breeze

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a slight wind (usually refreshing)

   the breeze was cooled by the lake

2. 2
   verb

   to proceed quickly and easily

   They breezed through the obstacle course and finished in a mere two minutes.

3. 3
   verb

   to blow gently and lightly

   It breezes most evenings at the shore.

4. 4
   noun

   A light, gentle wind.

   The breeze rustled the papers on her desk.

5. 5
   noun

   Any activity that is easy, not testing or difficult.

   After studying Latin, Spanish was a breeze.

6. 6
   noun

   An excited or ruffled state of feeling; a flurry of excitement; a disturbance; a quarrel.

   The discovery produced a breeze.

7. 7
   verb

   To move casually, in a carefree manner.

   Resting most of their first-choice players for Sunday's vital Euro 2024 qualifier against Croatia, Wales started with four debutants and breezed into an early lead thanks to headers by captain Ben Davies and Kieffer Moore.

8. 8
   verb

   To blow gently.

   She's sitting opposite a window that's gently breezing into her face, wafting her hair into cover-girl perfection ...

Etymology

From Middle English brese, from Old English brēosa, variant of Old English brimsa (“gadfly”), from Proto-Germanic *bremusī (“gadfly”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰerem- (“to make a noise, buzz, hum”). Cognate with Dutch brems (“horsefly, warblefly”), German Bremse (“gadfly, horsefly”), Danish bremse (“gadfly, horsefly”), Swedish broms (“gadfly, horsefly”). Related also to Middle English brimse (“gadfly”), French brize (“gadfly”), Old English bremman (“to rage, roar”), Latin fremō (“roar, snort, growl, grumble”). See also bream.