get some air

• take some air

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get some air (third-person singular simple present gets some air, present participle getting some air, simple past got some air, past participle (UK) got some air or (US) gotten some air)

1. (idiomatic) To invigorate oneself by breathing refreshing outdoor air, especially after departing from a building or other enclosed space for this purpose.
   • 1870, Charles Dickens, chapter 20, in The Mystery of Edwin Drood:

     [I]t was enough to send her rattling away again in a cab, through deserts of gritty streets, where many people crowded at the corner of courts and byways to get some air.

   • 1891, Henry James, chapter 1, in The Patagonia:

     [H]e took occasion to remark that it was lovely on the balcony: one really got some air, the breeze being from that quarter.

   • 1907, F. Marion Crawford, chapter 6, in The Diva's Ruby:

     "Ah, I see! You went for a little walk to get some air!"

   • 1918, Booth Tarkington, chapter 30, in The Magnificent Ambersons:

     "You'd better begin to get some air and exercise and quit hanging about in the house all day."

   • 1995 September 26, Nick Coleman, “Ropin' and a-rhymin'”, in The Independent, UK, retrieved 23 March 2014:

     "We got out of the van to get some air on the Gower peninsula."

   • 2007 May 17, Steven Erlanger, Jon Elsen, “Israeli air strikes target Hamas in Gaza”, in New York Times, retrieved 23 March 2014:

     Gaza City had become generally calmer on Thursday after a cease-fire between Fatah and Hamas, and residents had emerged into the streets to buy food and get some air.

• catch one's breath
• clear one's head
• take a breather