Language: en
Meaning: (US,idiomatic)To take up space, causing any breeze to move on either side.1885, James Whitcomb Riley, “Fessler's Bees”, inGleanings in Bee Culture, volume13, page638:Nary bee 'atsplit the breeze/ Ever jabbed a sting in Old 'Bee' Fessler—jes' in fun, / Er in airnest—nary one!1923, George Washington Ogden, “Chapter 2”, inThe Baron of Diamond Tail:That any full-grown, man-shouldered male human being could be so poor in dignity as to appear in public and the light of day so trigged up, passed all bounds of credulity. But there he was, his little old fool cap pushed back like a three-year-old boy, his blunderbuss trousers flapping in the wind about his ankles, holding an argument with as much assurance as if he stood equal with any man that eversplit the breeze.1938,Proceedings of All Ohio Safety Congress - Volume 9, page305:Perhaps his name appears in the article, or under the photograph; his chest expands three inches, he gains in stature, his chinsplits the breeze; he and his gang have done something — right here it is in the paper, our paper, see ?1994, Michael S. Schneider,A Beginner's Guide to Constructing the Universe, page160:Anything thatsplits the breeze, from your finger to a tree or a building, will cause an invisible vortex street to spread behind it.2020, Cameron Dick,Head of the Hyena:The driver steered the hulking bus up and over the hills and past the rippling grasses,splitting the breezelike a bow divides the water.; (US,idiomatic)To move very quickly; tospeed.1917, W.C. Tuttle, “The Hen-Punchers of Piperock”, inAdventure, volume14, page64:I falls backward into the open door, Magpie ducks flat on the ground and crawls on his belly around the corner, and Dirtysplits the breezetoward town behind his bronc, which seems to have contracted the getaway fever, too.1921,Munsey's Magazine - Volume 74, page615:"Hop in, then" the other said, brightening, "while I look along the track for a caddy of keen-spitting they was to fling off the train for me. Then we'llsplit the breeze."1952, Tikhon Semushkin,Alitet Goes to the Hills, page496:Can't do it on the whale-boat. Must use the bidarka. I saw the way itsplits the breeze.1987, Lynn H. Scott,The Covered Wagon & Other Adventures, page21:They can run at a sixty-mile-an-hour speed and were reallysplitting the breezeas they crossed the little valley in front of Pa.2023, Joe Klein,Woody Guthrie: A Life:Well, Columbia's got lots of money, I don't mind taking it from them...I got $400 cash in advance and five percent royalties for the records...I just bought a new Plymouth and it reallysplits the breeze.; (US,idiomatic,of sound)Tocarry; topiercethe air.1951, Allison Danzig, Peter Brandwein,The Greatest Sport Stories from the New York Times:Enterprisewas acclaimed with a blast of whistles thatsplit the breeze.1959, Guy Loraine Bond,A Call to Adventure:Sometimes the scream of a cougarsplit the breeze.
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