Respiration - Definitions from Dictionary.com

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Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

res·pi·ra·tion

Audio Help [res-puh-rey-shuh

n] Pronunciation Key

–noun

1.	the act of respiring; inhalation and exhalation of air; breathing.

Biology.

a.	the sum total of the physical and chemical processes in an organism by which oxygen is conveyed to tissues and cells, and the oxidation products, carbon dioxide and water, are given off.

b.	an analogous chemical process, as in muscle cells or in anaerobic bacteria, occurring in the absence of oxygen.

[Origin: 1400–50; late ME respiracioun < L respīrātiōn- (s. of respīrātiō) a breathing out, equiv. to respīrāt(us) (ptp. of respīrāre to respire) + -iōn- -ion

]

—Related forms

res·pi·ra·tion·al, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Respiration

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

res·pi·ra·tion Audio Help (rěs'pə-rā'shən) Pronunciation Key
n.

1. The act or process of inhaling and exhaling; breathing. Also called ventilation.
2. The act or process by which an organism without lungs, such as a fish or plant, exchanges gases with its environment.
3. The oxidative process occurring within living cells by which the chemical energy of organic molecules is released in a series of metabolic steps involving the consumption of oxygen and the liberation of carbon dioxide and water.
4. Any of various analogous metabolic processes by which certain organisms, such as fungi and anaerobic bacteria, obtain energy from organic molecules.
1. The oxidative process occurring within living cells by which the chemical energy of organic molecules is released in a series of metabolic steps involving the consumption of oxygen and the liberation of carbon dioxide and water.
2. Any of various analogous metabolic processes by which certain organisms, such as fungi and anaerobic bacteria, obtain energy from organic molecules.

res'pi·ra'tion·al adj.

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

respiration
noun
1.	the metabolic processes whereby certain organisms obtain energy from organic molecules; processes that take place in the cells and tissues during which energy is released and carbon dioxide is produced and absorbed by the blood to be transported to the lungs
2.	a single complete act of breathing in and out; "thirty respirations per minute"
3.	the bodily process of inhalation and exhalation; the process of taking in oxygen from inhaled air and releasing carbon dioxide by exhalation [syn: breathing]

Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
respiration [respəˈreiʃən] noun

breathing

Arabic:	تَنَفُّس
Chinese (Simplified):	呼吸
Chinese (Traditional):	呼吸
Czech:	dech
Danish:	ånding
Dutch:	ademhaling
Estonian:	hingamine
Finnish:	hengitys
French:	respiration
German:	das Atmen
Greek:	αναπνοή
Hungarian:	lélegzés
Icelandic:	öndun
Indonesian:	pernapasan
Italian:	respirazione

Japanese:	呼吸
Korean:	호흡
Latvian:	elpošana
Lithuanian:	kvėpavimas
Norwegian:	pust, åndedrett
Polish:	oddychanie
Portuguese (Brazil):	respiração
Portuguese (Portugal):	respiração
Romanian:	respiraţie
Russian:	дыхание
Slovak:	dych
Slovenian:	dihanje
Spanish:	respiración
Swedish:	andning
Turkish:	solunum

See also: respirator, respiratory, respire

The American Heritage Science Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

respiration Audio Help (rěs'pə-rā'shən) Pronunciation Key

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The process by which organisms exchange gases, especially oxygen and carbon dioxide, with the environment. In air-breathing vertebrates, respiration takes place in the lungs. In fish and many invertebrates, respiration takes place through the gills. Respiration in green plants occurs during photosynthesis.
See cellular respiration.

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2002 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

American Heritage New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition - Cite This Source - Share This
respiration

The conversion of oxygen by living things into the energy by which they continue life. Respiration is part of metabolism.

Note: Carbon dioxide is a waste product of respiration.

[Chapter:] Life Sciences

The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

American Heritage Stedman's Medical Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

respiration res·pi·ra·tion (rěs'pə-rā'shən)
n.
Abbr. R

The act or process of inhaling and exhaling; breathing. Also called ventilation.
The act or process by which an organism without lungs, such as a fish or plant, exchanges gases with its environment.
The oxidative process occurring within living cells by which the chemical energy of organic molecules is released in a series of metabolic steps involving the consumption of oxygen and the liberation of carbon dioxide and water.
Any of various analogous metabolic processes by which organisms, such as fungi, obtain energy from organic molecules.

Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
Main Entry: res·pi·ra·tion
Pronunciation: "res-p&-'rA-sh&n
Function: noun
1 a : the placing of air or dissolved gases inintimate contact with the circulating medium (as blood) of a multicellular organism (as by breathing) b : a single complete act of breathing <30 respirations perminute>
2 : the physical and chemical processes by which an organism supplies its cells and tissues with the oxygen needed for metabolism and relieves them of the carbon dioxideformed in energy-producing reactions
3 : any of various energy-yielding oxidative reactions in living matter that typically involve transfer of oxygen and production of carbondioxide and water as end products respiration>

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Respiration

Lung\, n. [OE. lunge, AS. lunge, pl. lungen; akin to D. long, G. lunge, Icel. & Sw. lunga, Dan. lunge, all prob. from the root of E. light. ? See Light not heavy.] (Anat.) An organ for a["e]rial respiration; -- commonly in the plural.

My lungs began to crow like chanticleer. --Shak.

Note: In all air-breathing vertebrates the lungs are developed from the ventral wall of the esophagus as a pouch which divides into two sacs. In amphibians and many reptiles the lungs retain very nearly this primitive saclike character, but in the higher forms the connection with the esophagus becomes elongated into the windpipe and the inner walls of the sacs become more and more divided, until, in the mammals, the air spaces become minutely divided into tubes ending in small air cells, in the walls of which the blood circulates in a fine network of capillaries. In mammals the lungs are more or less divided into lobes, and each lung occupies a separate cavity in the thorax. See Respiration.

Lung fever (Med.), pneumonia.

Lung flower (Bot.), a species of gentian (G. Pneumonanthe).

Lung lichen (Bot.), tree lungwort. See under Lungwort.

Lung sac (Zo["o]l.), one of the breathing organs of spiders and snails.

On-line Medical Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

respiration

respiration: in CancerWEB's On-line Medical Dictionary

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