inhale

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   to draw in air

   I inhale normally when I sleep.

2. 2
   verb

   to draw deep into the lungs in by breathing

   Some claim to have smoked marijuana but never inhaled.

3. 3
   verb

   To draw air into the lungs, through the nose or mouth by action of the diaphragm.

   “Please. I’m starved.” Her gaze followed the man with the meatpies while she inhaled deeply, trying to hold onto the heavenly scent. […] “I find myself ravenous for meatpie.”

4. 4
   verb

   To draw air or any form of gas (either in a pure form, or mixed with small particles in the form of aerosols/smoke, sometimes stemming from a medicament) into the lungs, through the nose or mouth by action of the diaphragm.

   […] this room, where misfortune seems to ooze, where speculation lurks in corners, and of which Madame Vauquer inhales the warm, fetid air without being nauseated.

5. 5
   verb

   To eat very quickly.

   She had also forgotten both diet and protocol as she joined Sven in guzzling large cokes, practically inhaling fries and gravy, and rounding off the meal with double malts.

6. 6
   noun

   An inhalation.

   Now have client take slower, normal breaths through the nose and notice how the abdomen moves slightly outward with each inhale and then deflates with each exhale.

Etymology

From Latin inhalare (“to breathe on (breathe in)”), from in (“in, into, on”) + halare (“to breathe”).