breeze

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noun

1. A gentle wind: zephyr. See breath/breathlessness.
2. A natural movement or current of air: air, blast, blow, gust, wind, zephyr. Archaic gale. See breath/breathlessness.
3. An easily accomplished task: child's play, cinch, pushover, snap, walkaway, walkover. Slang duck soup. See easy/hard.

verb

To move swiftly and effortlessly: zip. Slang waltz. See easy/hard.

In addition to the idiom beginning with breeze, also see hands down (in a breeze); shoot the breeze.

Origin: 1626

We have to drift perhaps a little off course to find wind for our sails in 1626. It is in a book published by Captain John Smith, who had spent the past twenty years writing about North America. Thus we can hope for some sort of American connection to his book of terms used by sailors, An Accidence for Young Sea-men: Or, Their Path-way to Experience. For the winds, he lists, in order of severity, "A calme, a brese, a fresh gaile, a pleasant gayle, a stiffe gayle, it overblowes, a gust, a storme, a spoute, a loume gaile, an eddy wind, a flake of wind, a Turnado, a monthsoune [monsoon], a Herycano [hurricane]."

This apparently is the first use of breeze (an older word, from the Spanish briza) to refer to a gentle wind. The next year, in his Sea Grammar, Smith explains: "When there is not a breath of wind stirring, it is a calme or a starke calme. A Breze is a wind blowes out of the Sea, and commonly in faire weather beginneth about nine in the morning, and lasteth till neere night."

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IN BRIEF: A light gentle wind. Something very easy to do.

The breeze gently moved the tree leaves.

Tutor's tip: "Bries" are Brie cheeses; "brees" are stocks, broths, or gravies; a "breeze" is a gentle wind.

LearnThatWord.com is a free vocabulary and spelling program where you only pay for results!

noun
noun, orig US

1: to hit, split, or take the breeze to leave. (1910 —) .
D. Runyon And with this she takes the breeze and I return to the other room (1931).

2: to get, have, or put the breeze up to get or put the wind up (see wind noun). (1925 —) .
D. Ballantyne She was only making out she hadn't seen you so's you wouldn't get the breeze up (1948).

3: Something easy to achieve, handle, etc.; a 'cinch'. (1928 —) .
S. Carpenter All in all, the test was a breeze (1962). See also to shoot the breeze at shoot verb.

Previous:	breaker, break, breadhead
Next:	breezer, brewer's droop, brewer's goitre

For a list of words related to breeze, see:

• Winds - breeze: relatively gentle wind of 4-31 mph; any light wind
• Windy weather
• General Sports Terminology

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See words rhyming with "breeze."

  See crossword solutions for the clue Breeze.

Dansk (Danish)
1.
n. - brise
v. intr. - komme farende

idioms:

• a breeze    en brise
• breeze through    komme farende igennem

2.
n. - slagger, hulaffald

idioms:

• breeze block    slaggebetonplade

Nederlands (Dutch)
bries, makkelijk klusje, ruzie, resten van cokes- of houtskoolbereiding, zachtjes waaien

Français (French)
1.
n. - brise, (US) qch de facile
v. intr. - entrer/sortir d'un air dégagé, entrer/sortir en coup de vent

idioms:

• a breeze    (US) (être) facile comme tout, simple comme bonjour
• breeze through    (US, fig) faire (qch) les doigts dans le nez

2.
n. - cendres (de charbon)

idioms:

• breeze block    parpaing

Deutsch (German)
1.
n. - Brise, leichter Wind
v. - sich zwanglos bewegen, dahinrollen, dahinschlendern

idioms:

• a breeze    (ugs.) ein Einfaches
• breeze through    mit Leichtigkeit erledigen

2.
n. - (tech.) Kohlenklein, Schlacke

idioms:

• breeze block    Leichtstein

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - αεράκι, αύρα
v. - μπαίνω αεράτος

idioms:

• a breeze    εύκολο έργο, παιχνιδάκι
• breeze block    μπρικέτα
• breeze through    (καθομ.) δεν συναντώ καμιά δυσκολία με

Italiano (Italian)
brezza, venticello

idioms:

• a breeze (easy to achieve)    con facilità
• breeze block    blocco di calcestruzzo di scorie
• breeze through    passare velocemente

Português (Portuguese)
n. - brisa (f)
v. - mover-se facilmente, ventar moderadamente

idioms:

• a breeze    muito fácil
• breeze block    pedra (f) leve
• breeze through    passar com facilidade

Русский (Russian)
ветерок, бриз

idioms:

• a breeze    пара пустяков
• breeze block    шлакоблок
• breeze through    пройти без затруднений

Español (Spanish)
1.
n. - brisa
v. intr. - soplar la brisa

idioms:

• a breeze    cosa fácil
• breeze through    pasar (un examen) con facilidad, leer por encima

2.
n. - cisco de carbón de leña, cemento

idioms:

• breeze block    bloque de cemento

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - fläkt, vind, bris, bråk, enkel match
v. - susa, rusa

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
1. 微风, 和风, 吹着微风, 轻易地通过, 一阵风似地走, 越狱逃走

idioms:

• a breeze    简单
• breeze through    轻松地通过

2. 谣传, 传闻, 轻而易举的事, 骚动, 争吵

idioms:

• breeze block    煤渣砌块

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
1.
n. - 微風, 和風
v. intr. - 吹著微風, 輕易地通過, 一陣風似地走, 越獄逃走

idioms:

• a breeze    簡單
• breeze through    輕鬆地通過

2.
n. - 謠傳, 傳聞, 輕而易舉的事, 騷動, 爭吵

idioms:

• breeze block    煤渣砌塊

한국어 (Korean)
1.
n. - 산들바람, 풍파, 간단한 일
v. intr. - 산들 바람이 불다, 재빨리 행동하다

idioms:

• a breeze    매우 쉬운 일
• breeze through    대충 훑어보다

2.
n. - 타다 남은 재, 석탄 가루

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - そよ風, 微風, 楽にできること, 風, ごたごた, 容易なこと
v. - そよ風が吹く, さっと動く

idioms:

• a breeze    騒ぎ, ごたごた
• breeze block    シンダーブロック
• breeze through    さっと通過する, ざっと目を通す

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) نسمه هواء, نفخه ريح (فعل) مر مرورا عابرا‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮רוח קלה, בריזה, רוח הנושבת מהים ביום ומהיבשה בלילה, ריב, זבוב הבקר, שיחה קלה (מדוברת), מטלה קלה (מדוברת), התרגזות‬
v. intr. - ‮חלף, נע, עבר, התהלך בלב קל (מדוברת)‬
n. - ‮פסולת פחמים‬

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