perspire
English
Etymology
Borrowed from Old French perspirer, from Latin perspirare (“to breathe everywhere, blow constantly”), from per (“through”) + spirare (“to breath”); see spirit.
Pronunciation
Audio (US) (file)
Verb
perspire (third-person singular simple present perspires, present participle perspiring, simple past and past participle perspired)
- (transitive, intransitive) To emit (sweat or perspiration) through the skin's pores.
- I was perspiring freely after running the marathon.
- 2010, Susan C. Karant-Nunn, The Reformation of Feeling
- He lists forty reasons, mainly metaphorical, why Christ perspired blood, and his peroration takes twenty-two pages in print.
- (intransitive) To be evacuated or excreted, or to exude, through the pores of the skin.
- A fluid perspires.
Synonyms
- sweat
Related terms
- conspire
- inspire
- perspiration
- respire
- transpire
Translations
sweat — see sweat
Further reading
- perspire in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
- perspire in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911