Forms: 5 whese, 6 whiese, wease, 6–8 whease, wheese, 6–9 wheaze, 8 wheez, 7– wheeze. [prob. a. ON. hvæsa to hiss (MSw., Sw. hväsa, Da. hvæse). (There is no connection with OE. hwósan, 3rd pers. pres. ind. hwést, pa. t. hwéos to cough, dial. HOOSE.)]
1. intr. To breathe hard with a whistling sound from dryness or obstruction in the throat, as in asthma.
c. 1460. Towneley Myst., xvi. 472. I lagh that I whese.
1538, etc. [see WHEEZING vbl. sb. and ppl. a.].
c. 1611. Chapman, Iliad, XV. 222. Not stretcht upon his bed, Nor wheasing with a stopt-up spirit.
1648. Winyard, Mids.-Moon, 6. Hee ’l shortly be a Baptist without a voice, and wheases already, as if he fed on nothing but Locusts and Grashoppers.
1679. Dryden, Troil. & Cress., I. i. Tickling his spleen, and laughing till he wheeze.
1684. Southerne, Disappointm., II. i. I must laugh at him; not sooth him in his vanity, nor tickle him, till he wheeze.
1697. R. Peirce, Bath Mem., II. ii. 278. She … wheesed, as they vulgarly term it here, when the Windpipe makes a Noise in Breathing.
1809. W. Irving, Knickerb., VII. ix. Wheezing as he went with corpulency and terror.
1869. Trollope, He knew, etc. li. (1878), 281. ‘I’m not a bit afraid to die,’ said the old woman, wheezing.
1875. Whyte-Melville, Katerfelto, xiv. He chatted, he chuckled, he coughed and wheezed, and told his stories.
b. transf. To make a similar sound.
1854. G. W. Curtis, Potiphar Papers, iv. (1866), 127. That elegant youth has pumped life dry, and now the pump only wheezes.
1895. S. Crane, Red Badge, v. Like a firework…. It wheezed and banged with a mighty power.
2. trans. To utter with a sound of wheezing.
1849. Lever, Con Cregan, xiv. ‘If you’ll look in that glass yonder, which is opposite the mirror, you’ll soon see!’ wheezed out the old man, maliciously.
1877. ‘Park Ludlow’ (Theron Brown), Wooden Spoon, vi. 121. A hand-organ grinder (probably hired by some rascally Sophomore) planted his instrument directly under the window, and began to wheeze forth the entrancing strains of ‘Old Dog Tray.’
1905. A. T. Sheppard, Red Cravat, III. x. 362. A barrack clock, wheezing out the hour.
1905. F. Young, Sands Pleas., II. vii. Listening to the strain of Dies Irae wheezed out on an old harmonium.
3. Comb., as wheeze-belly used attrib.
1728. Vanbr. & Cibber, Prov. Husb., I. i. We were in hopes to ha’ come Yesterday, an’ it had no’ been that th’ owld Wheaze-belly Horse tyr’d.
