wheeze

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   To breathe with difficulty, making a whistling or rasping sound.

   The old dog began to wheeze after climbing the stairs.

2. 2
   noun

   A whistling or rasping sound made when breathing with difficulty.

   The doctor heard a faint wheeze in the patient's chest.

3. 3
   noun

   A clever or amusing scheme or trick (British, informal).

   Selling lemonade to the queue was a clever little wheeze.

From Middle English whesen, perhaps from Old Norse hvæsa (“to hiss”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱwes- (“to pant”).

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