wheeze

Meanings

Plural: wheezes

Noun

• breathing with a husky or whistling sound
• (Briticism) a clever or amusing scheme or trick
  • "a clever wheeze probably succeeded in neutralizing the German espionage threat"
• A piping or whistling sound caused by difficult respiration.
• An ordinary whisper exaggerated so as to produce the hoarse sound known as the "stage whisper"; a forcible whisper with some admixture of tone.
• An ulterior scheme or plan.
• Something very humorous or laughable.
• A sound that resembles a human wheezing.

Verb

• breathe with difficulty
• To breathe hard, and with an audible piping or whistling sound, as persons affected with asthma.
• To convulse with laughter; to become breathless due to intense laughing.
• To make a sound that resembles the sound of human wheezing.

Synonyms

joke