1560s, "north or northeast wind," from Old Spanish briza "cold northeast wind;" in West Indies and Spanish Main, the sense shifting to "northeast trade wind," then "fresh wind from the sea." English sense of "gentle or light wind" is from 1620s. An alternative possibility is that the English word is from East Frisian brisen "to blow fresh and strong." The slang for "something easy" is American English, c.1928.
"move briskly," 1904, from breeze (n.). Related: Breezed; breezing.
To chat; converse, esp easily and idly; rap, shoot the breeze: a couple of cops batting the breeze (WWII armed forces)
air current designation on the Beaufort scale; it is weaker than a wind, which in turn is weaker than a gale. Breeze also denotes various local winds (e.g., sea breeze, land breeze, valley breeze, mountain breeze) generated by unequal diurnal heating and cooling of adjacent areas of the Earth's surface. These breezes are strongest in warm, clear, dry weather, when daytime insolation, or solar radiation, is most intense. They may be reinforced or prevented by winds of passing pressure systems