short of breath

English

Adjective

short of breath (not comparable)

1. Short-winded; panting; breathless; in a state of breathlessness.
   • 1941 October, “Notes and News: A Highland Runaway”, in Railway Magazine, page 469:

     They were all doomed to be disappointed, however, for the errant engine decided at Stanley junction to spend the remainder of its crowded hour of freedom on the Aberdeen line, and finally came to rest, short of breath, in the dip between Ballathie and Cargill, near the bridge over the Tay.

   • 1973, “Time”, in The Dark Side of the Moon, performed by Pink Floyd:

     The sun is the same in a relative way / But you're older / Shorter of breath / And one day closer to death

Related terms

• shortness of breath

References

• “short of breath”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.