Breathalysed

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Checked the amount of alcohol in someone's blood by having them blow into a breathalyser device
2. Measured for alcohol intoxication through a breath test using a portable testing instrument
3. Subjected to a breath test that estimates how much alcohol a person has consumed

Etymology: "Breathalysed" is the past tense and past participle of "breathalyse", so its story is really the story of the verb it comes from. That verb was formed by back-formation from "breathalyser", the name of the device that tests a person's breath for alcohol. In other words, the machine's name came first, and English speakers later treated the -er ending as if it were an agent suffix, then built a verb by removing it. Dropping "-er" to make a verb is a common pattern, as with "burgle" from "burglar." The verb is a fresh coinage rather than an old word. It arrived as the breath-testing device entered public use, and its spelling follows British usage, with the "-ise" ending, which is why the past form ends in "-ised." Its parts are plain: "breath" plus the suffix that appears in "analyser," the instrument that examines a substance, with the device name and verb formed from that base.

Synonyms: breathalyzed