perspire

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French perspirer and its source Latin perspīrō (“to breathe everywhere, blow constantly”), from per (“through”) + spīrō (“to breathe”); see spirit.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /pəˈspaɪə(ɹ)/
• (General American, Canada) IPA^(key): /pɚˈspaɪɹ/, /pɚˈspaɪɚ/

  • Audio (California):

    (file)

• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /pəˈspɑɪə(ɹ)/
• Rhymes: -aɪə(ɹ)

Verb

perspire (third-person singular simple present perspires, present participle perspiring, simple past and past participle perspired)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To emit (sweat or perspiration) through the skin's pores.

   Synonym: sweat

   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.

2. (intransitive) To be evacuated or excreted, or to exude, through the pores of the skin.

   A fluid perspires.

3. (transitive, intransitive, rare) To cause (someone) to sweat.

   Synonym: sweat

   • 2001, Salman Rushdie, Fury: A Novel, London: Jonathan Cape, →ISBN, page 3:

     Outside his window a long, humid summer, the first hot season of the third millennium, baked and perspired.

   • 2016, Pradip Chauhan, Love Stories, New Delhi: Educreation Publishing, →ISBN, page 48:

     We shook hands, he looked surprised to see me topless. I stimulated his mind. ¶ “Nice to meet you. My workout jogging perspired me a lot, so I removed the T-shirt.”

Related terms

• conspire
• inspire
• perspiration
• respire
• transpire

Translations

sweat — see sweat

Further reading

• “perspire”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “perspire”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.