What is "sneeze"

Sneeze \Sneeze\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Sneezed; p. pr. & vb. n. Sneezing.] [OE. snesen; of uncertain origin; cf. D. snuse to sniff, E. neese, and AS. fne['o]san.] To emit air, chiefly through the nose, audibly and violently, by a kind of involuntary convulsive force, occasioned by irritation of the inner membrane of the nose.

Not to be sneezed at, not to be despised or contemned; not to be treated lightly. [Colloq.] ``He had to do with old women who were not to be sneezed at.''
--Prof. Wilson.

Sneeze \Sneeze\, n. A sudden and violent ejection of air with an audible sound, chiefly through the nose.

late 15c., from Old English fneosan "to snort, sneeze," from Proto-Germanic *fneusanan (compare: Middle Dutch fniesen, Dutch fniezen "to sneeze;" Old Norse fnysa "to snort;" Old Norse hnjosa, Swedish nysa "to sneeze;" Old High German niosan, German niesen "to sneeze"), from Proto-Germanic base *fneu-s- "sneeze," of imitative origin, as is PIE *pneu- "to breathe" (source of Greek pnein "to breathe").\n

\nOther imitative words for it, perhaps in various ways related to each other, include Latin sternuere (source of Italian starnutare, French éternuer, Spanish estornudar), Breton strevia, Sanskrit ksu-, Lithuanian čiaudeti, Polish kichać, Russian čichat'.\n

\nEnglish forms in sn- might be due to a misreading of the uncommon fn- (represented in only eight words in Clark Hall, mostly in words to do with breathing), or from Norse influence. OED suggests Middle English fnese had been reduced to simple nese by early 15c., and sneeze is a "strengthened form" of this, "assisted by its phonetic appropriateness." Related: Sneezed; sneezing. To sneeze at "to regard as of little value" (usually with negative) is attested from 1806.

"act of sneezing," 1640s, from sneeze (v.).

n. An act of sneezing. vb. 1 To expel air as a reflex induced by an irritation in the nose. 2 To expel air as if the nose were irritated.

n. a symptom consisting of the involuntary expulsion of air from the nose [syn: sneezing, sternutation]

v. exhale spasmodically, as when an irritant entered one's nose; "Pepper makes me sneeze"

Sneeze or 41 Songs In 47 Minutes (HAC50) as it is also known, is the first album by Australian band Sneeze. On the cover, tracks 1, 22-41 are marked as "bonus tracks" - the rest were initially released as a double 7 inch vinyl (Moo 08). Total running time of the album is 47 minutes, the track Demand is the shortest song at 18 seconds, Back Down the longest at 1:58.

Sneeze or The Sneeze can refer to:

• Sneeze, the bodily reflex also known as sternutation
• The Sneeze (blog)
• Sneeze (game), a video game inspired by the 2009 Swine Flu pandemic
• The Sneeze (play), a play by Michael Frayn from works by Anton Chekhov
• Sneeze (band), a music group from Sydney, Australia
• Fred Ott's Sneeze, an 1894 short black-and-white silent film

A sneeze, or sternutation, is a semi-autonomous, convulsive expulsion of air from the lungs through the nose and mouth, usually caused by foreign particles irritating the nasal mucosa. A sneeze expels air forcibly from the mouth and nose in an explosive, spasmodic involuntary action resulting chiefly from irritation of the nasal mucous membrane. Sneezing is possibly linked to sudden exposure to bright light, sudden change (fall) in temperature, breeze of cold air, a particularly full stomach, or viral infection, and can lead to the spread of disease.

The function of sneezing is to expel mucus containing foreign particles or irritants and cleanse the nasal cavity. During a sneeze, the soft palate and palatine uvula depress while the back of the tongue elevates to partially close the passage to the mouth so that air ejected from the lungs may be expelled through the nose. Because the closing of the mouth is partial, a considerable amount of this air is usually also expelled from the mouth. The force and extent of the expulsion of the air through the nose varies.

Sneezing cannot occur during sleep due to REM atonia - a bodily state wherein motor neurons are not stimulated and reflex signals are not relayed to the brain. Sufficient external stimulants, however, may cause a person to wake from their sleep for the purpose of sneezing, although any sneezing occurring afterwards would take place with a partially awake status at minimum.

Sneeze were a thrash pop music group formed in 1993 by founding mainstays Nic Dalton (who ran the band's record label, Half a Cow) on lead vocals, bass guitar, guitar, keyboards, harmonica and percussion and Tom Morgan (from Smudge) on vocals and lead guitar. They have had many other members including drummers Lara Meyerratken (aka Lara Larson), Russell Hopkinson (from You Am I), Simon Gibson (from Half Miler), Evan Dando (from the Lemonheads) and Andy Calvert (from Wifey). Bill Gibson (from the Eastern Dark) on bass guitar and Cameron Bruce (from the Fantastic Leslie) on keyboards have played shows with the band and a later keyboardist was Leticia Nischang (from Bambino Koresh). Sneeze saw their floating line-up as one of their strengths. Their last live show was in November 2006.

A reunion show, The Return of Sneeze, was played at the Bald Faced Stag, Leichhardt, in June 2009 with Adelaide indie pop band, We Grow Up, as support. Sneeze's recordings use a range of guest artists including other members of the Lemonheads (who were the first band to record a song for the first Sneeze album), Robyn St. Clare, Alannah Russack and Simon Holmes (of The Hummingbirds), Bernie Hayes, John Encarnacao (from Warmer), Simon Day (from Ratcat, Swirl, the Plunderers) and Jess Ciampa. Gibson and Holmes were both members of Her Name in Lights, which issued their debut album, Into the Light Again, in October 2004.

Sneeze is an internet video game first released in 2009 and inspired by the 2009 swine flu outbreak in which the object is to infect as many people as possible in a public place. The places include a train station, a supermarket, a nursery, and more. In all, there are 10 levels.

The game was commissioned by the Wellcome Trust.

The game works by allowing one sneeze at each level. At each level, the player's character is moved to a point of choice on the board in the setting. The player than "sneezes" and "germs" are spread in hopes of infecting as many other people as possible. Even if that sneeze does not infect everyone itself, there is a chance that others may be infected by those who were infected by the initial sneeze. If the player reaches the target (percentage of people who must be affected on that level), s/he is allowed to proceed to the next level.

Later in the year, the game was rebranded as "Stop Swine Flu."