to freshen the air
- phrasal verb
:
refrescar el aire
- It keeps some of the scumbags off the street, washes some of the grime away, and noticeably freshens the air.
Examples
-
Opening the windows helped to freshen the air in the stuffy room.
-
"Seeing his face, she added at once, "To freshen the air."
Fiction book (1990) -
A wind had risen, freshening the air.
Fiction book (1990) -
The night freshens the air, and it feels good in your lungs.
Blog text (28) -
I use air purifiers to freshen the air and remove unpleasant odors.
-
Lighting scented candles can freshen the air and make the space feel inviting.
Synonyms
70
2.7
Make something or yourself smell and feel clean
26
3.8
To let fresh air into a room or clothes to remove bad smells
20
1.0
To put something in fresh air to dry
8
3.0
Open something so wind from outside moves through it to remove bad smells or moisture
Antonyms
How Fresh
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'to make the air in a space smell cleaner or more pleasant' is directly and transparently derived from combining 'freshen' (to restore freshness) with 'air' (the atmosphere in a space); the verb + noun composition is literal and follows standard English patterns. This is a common, compositional construction found across languages, so an average B1 learner who knows both constituents would readily infer the MWE's meaning.
Etymology
Freshen the air comes from the simple image of opening windows or bringing in plants so new, clean air moves into a room. The word freshen means to make something clean or new and air is what you breathe, so the phrase now means 'to make the air smell cleaner or more pleasant'.