breeze Hear it!

breeze¹ Definition

breeze (brēz)

noun

  1. a light current of air; wind, esp. a gentle wind
  2. Brit., Informal commotion or disturbance
  3. ☆ Informal a thing easy to do
  4. Meteorol. any wind ranging in speed from 4 to 31 miles per hour

Etymology: 16th-c. nautical term brise, prob. (? via Du) < EFris brisen, to blow fresh and strong

intransitive verb breezed, breez′ing

☆ Informal to move or go quickly, jauntily, easily, etc.

breeze¹ Idioms

in a breeze

☆

Informal with little or no effort; easily

shoot the breeze

or bat the breeze☆

Slang to converse idly about trivial matters

breeze² Definition

breeze (brēz)

noun

  1. a substance left when coke, coal, or charcoal is burned or processed: it is used as a filler for concrete, etc.
  2. small pieces of coke or coal with a diameter of 1.27 cm (.5 in) or less

Etymology: Fr braise, live coals: see braise

breeze Synonyms

breeze

n.

gentle wind, zephyr, flurry; see wind 1. See syn. study at wind.

in a breeze

effortlessly, readily, jauntily; see easily 1.

shoot the breeze<strong>

converse, chat, chatter; see talk 1.

breeze Usage Examples

Converse of subject

  • caress: Caressed by sea breezes, it offers post card views of sandy white beaches fringed with swaying palms.
  • temper: Climate From April to September the coast has warm, mainly dry weather tempered by sea breezes.

Converse of object

  • freshen: Female Common Darter It was humid under scattered cumulus early on the 2nd but by mid-morning there was a welcome, freshening southerly breeze.
  • cool: The cooling breezes across the decks are a blessing.
  • brace: Or stroll along golden sands swept by bracing sea breezes.
  • shoot: How long do you spend sitting around shooting the breeze?
  • whisper: I am as free as a whispering breeze, and untroubled as a young child at play.

Adjective modifier

  • gentle: There was only a gentle sea breeze from the NE.
  • stiff: We just couldn't make any significant headway despite having the benefit of a stiff breeze behind our backs.
  • easterly: Sunny, scattered cloud, easterly breeze, warm.
  • westerly: The first race was held at the more exposed end of the pond in a fresh westerly breeze.
  • northerly: A welcome, fresh northerly breeze blew on the 3rd, as the temperature soared again.
  • southerly: Friday's moderate southerly breeze set the stage for nail biting racing.

Modifies a noun

  • block: We are building two planters out of breeze block with lengths of hose pipe between the mortar joints.
  • blow: A low breath of breeze blows in the first cadence of the sunset call to prayer.

Noun used with modifier

  • sea: There was only a gentle sea breeze from the NE.
  • cooling: The 365 day a year course is comfortable to play, even in the middle of the day due to the constant cooling breeze.
  • knot: But in the bay there was a 15 to 25 knot breeze from the east.
  • ocean: Floor to ceiling patio doors let in the cool ocean breezes.
  • chill: The weather had turned cold and a chill breeze was blowing.
breeze Quotes

Come into the garden, Maud, For the black bat, night, has flown, Come into the garden, Maud, I am here at the gate alone; Maud And the woodbine spices are wafted abroad, And the musk of the rose is blown. For a breeze of morning moves, And the planet of Love is on high, Beginning to faint in the light that she loves On a bed of daffodil sky.

—Tennyson

And round thee with the breeze of song To stir a little dust of praise.

—Tennyson

I, methought, while the sweet breath of heaven Was blowing on my body, felt within A correspondent breeze, that gently moved With quickening virtue, but is now become A tempest, a redundant energy, Vexing its own creation.

—Wordsworth,William

I wandered lonelyas a cloud That floats on high o'er vales and hills, When all at once I saw a crowd, A host, of golden daffodils; Beside the lake, beneath the trees, Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

—Wordsworth,William

   Each breeze from foggy mount and marshy plain Dilutes with drivel every drizzly brain, Till, burst at length, each wat'ry head o'er flows,

—Rochdale

   By the rude bridge that arched the flood, Their flag to April's breeze unfurled, Here once the embattled farmers stood And fired the shot heard around the world.

—Emerson, RalphWaldo

At the same moment a peculiar fragrance was borne upon the breeze, as if a passing fairy had hiccuped, and had previously been to a wine vaults.

—Dickens, CharlesJohn Huffam

Oh there is blessing in this gentle breeze, Avisitant that while it fans my cheek Doth seem half conscious of the joy it brings From the green fields, and from yon azure sky. Whate'er its mission, the soft breeze can come To none more grateful than to me; escaped From the vast city, where I long had pined A discontented sojourner: now free, Free as a bird to settle where I will.

—Wordsworth,William

Jolly boating weather And a hay-harvest breeze, Blade on the feather, Shade off the trees; Swing, swing together, With your body between your knees.

—Cory,William originally  WilliamJohnson

When the oak-tree is fallen, the whole forest echoes with it; but a hundred acorns are planted silently by some unnoticed breeze.

—Carlyle,Thomas

The softest breeze to fairest flowers gives birth: Think not that Prudence dwells in dark abodes, She scans the future with the eye of gods.

—Wordsworth,William

Ah! County Guy, the hour is nigh, The sun has left the lea, The orange flower perfumes the bower, The breeze is on the sea.

—Scott, Sir Walter

So have I heard the cuckoo's parting cry, From the wet field, through the vext garden trees, Come with the volleying rain and tossing breeze: 'The bloom isgone, and with the bloom go I.'

—Arnold, Matthew

My soul is awakened, my spirit is soaring And carried aloft on the wings of the breeze; For above and around me the wild wind is roaring, Arousing to rapture the earth and the seas.

—Bronte«  , Anne