not breathe a syllable

verb (used without object)

to take air, oxygen, etc., into the lungs and expel it; inhale and exhale; respire.

(in speech) to control the outgoing breath in producing voice and speech sounds.

to pause, as for breath; take rest: How about giving me a chance to breathe?

to move gently or blow lightly, as air.

to live; exist: Hardly a man breathes who has not known great sorrow.

to be redolent of.

(of a material) to allow air and moisture to pass through easily: The jacket is comfortable because the fabric breathes.

(of the skin) to absorb oxygen and give off perspiration.

(of a wine) to be exposed to air after being uncorked, in order to develop flavor and bouquet.

verb (used with object)

10.

to inhale and exhale in respiration.

11.

to exhale: Dragons breathe fire.

12.

to inject as if by breathing; infuse: She breathed life into the party.

13.

to give utterance to; whisper.

14.

to express; manifest.

15.

to allow to rest or recover breath: to breathe a horse.

16.

to deprive of breath; tire; exhaust.

17.

to cause to pant; exercise.

00:10

Not breathe a syllable is always a great word to know.

So is doohickey. Does it mean:

a gadget; dingus; thingumbob.

an arrangement of five objects, as trees, in a square or rectangle, one at each corner and one in the middle.

LEARN MORE UNUSUAL WORDS WITH WORD DYNAMO...

Idioms

18.

breathe down someone's neck,

to be close to someone in pursuit; menace; threaten: Police from four states were breathing down his neck.

to watch someone closely so as to supervise or control: If everyone keeps breathing down my neck, how can I get my work done?

19.

breathe freely, to have relief from anxiety, tension, or pressure: Now that the crisis was over, he could breathe freely. Also, breathe easily, breathe easy.

20.

breathe one's last, to die: He breathed his last and was buried in the churchyard.

21.

not breathe a word/syllable, to maintain secrecy; keep a matter confidential: I'll tell you if you promise not to breathe a word.

Origin:
1250–1300; Middle English brethen, derivative of breath

Related forms

out·breathe, verb (used with object), out·breathed, out·breath·ing.

pre·breathe, verb (used with object), pre·breathed, pre·breath·ing.

Can be confused: breadth, breath, breathe.

Synonyms
14. utter, tell, murmur, voice; reveal, divulge.

Link To not breathe a syllable

Collins

World English Dictionary

breathe (briːð)

—vb
1.	to take in oxygen from (the surrounding medium, esp air) and give out carbon dioxide; respire
2.	(intr) to exist; be alive: every animal that breathes on earth
3.	(intr) to rest to regain breath, composure, etc: stop your questions, and give me a chance to breathe
4.	(intr) (esp of air) to blow lightly: the wind breathed through the trees
5.	(intr) machinery
	a. to take in air, esp for combustion: the engine breathes through this air filter
	b. to equalize the pressure within a container, chamber, etc, with atmospheric pressure: the crankcase breathes through this duct
6.	(tr) phonetics Compare voice to articulate (a speech sound) without vibration of the vocal cords
7.	to exhale or emit: the dragon breathed fire
8.	(tr) to impart; instil: to breathe confidence into the actors
9.	(tr) to speak softly; whisper: to breathe words of love
10.	(tr) to permit to rest: to breathe a horse
11.	(intr) (of a material) to allow air to pass through so that perspiration can evaporate
12.	breathe again, breathe freely, breathe easily to feel relief: I could breathe again after passing the exam
13.	breathe down someone's neck to stay close to someone, esp to oversee what they are doing: the cops are breathing down my neck
14.	breathe one's last to die or be finished or defeated

[C13: from breath]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source

Etymonline

Word Origin & History

breathe

c.1300, not in O.E., but it retains the original O.E. vowel of its source word, breath. Related: Breathing.

Matching Quote

"Now you know very well that there are no less than fifty-eight different pieces in a violin. These pieces are strangers to each other, and it takes a century, more or less, to make them thoroughly acquainted. At last they learn to vibrate in harmony, and the instrument becomes an organic whole, as if it were a great seed-capsule which had grown from a garden-bed in Cremona, or elsewhere. Besides, the wood is juicy and full of sap for fifty years or so, but at the end of fifty or hundred years gets tolerably dry and comparatively resonant. Don't you see that all this is just as true of a poem? Counting each word as a piece, there are more pieces in an average copy of verses than in a violin. The poet has forced all these words together, and fastened them, and they don't understand it at first. But let the poem be repeated aloud and murmured over in the mind's muffled whisper often enough, and at length the parts become knit together in such absolute solidarity that you could not change a syllable without the whole world's crying out against you for meddling with the harmonious fabric. Observe, too, how the drying process takes place in the stuff of a poem just as in that of a violin."

-Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

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