If the breathing is stopped completely without restarting, the patient dies. Because COPD patients have compromised breathing already, ... very inefficient breathing, overly high doses of morphine can quickly cause these patients to stop breathing.
etymology. 1. The study of the origins and development of words. 2. The study of the history of words, tracing them back to their earliest recorded forms.
Princeton's WordNet (0.00 / 0 votes) Rate this definition: derivation (noun) the source or origin from which something derives (i.e. comes or issues) he prefers shoes of Italian derivation; music of Turkish derivation deriving, derivation, etymologizing (noun) (historical linguistics) an explanation of the historical origins of a word or phrase