To wheeze means to breathe with a whistling or rattling sound, usually because something is blocking or narrowing your airways. You might wheeze after running really hard on a cold day, when your chest feels tight and each breath makes a high-pitched sound. People with asthma often wheeze during an asthma attack because their airways become inflamed and narrow.

The sound happens when air squeezes through passages that have become too small, like trying to blow through a straw that's been partially pinched shut. A cold or chest infection can also make you wheeze, and sometimes allergies trigger wheezing by irritating your lungs.

When we say an old car or machine wheezes, we're comparing its struggling, whistling sounds to difficult breathing. An ancient bus wheezing up a hill sounds like it's working way too hard, barely making it.

The word can also describe laughing so hard you can barely breathe. When something is hilariously funny, you might laugh until you wheeze, gasping for air between giggles. If your joke makes your friend wheeze with laughter, you've really cracked them up.