RESPIRATION
respiration, internal respiration, cellular respiration
(noun) the metabolic processes whereby certain organisms obtain energy from organic molecules; processes that take place in the cells and tissues during which energy is released and carbon dioxide is produced and absorbed by the blood to be transported to the lungs
breathing, external respiration, respiration, ventilation
(noun) the bodily process of inhalation and exhalation; the process of taking in oxygen from inhaled air and releasing carbon dioxide by exhalation
respiration
(noun) a single complete act of breathing in and out; “thirty respirations per minute”
Source: WordNet® 3.1
Etymology
Noun
respiration (countable and uncountable, plural respirations)
The process of inhaling and exhaling; breathing, breath.
An act of breathing; a breath.
Any similar process in an organism that lacks lungs that exchanges gases with its environment.
The process by which cells obtain chemical energy by the consumption of oxygen and the release of carbon dioxide.
Source: Wiktionary
Res`pi*ra"tion (rs`p*r"shn), n. Etym: [L. respiratio: cf. F.
respiration. See Respire.]
1. The act of respiring or breathing again, or catching one's breath.
2. Relief from toil or suffering: rest. [Obs.]
Till the day Appear of respiration to the just And vengeance to the
wicked. Milton.
3. Interval; intermission. [Obs.] Bp. Hall.
4. (Physiol.)
Definition: The act of resping or breathing; the act of taking in and
giving out air; the aggregate of those processes bu which oxygen is
introduced into the system, and carbon dioxide, or carbonic acid,
removed.
Note: Respiration in the higher animals is divided into: (a) Internal
respiration, or the interchange of oxygen and carbonic acid between
the cells of the body and the bathing them, which in one sense is a
process of nutrition. (b) External respiration, or the gaseous
interchange taking place in the special respiratory organs, the
lungs. This constitutes respiration proper. Gamgee. In the
respiration of plants oxygen is likewise absorbed and carbonic acid
exhaled, but in the light this process is obscured by another process
which goes on with more vigor, in which the plant inhales and absorbs
carbonic acid and exhales free oxygen.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition