respiration
noun/ɹɛspɪˈɹeɪʃən/
Etymology From Middle English respiracioun, borrowed from Latin respīrātiō, respīrātiōnem.
1
The process of inhaling and exhaling.
- In the dead state all is apparently without motion. No agent within indicates design, intelligence, or foresight: there is no respiration; […]1822, John Barclay, chapter I, in An Inquiry Into the Opinions, Ancient and Modern, Concerning Life and Organization, Edinburgh; London: Bell & Bradfute; Waugh & Innes; G. & W. B. Whittaker, section I, page 2:
2
An act of breathing: a single breath.
- Gowan snored, each respiration choking to a huddle fall, as though he would never breathe again.1931, William Faulkner, Sanctuary, Vintage, published 1993, page 76:
3
Any similar process in an organism that lacks lungs that exchanges gases with its environment.
4
The process by which cells obtain chemical energy by the consumption of oxygen and the release of carbon dioxide.
- Near-synonym: metabolism
- Derived terms
- abdominal respiration, agonal respiration, artificial respiration, ataxic respiration, Biot's respiration, cellular respiration, chlororespiration, cluster respiration, Kussmaul respiration, photorespiration, respirational
- Related terms
- respire, circulatory system, pulmonary circulation