hold one's breath
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English[edit]
Pronunciation[edit]
Audio (General Australian): (file)
Verb[edit]
hold one's breath (third-person singular simple present holds one's breath, present participle holding one's breath, simple past and past participle held one's breath)
- Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see hold, one's, breath. To keep air in one's lungs, pausing noticeably before exhaling after previously inhaling.
- (idiomatic, usually in a negative) To wait expectantly for something to happen soon.
- He might pay back the money he borrowed without you reminding him, but I wouldn't hold my breath.
- 2008, Linda Robinson, Tell Me How This Ends: General David Petraeus and the Search for a Way Out of Iraq[1], page 271:
- Petraeus hoped they would succeed, and lent his support, but he was not holding his breath.
- 2021 October 6, Christian Wolmar, “Both sides must work together to get London back on track”, in RAIL, number 941, page 35:
- It would be nice to think there are grown-ups in the Government ready to sort out the mess for the sake of London and its people... but I'm not holding my breath.
Derived terms[edit]
Related terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
to keep air in one's lungs, pausing noticeably before exhaling after previously inhaling
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to wait expectantly for something to happen soon
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Further reading[edit]
- “hold one's breath”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.