Also 7 exsp-. [ad. L. ex(s)pīrātiōn-em, n. of action f. ex(s)pīrāre to EXPIRE.] The action of expiring.
1. The action of breathing out (air, etc.); emission (of air, wind, etc.); an instance of this. Const. of.
1642. Preparative for Fast, 4. This tends to the very expiration of the animall and vitall spirits.
1795. Morse, Amer. Geog., I. 613. Regular inspirations and expirations of air, by caverns and fissures.
1874. T. Hardy, Far fr. Madding Crowd, II. vi. 80. There came finally an utter expiration of air from the whole heaven in the form of a slow breeze.
fig. 1839. Bailey, Festus, xxix. (1848), 340. Prayer is … The expiration of the thing inspired.
† b. = RESPIRATION. Obs.
1638. Wilkins, New World, I. xiv. (1684), 180. The extream thinness of it [air] … may make it unfit for Expiration.
2. The action, or an act, of breathing out air from the lungs; also applied to a supposed analogous action in plants.
1603. Holland, Plutarch’s Mor., 840 (R.). It [the breast] transmitteth backe againe the superfluitie thereof into the lungs, whereby it [the wind] is sent forth by way of exspiration.
1624. Heywood, Gunaik., IV. 189. In her last expiration expressing the inuincible spirit of her son Alexander.
1793. T. Beddoes, Lett. to E. Darwin, 44. Having by a strong expiration expelled from his lungs as much atmospheric air as possible.
1807. J. E. Smith, Phys. Bot., 202. He is recorded as the discoverer of the expiration of plants.
1861. F. H. Ramadge, Curab. Consumption, 36. The impeded expiration … caused … the lower lobes of the lungs to be exceedingly enlarged.
† 3. The action of exhaling or evaporating; exhalation. Obs.
1626. Bacon, Sylva, § 866. The true cause of Cold, is an Expiration from the Globe of the Earth.
1642. J. Steer, trans. Fabricius’ Exp. Chyrurg., xvi. 66. They doe hinder the expiration of the venome.
c. 1645. Howell, Lett., IV. l. By the expiration of such Atomes, the dogg finds the sent as he hunts.
1755. in Johnson.
1847. in Craig.
† b. concr. That which is expired or exhaled; an exhalation, Obs.
1576. Newton, trans. Lemnie’s Complex. (1633), 13. The spirit is a certaine vapour … or expiration proceeding out of the humours.
1664. Power, Exp. Philos., III. 154. The Magnetical Exspirations of the Loadstone may … be seen in the form of a mist.
1667. Phil. Trans., II. 579. The moist steams and exspirations of the Heart.
1755. in Johnson.
† 4. The action of breathing one’s last; death, decease. Obs.
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 210. Yf [he] had taken his body to lyfe agayn, streyght after his expiracyon.
1607. Topsell, Four-f. Beasts (1658), 450. She lyeth down as though she were dead,… shutting her eyes, and shewing all other tokens of expiration.
1647. Clarendon, Hist. Reb., I. (1702), I. 41. The Lord Treasurer … had notice of the Clark’s expiration.
1779–81. Johnson, L. P., Pope, Wks. IV. 87. The attendants did not discern the exact time of his expiration.
1807. G. Chalmers, Caledonia, I. III. vii. 383. He died, by a quiet expiration, at his castle of Dunadeer.
1847. in Craig; and in mod. Dicts.
† b. transf. and fig. Of a flame, a sentiment, etc.: The fact or process of dying out; the state of being extinct. Obs.
1649. Jer. Taylor, Gt. Exemp., III. § 1. A very great cause of the dryness and expiration of men’s devotion.
1660. Boyle, New Exp. Phys.-Mech., xiii. 65. To satisfie our selves of its expiration, we had darken’d the Room, and in vain endeavored to discover any spark of Fire.
5. The fact of coming to an end; termination, end, close: a. of a period of time, or of something made to last a certain time, as a law, truce, etc.
1562. Act 5 Eliz., c. 15 § 1. Sithence the Expiration and Ending of the Statute.
1593. Shaks., Rich. II., II. iii. 111. Thou … art come Before th’expiration of thy time.
1647. Clarendon, Hist. Reb., VIII. (1843), I. 538/1. A fortnight after the expiration of the treaty at Uxbridge.
1664. Evelyn, Kal. Hort. (1729), 197. About the Expiration of this Month carry into the Shade … Auriculas’s.
1790. Paley, Horæ Paul., Rom. ii. 19. The shaving of the head denoted the expiration of the Nazaritic vow.
1841. Lane, Arab. Nts., I. 110. And thus she continued to do … until the expiration of the second year.
1862. Merivale, Rom. Emp. (1871), V. xlii. 148. The government of the Gaulish provinces … followed on the expiration of his functions in the city.
† b. of a race, the world. Obs.
1677. Plot, Oxfordsh., 181. After the expiration of which ancient Race, there came, ’tis ture, another Colony [of bees].
1684. T. Burnet, Th. Earth, II. 32. What hath appear’d … relating to the chronology of the world: giving … certain marks of its expiration.
