Now chiefly poet. [ad. L. suspīrāre (whence OF. sospirer, mod.F. soupirer, Pr. sospirar, It. -are, Sp., Pg. suspirar), f. su- SUB- 25 + spīrāre to breathe.]
1. intr. To sigh; rare in lit. sense; chiefly fig. to sigh or long for, yearn after.
c. 1450. trans. De Imitatione, III. xxxvii. 107. To be prouoked to hyer þinges, &… to suspire þerto by desire.
1532. More, Confut. Tindale, Wks. 532/2. Suspyring and sighing after the sight of god.
a. 1542. Wyatt, Poet. Wks., ‘Absens absenting,’ vi. To rejoise my wofull herte With sighis suspiring most rufullie.
1610. Hellish Councell practised by Jesuites, 18. Thy happinesse giues vs leaue to respire, thy absence iustly compels vs to suspire, and the place where we make no doubt thou art, makes vs thither to aspire.
1671. Woodhead, St. Teresa, I. Pref. 12. Prayer … consists more in sighing and suspiring after that object, that it is already convinced most to deserve its love.
1855. Browning, Serenade at Villa, 12. Earth turned in her sleep with pain, Sultrily suspired for proof.
1887. ‘Q,’ Dead Man’s Rock, 294. Every note breathing pathos or suspiring in tremulous anguish.
2. trans. To utter with a sigh, to sigh forth. Also, to breathe out.
1549. Compl. Scot., vii. 70. Sche began to suspire lamentabil regrettis.
1865. J. Thomson, Art, III. ii. Did he ever suspire a tender lay.
1868. Browning, Ring & Bk., X. 997. A bolt from heaven … suspiring flame.
1904. Blackw. Mag., Nov., 677. How lustily the bellows did suspire Breath for the flames!
3. intr. To breathe.
1595. Shaks., John, II. iv. 80. Since the birth of Caine, the first male-childe To him that did but yesterday suspire. Ibid. (1597), 2 Hen. IV., IV. v. 33. Did hee suspire, that light and weightlesse dowlne Perforce must moue.
1856. Mrs. Browning, Aur. Leigh, VII. 1061. Fire-flies, that suspire In short soft lapses of transported flame.
1866. Swinburne, Poems & Ball., Hermaphroditus, 10. Their breath is fire upon the amorous air, Fire in thine eyes and where thy lips suspire.
Hence † Suspired ppl. a., longed for; † Suspiring vbl. sb., sighing, a sigh.
1549. Compl. Scot., i. 23. The lamentabil suspiring that procedit fra my dolorus hart.
a. 1639. Wotton, Medit. Christmas Day, in Reliq. (1651), 351. The long Suspired Redeemer of the World.
1671. Woodhead, St. Teresa, I. Pref. 9. Prayer … by interior frequent suspirings and ejaculations interposed.
