Breathalyzing

Part of speech: verb, noun

Definitions

1. Measuring the alcohol content in someone's breath with a portable device to estimate how intoxicated they are
2. Using a handheld instrument that analyzes exhaled air to determine the level of alcohol a person has consumed
3. Checking a driver's blood alcohol concentration by having them blow into a device that reads the amount of alcohol in their breath

Etymology: "Breathalyzing" is the present participle of "breathalyze," which is itself a back-formation from "breathalyzer." The machine came first: "breathalyzer" was a trademarked name for a device that estimated blood alcohol from a sample of breath, and English speakers later clipped the "-er" off the device's name and turned the remainder into a verb. Back-formation works this way: a word that looks like it ends in an agent suffix is reinterpreted as a base, so "burgle" came from "burglar" and "edit" from "editor" by the same route. The verb sense follows the device. To breathalyze someone is to make them take the test, and the "-ing" form inherits that meaning, so a driver can be described as being breathalyzed or a police checkpoint as breathalyzing motorists. The construction is a little awkward on purpose: the word names an act performed on a person, built from the name of an instrument.

Synonyms: testing, screening