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Glite Dictionary
🌬️ To take air in ☕ To take a break ❤️ To be alive ✨ To give feeling 👃 To give off odor 🤫 To say quietly 🧵 To let air pass 🍷 To air wine
to breathe

to breathe

1 6.7
To let wine sit in air to improve its flavor
  • verb
  • /briːð/
  • Specialized
: airear
  • After uncorking, you should let the wine breathe for about 30 minutes to enhance its flavors.
  • let the wine breathe
  • wine should breathe

Examples

  • A wine like this needs to breathe.

    Gattaca (1997)

  • Let it breathe for one minute.

    Goal II: Living the Dream (2007)

  • I...I opened the wine to let it breathe.

    Café Society (2016)

  • Should we let it breathe?

    Cocktail (1988)

  • Without looking over at Ann, M. Cottier takes a sip of his wine and says, "I should have opened this bottle earlier; I should have let the wine breathe."

    Fiction book (1995)

  • Jim set the table, opened a bottle of cheap Chianti to let it breathe, then sliced canned mushrooms into a pot of spaghetti sauce on the stove.

    Fiction book (1991)

  • When serving a full-bodied red, it is important to allow the wine to breathe so it tastes better.

  • To fully enjoy its rich aroma, remember to let the wine breathe before tasting.

Synonyms

to air
vsto breathe
27 1.0

To put something in fresh air to dry

develops full flavor after being left open following uncorking

Antonyms

to seal
288 2.5

To close something tightly to stop air or water getting in

Idioms

to live and breathe
  • Informal
17 4.8

To be very excited about something and always make it a main part of life

to breathe a sigh of relief
  • Informal
16 2.5

To feel very relieved after a time of worry

to breathe a word
  • Informal
13 6.3

To tell someone a secret that should be kept

to breathe one's last
  • Literature
1 7.9

To stop living

Phrasal Verbs

to breathe in
96 1.0

To take air into your lungs through your nose or mouth

to breathe out
36 1.0

To push air out of your lungs

to breathe down someone's neck
  • Informal
30 7.5

To watch or pressure someone closely so they feel nervous

to breathe easy
  • Informal
18 3.4

To feel relaxed and relieved after a worrying time

How Open

to open up
642 2.5
to breathe
  • Specialized
1 6.7
to uncork
6 3.7

Surface Forms

breathe infinitive
breathed past
breathed past participle
breathing present participle
breathes third person singular

Etymology

Breathe for wine comes from the idea of letting air reach it, like giving it breath to open up its smell and taste. So when you let a wine 'breathe', you let air improve its flavour and aroma.