Dictionary

wheeze en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /wiːz/
• wēz
• (Southern-England) audio
• /ʍiːz/

Etymology

From Middle English whesen, perhaps from Old Norse hvæsa (“to hiss”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱwes- (“to pant”).

Meanings

1. A piping or whistling sound caused by difficult respiration.
2. An ordinary whisper exaggerated so as to produce the hoarse sound known as the "stage whisper"; a forcible whisper with some admixture of tone.
3. (Ireland, UK, informal) An ulterior scheme or plan.
   • Didn’t catch me napping that wheeze. 1922 February 2, James Joyce, “[V]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company […], →OCLC:
   • ‘It’s got a file and rope ladder in it and if you was a bit older I’d make you eat them both raw for trying to put such a moth-eaten old wheeze over on me.’ 1936, Norman Lindsay, The Flyaway Highway, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 90:
   • The main point of fuel duty, though, is as a fiscal wheeze: it made up 5% of the tax take in 2010. 2011 November 19, “Road rage; High petrol prices hurt, but will not throttle the economy”, in The Economist:
   • The Constitution cult in the US—deliberately stoked in the early twentieth century in a part as a bulwark against socialism—is a nastily brilliant wheeze by capitalism's apologists. 2022, China Miéville, chapter 4, in A Spectre, Haunting: On the Communist Manifesto, →OCLC:
4. (slang) Something very humorous or laughable.
   • You think you're going to win? That's a real wheeze!
   • The new comedy is a wheeze.
5. A sound that resembles a human wheezing.
   • At the same time I felt them fall over my brows — time to get a cut — the engine gave a final wheeze and died. 2016, Heather Hildenbrand, A Bet Worth Making:

Forms

Deriveds

wheeze rate

Synonyms

joke

Translations (44)

it rantolo (piping or whistling sound caused by difficult respiration) · cmn 喘息 (piping or whistling sound caused by difficult respiration) · hu lihegés (piping or whistling sound caused by difficult respiration) · mi tīmohu (piping or whistling sound caused by difficult respiration) · fa خس خس (piping or whistling sound caused by difficult respiration) · da hvæs (piping or whistling sound caused by difficult respiration) · hu zihálás (piping or whistling sound caused by difficult respiration) · tr hırıltı (piping or whistling sound caused by difficult respiration) · de Keuchen (piping or whistling sound caused by difficult respiration) · cs sípání (exaggerated whisper) · az xırıltı (piping or whistling sound caused by difficult respiration) · mi ngoio (piping or whistling sound caused by difficult respiration) · ru сценический шёпот (exaggerated whisper) · fi teatterikuiskaus (exaggerated whisper) · ru хрипе́ние (piping or whistling sound caused by difficult respiration) · cs sípání (piping or whistling sound caused by difficult respiration) · fi pihinä (piping or whistling sound caused by difficult respiration) · tl agahas (piping or whistling sound caused by difficult respiration) · de Schnaufen (piping or whistling sound caused by difficult respiration) · ru хрип (piping or whistling sound caused by difficult respiration) · ru сипение (piping or whistling sound caused by difficult respiration) · ga cársán (piping or whistling sound caused by difficult respiration) · de Röcheln (piping or whistling sound caused by difficult respiration) · mi ngae (piping or whistling sound caused by difficult respiration) · cs pískot (piping or whistling sound caused by difficult respiration) · hu sípolás (piping or whistling sound caused by difficult respiration) · es sibilancia (piping or whistling sound caused by difficult respiration) · vec ràntego (piping or whistling sound caused by difficult respiration) · bg хриптене (piping or whistling sound caused by difficult respiration) · sh hripanje (piping or whistling sound caused by difficult respiration) · ja 喘鳴 (piping or whistling sound caused by difficult respiration) · mi ngō (piping or whistling sound caused by difficult respiration) · id mengi (piping or whistling sound caused by difficult respiration) · fi kähinä (piping or whistling sound caused by difficult respiration) · sco hirsel (piping or whistling sound caused by difficult respiration) · it anelito (piping or whistling sound caused by difficult respiration) · pl sapanie (piping or whistling sound caused by difficult respiration) · sh stridor (piping or whistling sound caused by difficult respiration) · pt sibilo (piping or whistling sound caused by difficult respiration) · es estertor sibilante (piping or whistling sound caused by difficult respiration) · pl charczenie (piping or whistling sound caused by difficult respiration) · gd pìochan (piping or whistling sound caused by difficult respiration) · hu keh (piping or whistling sound caused by difficult respiration) · sh hropac (piping or whistling sound caused by difficult respiration)

wheeze en · VERB

Pronunciation

• /wiːz/
• wēz
• (Southern-England) audio
• /ʍiːz/

Etymology

From Middle English whesen, perhaps from Old Norse hvæsa (“to hiss”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱwes- (“to pant”).

Meanings

1. To breathe hard, and with an audible piping or whistling sound, as persons affected with asthma.
   • 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)
2. (slang) To convulse with laughter; to become breathless due to intense laughing.
   • Mrs. Hearty began to shake and wheeze with laughter, and Millie stood looking at Bindle. 1932, Herbert George Jenkins, Bindle Omnibus, page 408:
   • Elsie wheezed, laughter swelling her bosom. 1988, Elizabeth Oldfield, Beware of Married Men, page 47:
   • He began to wheeze again, and tears rolled down his furrowed cheeks. Nate was laughing, too, infected by Check's contagious wheezing. 1973, Robert Boston, A Thorn for the Flesh, page 30:
   • The man wheezed, his laughter like an accordion whine. 1993, Richard S. Wheeler, The Two Medicine River, page 221:
3. To make a sound that resembles the sound of human wheezing.
   • "Even the fish know it; they don't rise to the bait any more and the birds are scared - hear how they wheeze and cry as they seek the land." 1886, Peter Christen Asbjø￵rnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 184:
   • One boy in a black tuxedo and red shoes plays a wheezing accordion like a roadside undertaker. 2009, J. P. White, Every Boat Turns South, page 112:

Forms

Translations (46)

de röcheln (breathe hard) · pl rzęzić (breathe hard) · mi ngae (breathe hard) · it rantolare (breathe hard) · de pfeifend atmen (breathe hard) · cmn 喘息 (breathe hard) · pl charczeć (breathe hard) · xal шиигх (breathe hard) · hu zihál (breathe hard) · gsw charre (breathe hard) · cs sípat (breathe hard) · pl sapać (breathe hard) · bg хриптя́ (breathe hard) · fi hengittää pihisten (breathe hard) · fi korista (breathe hard) · de giemen (breathe hard) · de schwer atmen (breathe hard) · mi ngāngā (breathe hard) · it boccheggiare (breathe hard) · de keuchen (breathe hard) · uk хрипіти (breathe hard) · ru хрипе́ть (breathe hard) · fr respirer bruyamment (breathe hard) · da hvæse (breathe hard) · fi pihistä (breathe hard) · izh korissa (breathe hard) · sco wheezle (breathe hard) · pl chrypieć (breathe hard) · es jadear de manera/modo/forma silbante (breathe hard) · cmn 喘氣 /喘气 (breathe hard) · hu sípol (breathe hard) · tl umagahas (breathe hard) · de schnaufen (breathe hard) · mi ngaengae (breathe hard) · se skarkit (breathe hard) · it ansimare (breathe hard) · hu liheg (breathe hard) · gd dèan pìochan (breathe hard) · cs pískat (breathe hard) · sco hirsel (breathe hard) · tr hırıltı çıkarmak (breathe hard) · it ansare (breathe hard) · fr avoir du mal à respirer (breathe hard) · wyi kart tirring (breathe hard) · it anelare (breathe hard) · sv kikna (breathe hard)