Meaning
To take a short pause or hiatus (from something).
Examples
You can go ahead on the hike if you want, I’m going to stop here and take a breather.
The senator is taking a breather from his campaign to spend some time with his family.
But he is having to take a breather from roaring around the grounds.
City players rarely take a breather between moving from one organisation to the next.
If you take a breather you are finished.
It might be time to take a breather and listen to their concerns.
It provided an opportunity for a prop to take a breather.
Take a breather from the bustling market with a wine-fueled lunch at Amaya.
He’d been working hard and felt he needed (to take) a breather.
Let’s take a breather before we finish loading the truck.
Perhaps they will get a little breather now, and they will need it.
The crankcase breather is a compulsory requirement for all vehicles.
After such rapid expansion the economy is due for a breather for a year or two.
People with social fund repayments to make could have those repayments stopped to allow them a breather to try to sort themselves out.
The fire was caused by a breather membrane that was used between the aluminium steel plates encompassing the building.
I have wondered when we were going to stop for a breather and have an argument.
That will provide them with a necessary and crucial breather for their survival if there is conflict.
The whole agricultural industry is taking a breather at the present time.
It needs a breather and space to recoup, to recover and to regain its profitability.
I shall give way just to give myself a breather.
The fact is that we want a breather from legislation so that we can get on with the things that are really important in the country.
He was concerned that cash may be used by universities simply as a breather to put off the inevitable.
Take your skis off and have a breather.
Regroup and take a breather at midday.
He was not digging at all now but taking a breather, evidently.
When the last Demon’s dead, take a breather before the celebrations start.
Main picture: The female takes a breather.
Gilts, after four days of rising quotations, softened an eighth as the pound took a breather.
A party of skylarks were taking a breather from their incessant high-rise singing to indulge in an early-morning splashing.
Why don’t we stop and take a breather before we continue?
Origin of Take a Breather
It originated in the early 1900s. In the 1800s, it had another meaning, a bout of exercise to encourage faster breathing. However, this meaning is no longer common.