wheeze

[hweez, weez] verb, wheezed, wheez·ing, noun
verb (used without object)
1.
to breathe with difficulty and with a whistling sound: Asthma caused him to wheeze.
2.
to make a sound resembling difficult breathing: The old locomotive wheezed into the station.
noun
3.
a wheezing breath or sound.
4.
an old and frequently used joke, saying, story, etc.

Origin:
1425–75; late Middle English whese (v.), probably < Old Norse hvæsa to hiss

wheez·er, noun
wheez·ing·ly, adverb
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Wheeze is one of our favorite verbs.
So is skedaddle. Does it mean:
to run away hurriedly; flee.
chat, to converse
Collins
World English Dictionary
wheeze (wiːz) [Click for IPA pronunciation guide]
 
vb
1.  to breathe or utter (something) with a rasping or whistling sound
2.  (intr) to make or move with a noise suggestive of wheezy breathing
 
n
3.  a husky, rasping, or whistling sound or breathing
4.  slang (Brit) a trick, idea, or plan (esp in the phrase good wheeze)
5.  informal a hackneyed joke or anecdote
 
[C15: probably from Old Norse hvǣsa to hiss]
 
'wheezer
 
n
 
'wheezy
 
adj
 
'wheezily
 
adv
 
'wheeziness
 
n

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

wheeze
c.1460, probably from a Scand. source (cf. O.N. hvoesa "to hiss," Dan. hvæse) cognate with O.E. hwæst "act of blowing," hwosan "to cough," from an imitative base. The noun is first recorded 1834.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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American Heritage
Medical Dictionary

wheeze (wēz)
v. wheezed, wheez·ing, wheez·es
To breathe with difficulty, producing a hoarse whistling sound. n.
A wheezing sound.

The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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Example sentences
The wheeze, however, seems to have been too clever by half.
Down the hall, her father was coughing, a wheeze without any charm to it.
In many ways this money-laundering would be a clever wheeze.
Raucous voices blare at us in taxis, and even our apartments are filled with
  the asthmatic wheeze of the air-conditioner.
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