breathing machine
4
3.4
- noun
- /ˈbriːðɪŋ məˈʃiːn/
:
máquina de respiración
- When the patient could no longer breathe on her own, the doctors placed her on a breathing machine to support her.
- put on a breathing machine
- alive on a breathing machine
- still on the breathing machine
Examples
-
I learned not only from my mother's experience but from my work interviewing polio survivors that assistive devices—including breathing machines—become an extension of the body.
Blog text (25) -
He's on a breathing machine, right now.
-
We connect his endotracheal tube to the breathing machine.
Fiction book (1994) -
A terminally ill cancer patient requested that her life not be prolonged by mechanical breathing machines because she wished for a natural death.
Academic text (2001) -
This course of action will require connecting him to a breathing machine, since drug-induced paralysis will stop all spontaneous breathing.
Fiction book (1994) -
Southerland had declined to go on the feeding and breathing machines necessary to sustain life at the end of ALS.
Blog text (10) -
The nurse explained that the breathing machine would help him until his lungs recovered from the infection.
-
After the accident, he was hooked up to a breathing machine to assist his breathing in the hospital.
Synonyms
38
4.6
A machine that moves air into and out of a person's lungs when they cannot breathe alone
18
4.9
A machine that helps a person breathe by moving air into and out of their lungs
3
4.4
A device that helps a person breathe when the air is unsafe or not available
1
3.9
A machine that helps a person take air into their lungs when they cannot do it themselves
1
8.2
A device that helps a person breathe when they are not breathing
1
8.2
A machine that helps someone breathe by giving air or oxygen
How Supportive
4
3.4
15
3.4
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a machine that helps a person to breathe' is directly and transparently derived from combining 'breathing' (the process of inhaling and exhaling) with 'machine' (a device). This straightforward noun+noun composition follows common compounding patterns and is likely understandable to a B1 learner who knows both constituent words.
Etymology
The phrase breathing machine comes from the simple image of a machine doing the work of breathing for someone; early pumps or large metal tanks moved air in and out of the body, so the machine was literally 'breathing' for the patient. That's why today it means 'a machine that helps a person to breathe'.