What is "respiration"

Respiration \Res`pi*ra"tion\ (r?s`p?*r?"sh?n), n. [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.) 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:

   1. 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.

   2. External respiration, or the gaseous interchange taking place in the special respiratory organs, the lungs. This constitutes respiration proper.
      --Gamgee. [1913 Webster] 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.

late 14c., from Latin respirationem (nominative respiratio) "breathing, respiration," noun of action from past participle stem of respirare (see respire).

n. 1 The process of inhaling and exhaling; breathing, breath. 2 An act of breathing; a breath. 3 Any similar process in an organism that lacks lungs that exchanges gases with its environment. 4 The process by which cells obtain chemical energy by the consumption of oxygen and the release of carbon dioxide.

1. n. the metabolic processes whereby certain organisms obtain energy from organic moelcules; 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 [syn: internal respiration, cellular respiration]

2. a single complete act of breathing in and out; "thirty respirations per minute"

3. the bodily process of inhalation and exhalation; the process of taking in oxygen from inhaled air and releasing carbon dioxide by exhalation [syn: breathing, external respiration, ventilation]

Respiration may refer to:

In physiology, respiration is defined as the movement of oxygen from the outside air to the cells within tissues, and the transport of carbon dioxide in the opposite direction.

The physiological definition of respiration should not be confused with the biochemical definition of respiration, which refers to cellular respiration: the metabolic process by which an organism obtains energy by reacting oxygen with glucose to give water, carbon dioxide and 38 ATP (energy). Although physiologic respiration is necessary to sustain cellular respiration and thus life in animals, the processes are distinct: cellular respiration takes place in individual cells of the organism, while physiologic respiration concerns the bulk flow and transport of metabolites between the organism and the external environment.

Gaseous exchange (which in organisms with lungs is called ventilation and includes inhalation and exhalation) is a part of physiologic respiration. Thus, in precise usage, the words breathing and ventilation are hyponyms, not synonyms, of respiration; but this prescription is not consistently followed, even by most health care providers, because the term respiratory rate (RR) is a well-established term in health care, even though it would need to be consistently replaced with ventilation rate if the precise usage were to be followed.

"Respiration" is the second single from Black Star's eponymously titled 1998 album (see 1998 in music). It features guest rapping from Common and guitar playing by DeChown Jenkins. It also features a Hi-Tek produced beat that samples "The Fox" by Don Randi. In addition, the song's introduction samples a monologue from the hip hop documentary Style Wars. It is found on Best of Decade I: 1995-2005, a compilation of Rawkus Records' best songs. It can also be found on Howie B's compilation album Another Late Night: Howie B.

The lyrics of the album version of "Respiration" are a melancholy ode to city life. Whereas cities are often derided as inorganic, the song makes many references to features of organic life such as breathing, eating, and sleeping. However, most of these speak to a dark reality of life in the city. Mos Def compares the New York City to an apple, but not necessarily the benign "Big Apple" of myth: "the shiny apple is bruised but sweet/and if you choose to eat/you could lose your teeth." Talib Kweli talks about "breathing in deep city breaths/sitting on shitty steps/we stooped to new lows, hell froze/the night the city slept." In another line, Kweli gives life and flight to the aspirations of city dwellers, most of which go unrealized: "you look up in the sky for God/and what you see besides the smog/are broken dreams flying away on the wings of the obscene." In his verse, Common, who talks about Chicago, not New York City, remarks on how the city can represent the only environment many individuals will ever know: "I asked my man how he thought traveling the world sounds/Found it hard to imagine, he hadn't ever been past downtown."

Two remixes were made for "Respiration": 'Flying High Mix' contains production by Pete Rock and a verse by Black Thought of The Roots. Another remix found on the Hip Hop Classics Vol. 1 compilation album also features Pete Rock production, but has a guest verse by Common instead of Black Thought.