about half an hour after ten.
- 1833, R. J. Bertin, Charles W. Chauncy, transl., Treatise on the Diseases of the Heart, and Great Vessels, Philadelphia: Carey, Lea & Blnachard, page 185:
- Soon the patient had no longer sufficient strength to sit up; the trunk of the body was inclined to the right side, the head high and thrown backward, the mouth wide open: she seemed to stifle rather than respire: lastly, speech and respiration failed her; she uttered, however, in a feeble voice, some incoherent words, said she felt she was dying, and, accordingly, expired the sixth day after entrance.
- 1961 November 10, Joseph Heller, “The Soldier in White”, in Catch-22 […], New York, N.Y.: Simon and Schuster, OCLC 1023879857, page 168:
- People bled to death like gentlemen in an operating room or expired without comment in an oxygen tent.
- (intransitive) To lapse and become invalid.
- My library card will expire next week.
- (intransitive) To come to an end; to conclude.
- 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981, Revelation 20:7:
- And when the thousand yeeres are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, […]
-
- (transitive, intransitive) To exhale; to breathe out.
- Antonym: inspire
- 1672, Gideon Harvey, Morbus Anglicus, Or, The Anatomy of Consumptions:
- Anatomy exhibits the lungs in a continual motion of inspiring and expiring air.
- 1717, John Dryden, Meleager and Atalanta
- This chafed the boar; his nostrils flames expire.
- 1843, Loring Dudley Chapin
- Animals expire carbon and plants inspire it; plants expire oxygen and animals inspire it.
- (transitive) To give forth insensibly or gently, as a fluid or vapour; to emit in minute particles.
- 1631, Francis [Bacon], “(please specify |century=I to X)”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], 3rd edition, London: […] William Rawley; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], OCLC 1044372886:
- the expiring of cold out of the inward parts of the earth in winter
-
- (transitive) To bring to a close; to terminate.
- c. 1591–1595 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act I, scene iv]:
- Expire the term / Of a despised life.
-
Derived terms
- expiration
- expiree
- expiry
Related terms
- inspire
- respiration
- respire
- spirit
Translations
die — see die
become invalid
|
exhale — see exhale
to exhale (something)
|
Further reading
- expire in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911
Anagrams
- prexie
French
Pronunciation
Audio (file)
Verb
expire
- inflection of expirer:
- first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
- second-person singular imperative
Anagrams
- expier
Portuguese
Verb
expire
- inflection of expirar:
- first/third-person singular present subjunctive
- third-person singular imperative
Romanian
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): [ekˈspire]
Verb
expire
- third-person singular/plural present subjunctive of expira
Spanish
Verb
expire
- inflection of expirar:
- first/third-person singular present subjunctive
- third-person singular imperative