expire

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See also: expiré

English[edit]

Alternative forms[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Middle English expire, from Middle French expirer, from Latin exspīrō, exspīrāre, from ex- (“out”) + spīrō, spīrāre (“breathe, be alive”).

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA(key): /ɪkˈspaɪə(ɹ)/, /ɛkˈspaɪə(ɹ)/
  • Audio (US)(file)
  • Rhymes: -aɪə(ɹ)
  • Hyphenation: ex‧pire

Verb[edit]

expire (third-person singular simple present expires, present participle expiring, simple past and past participle expired)

  1. (intransitive) To die.
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:die
    The patient expired in hospital.
    • 1748, [Samuel Richardson], “Letter CXIII”, in Clarissa. Or, The History of a Young Lady: […], volume VII, London: […] S[amuel] Richardson;  […], →OCLC, page 415:
      And then, his head ſinking on his pillow, he expired; at about half an hour after ten.
    • 1764 December 24 (indicated as 1765), Onuphrio Muralto, translated by William Marshal [pseudonyms; Horace Walpole], chapter V, in The Castle of Otranto, […], London: […] Tho[mas] Lownds […], →OCLC, pages 190–191:
      Hippolita, ſcarce more alive than her daughter, was regardleſs of every thing but her: but when the tender Iſabella’s care would have likewiſe removed her, while the ſurgeons examined Matilda’s wound, ſhe cried, remove me! never! never! I lived but in her, and will expire with her.
    • 1833, R. J. Bertin, translated by Charles W. Chauncy, Treatise on the Diseases of the Heart, and Great Vessels, Philadelphia: Carey, Lea & Blnachard, page 185:
      Soon the patient had no longer sufficient strength to sit up; the trunk of the body was inclined to the right side, the head high and thrown backward, the mouth wide open: she seemed to stifle rather than respire: lastly, speech and respiration failed her; she uttered, however, in a feeble voice, some incoherent words, said she felt she was dying, and, accordingly, expired the sixth day after entrance.
    • 1961 November 10, Joseph Heller, “The Soldier in White”, in Catch-22 […], New York, N.Y.: Simon and Schuster, →OCLC, page 168:
      People bled to death like gentlemen in an operating room or expired without comment in an oxygen tent.
  2. (intransitive) To lapse and become invalid.
    My library card will expire next week.
  3. (intransitive) To come to an end; to conclude.
  4. (transitive, intransitive) To exhale; to breathe out.
    Antonym: inspire
    • 1672, Gideon Harvey, Morbus Anglicus, Or, The Anatomy of Consumptions:
      Anatomy exhibits the lungs in a continual motion of inspiring and expiring air.
    • 1717, John Dryden, Meleager and Atalanta:
      This chafed the boar; his nostrils flames expire.
    • 1843, Loring Dudley Chapin, (Please provide the book title or journal name):
      Animals expire carbon and plants inspire it; plants expire oxygen and animals inspire it.
  5. (transitive) To give forth insensibly or gently, as a fluid or vapour; to emit in minute particles.
    • 1631, Francis [Bacon], “(please specify |century=I to X)”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], 3rd edition, London: […] William Rawley; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], →OCLC:
      the expiring of cold out of the inward parts of the earth in winter
  6. (transitive) To bring to a close; to terminate.

Derived terms[edit]

Related terms[edit]

Translations[edit]

die — see die
exhale — see exhale

Further reading[edit]

Anagrams[edit]

French[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Verb[edit]

expire

  1. inflection of expirer:
    1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
    2. second-person singular imperative

Anagrams[edit]

Portuguese[edit]

Verb[edit]

expire

  1. inflection of expirar:
    1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
    2. third-person singular imperative

Romanian[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Verb[edit]

expire

  1. third-person singular/plural present subjunctive of expira

Spanish[edit]

Verb[edit]

expire

  1. inflection of expirar:
    1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
    2. third-person singular imperative
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