1.breathe的基本意思是“呼吸”,即生物体与外界进行气体交换。可以表示“呼吸”,也可指单独地呼出(与out连用)或单独地“吸入”(与in连用)。引申可表示“吐露”,在书面语里breathe还可引出直接引语,作“说出”解。
2.breathe可用作不及物动词,也可用作及物动词,接名词或代词作宾语。
3.breathe可接同源宾语,以加强动作的意义,但在固定短语里常省略并与物主代词连用,如breathe one's last。
4.breathe作“吐露”解时通常用于否定句,吐露的内容由介词about引出,而“向…吐露”则须接介词to。

breathe in(v.+adv.)
1.吸气 take in air through the nose or mouth
▲breathe in
In the morning I open the window wide and breathe in deeply.早晨我敞开窗户,做深呼吸。
We have to breathe in and out so many times a minute.每分钟我们都得呼吸那么多次。
2.通过呼吸吸入 take in (sth such as gas) by breathing
▲breathe sth ⇔ in
When you're breathing deeply, you're breathing some fresh air in. 当你深呼吸时,就会吸入一些新鲜空气。
In large cities people breathe in dangerous gases from cars and chimneys.在大城市人们呼吸时吸入汽车和烟囱排出的有害气体。
If men breathed in the fine paint spray, their lungs would be damaged.如果人们吸入这种细微的漆雾,他们的肺部就会受到损伤。
He became ill after breathing in a lot of coal dust for many years.多年来他吸入了大量煤尘,后来他得了病。
3.全神贯注地听 put one's heart into listening
▲breathe sth ⇔ in
She breathed in every word the professor was saying.她专心致志地聆听教授所说的每句话。

breathe into(v.+prep.)
1.把气息送入或呼入 send out one's breath into (sth)
▲breathe into sth
The police asked us to breathe into the chemical to see if we were drunk.警察让我们朝药物呼气,来检验我们是否喝过酒。
You can often save a person's life by breathing into his mouth.采用口对口呼吸常能抢救一个人的生命。
2.使(某物)复苏 make (sth) active again
▲breathe new life into sth
The firm was about to fail when a new director was appointed; he breathed new life into the company and soon it was successful.该公司濒临倒闭之时任命了一位新经理; 是他给这个公司带来了生气,使它很快兴旺起来。
She breathed new life into the party.她给晚会带来了生气。

breathe on〔upon〕(v.+prep.)
▲breathe on/upon sth
1.往(某物)上哈气,呼气 allow one's breath to fall on (sth)
The boy breathed on a mirror. 这男孩对着镜子哈气。
If you breathe on the window you can write your name in the mist.如果你往玻璃窗上哈气,你可在雾蒙蒙的窗上写下你的名字。
The old woman took off her spectacles, breathed on them, and rubbed them with a corner of her apron.老太太取下眼镜,对着镜片哈气,然后用围裙角擦了起来。
2.损毁(名誉) cause a poor opinion of (sth)
◇ 用于be ～ed结构
Her fame has been breathed upon.她的名誉被玷污了。

breathe out(v.+adv.)
1.呼气,呼出 let out air through the nose or mouth
▲breathe out
The doctor asked me to breathe in, then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气,然后全部呼出。
2.呼吸时吐出(气体等) let (gas) out by breathing
▲breathe sth ⇔ out
He breathed out wine fumes. 他呼出的气有酒味。
At parties,I don't like to be with people who breathe out smoke all over me.聚会时,我不愿意和那些在我周围喷烟吐雾的人在一起。
3.说出(某话语) express (sth)
▲breathe sth ⇔ out
He stood with his arms raised to the sky, breathing out curses.他站着把双臂举向空中,诅咒着。

用作不及物动词
▲S+～(+A)
His heart beat so that he could hardly breathe.他的心跳得他呼吸都很困难了。
As long as I breathe,I'll fight them.只要一息尚存,我就要跟他们斗。
I'll love you as long as I breathe.只要我还活着,我一定爱你。
The elephant was still breathing, so we knew it was still alive.那头大象仍在呼吸,所以我们知道它仍然活着。
Everyone breathed freely once more.大家又都安心了。
We could hardly breathe at such a high altitude. 在这样的高度我们呼吸感到很困难。
The higher they went, the more difficult it was to breathe.他们越往山上走,呼吸越困难。
He was breathing hard when he finished the race.跑完全程后,他费力地喘着气。
The doctor told Charlie to breathe deeply.大夫要查利深呼吸。
I shan't be able to breathe again until the examination results are received.只有接到考试成绩通知,我心上的石头才能落地。
As soon as the policeman went away, he was able to breathe again.警察一走开,他又恢复了平静。
The danger is over; we can breathe again now.危险已经过去,我们现在可以放下心来了。
用作及物动词
▲S+～+n./pron.
We breathe air all the time.If we stop breathing, we will die.我们不停地呼吸。如果我们停止吸气,那我们就会死。
They came out of the tunnel and thankfully breathed the fresh air.他们走出地道,贪婪地吸着新鲜空气。
She breathed a sigh of relief.她放心地松了口气。
As all animals and plants breathe air, we can be quite sure there is no life on the moon.动植物都要呼吸空气,所以我们完全可以断言月球上没有生命。
He breathed words of love into her ear. 他轻声在她耳畔倾吐爱恋之言。
She breathed a dead-and-alive “Good afternoon.”她无精打采地轻轻说了声“下午好”。
She never breathed a word about it.她对这件事绝口不提。
She breathed her advice softly.她低声作劝告。
He breathed tobacco smoke into my face.他对着我的脸喷香烟。
He really breathes fire when he gets angry!他发脾气时真的能吐出火来。
The flower breathes fragrance.花吐芳香。
The sunburnt grass breathed a harvest breath of dry sweetness and content.草给阳光晒枯了,发出一阵叫人意满心欢的收获期的芳香气息。
The novel breathed despair.这部小说表现出绝望的情绪。
The article breathes the spirit of the age.这篇文章反映出时代精神。
They were breathing the horses after the hard ride.一阵飞奔之后,他们让马歇一会儿。
On the morning of November 12,1939,Dr.Bethune breathed his last.在1939年11月12日早晨,白求恩大夫停止了呼吸。
The wounded soldier fell back on the ground and breathed his last.伤兵倒地气绝而亡。
The old man said something to his son below his breath and breathed his last breath.那老人低声地对儿子说了点什么,然后就死了。
I promised not to breathe a syllable about what he told me.我保证决不吐露他对我讲的任何事。
He didn't breathe a word to anyone.他对任何人都只字未提。
I will not breathe it to another man.这事我不会泄露给别人。
In the University of Cambridge, he breathed the breath of intellectual freedom for the first time.在剑桥大学,他第一次呼吸到思想自由的空气。
Don't worry,I wouldn't breathe a word of your secret.别担心,我不会泄漏你的秘密。
He had never breathed a word of his going abroad to me.关于他出国的事,他对我只字未提。
I'll tell you the secret if you promise not to breathe a word of it to anybody.如果你保证不向任何人吐露,我就告诉你这个秘密。
◇ 用于be ～ed结构
Not a word must be breathed to anyone about this.关于这件事,绝不能向任何人透露。
▲引出直接引语
“What's his name?”“Lu Jiachuan,” breathed Yu Yongze.“他叫什么名字?”“卢嘉川。”余永泽说道。
其他
▲v-ing as Attrib.
The breathing apparatus includes the nose, throat and lungs.呼吸器官包括鼻子、咽喉和肺。

breathe, take breath
两者意义不同,前者的意思是“呼吸”,后者的意思是“歇口气(休息)”。
breathe, breadth
这两个词词形相近,但意思不同。breadth意为“宽度”“度量”或“广博”,是名词; breathe意为“呼吸”,是动词。

他停下来,深深地吸了一口气。
［误］  He stopped to take a deep breathe.
［正］  He stopped to take a deep breath.
［析］  breathe是动词,其名词是breath。

［同义词］   exhale, inhale