Library / English Dictionary

EXPIRE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Expel air

Example:

Exhale when you lift the weight

Synonyms:

breathe out; exhale; expire

Classified under:

Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care

Hypernyms (to "expire" is one way to...):

breathe; respire; suspire; take a breath (draw air into, and expel out of, the lungs)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "expire"):

snort (make a snorting sound by exhaling hard)

blow (exhale hard)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

expiration (the act of expelling air from the lungs)

expiratory (of or relating to the breathing out phase of respiration)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Pass from physical life and lose all bodily attributes and functions necessary to sustain life

Example:

The old guy kicked the bucket at the age of 102

Synonyms:

buy the farm; cash in one's chips; choke; conk; croak; decease; die; drop dead; exit; expire; give-up the ghost; go; kick the bucket; pass; pass away; perish; pop off; snuff it

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "expire" is one way to...):

change state; turn (undergo a transformation or a change of position or action)

Verb group:

break; break down; conk out; die; fail; give out; give way; go; go bad (stop operating or functioning)

die (suffer or face the pain of death)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "expire"):

abort (cease development, die, and be aborted)

asphyxiate; stifle; suffocate (be asphyxiated; die from lack of oxygen)

buy it; pip out (be killed or die)

drown (die from being submerged in water, getting water into the lungs, and asphyxiating)

predecease (die before; die earlier than)

famish; starve (die of food deprivation)

fall (die, as in battle or in a hunt)

succumb; yield (be fatally overwhelmed)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Derivation:

expiration (euphemistic expressions for death)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Lose validity

Example:

My passports expired last month

Synonyms:

expire; run out

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Hypernyms (to "expire" is one way to...):

discontinue (come to or be at an end)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Derivation:

expiration (a coming to an end of a contract period)

Credits

 Context examples: 

I found my father expiring upon the ground, with his head terribly injured.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

A lamp could not have expired with more awful effect.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

It may be reasonably inferred that our baby will first expire of inanition, as being the frailest member of our circle; and that our twins will follow next in order. So be it!

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

The candle, wasted at last, went out; as it expired, I perceived streaks of grey light edging the window curtains: dawn was then approaching.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

At last, however, by touching a secret spring, an inner compartment will open—a roll of paper appears—you seize it—it contains many sheets of manuscript—you hasten with the precious treasure into your own chamber, but scarcely have you been able to decipher 'Oh! Thou—whomsoever thou mayst be, into whose hands these memoirs of the wretched Matilda may fall'—when your lamp suddenly expires in the socket, and leaves you in total darkness.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

For I am generally disinterested in my love, and think I could be content to make a figure before Miss Larkins, and expire.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

I waited till the last deep and full vibration had expired—till the tide of talk, checked an instant, had resumed its flow; I then quitted my sheltered corner and made my exit by the side-door, which was fortunately near.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

We shall not have to explore our way into a hall dimly lighted by the expiring embers of a wood fire—nor be obliged to spread our beds on the floor of a room without windows, doors, or furniture.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

My papa lived to bail Mr. Micawber several times, and then expired, regretted by a numerous circle.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

It is always the way of events in this life, he continued presently: no sooner have you got settled in a pleasant resting-place, than a voice calls out to you to rise and move on, for the hour of repose is expired.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)