out of breath
Preserved but no longer current.
Meaning · English
Panting from exertion; temporarily short of breath. Save your breath to cool your porridge.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Examples
Sorry I'm out of breath, I rushed to get here.Xin lỗi tôi thở hết hơi rồi, tôi vừa chạy đến đây.
Tatoeba sentence #13878075 (CC BY 2.0 FR, tatoeba.org, retrieved 2026-07-31)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “out of breath” mean?
Panting from exertion; temporarily short of breath. Save your breath to cool your porridge.
Is “out of breath” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.