breaking wind
- noun
- /ˈbreɪkɪŋ wɪnd/
- NSFW
- I said sinner, because many of these fellow travelers have thought nothing of breaking wind while they are breaking bread.
We're going to talk about farting flatulence, whereas some of you may call it breaking wind.
- We're going to talk about farting flatulence, whereas some of you may call it breaking wind.
Examples
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It's always tough to go on a date when you're always breaking wind.
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It's hard to stay quiet when you're breaking wind in a small room.
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"What is this obsession you have with breaking wind?"
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Matthew was stirring downstairs, and Gator was down the hall now, breaking wind in the bathroom.
Fiction book (1995) -
Everyone laughed when they heard him breaking wind during the meeting.
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She quickly left the table after breaking wind without warning.
Synonyms
To let gas pass out through the bottom of the body
Antonyms
How Polite
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'to fart' is directly derivable from combining 'breaking' (the act of causing something to break) with 'wind' (flatulence) — the gerund + noun composition transparently denotes the act of releasing wind. This euphemistic collocation follows ordinary compositional patterns and is likely to be understood by a B1 learner who knows both constituent meanings.
Etymology
Breaking wind is a polite phrase that imagines trapped wind (air) inside the body being broken free and pushed out. That's why it means 'to fart'.