From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishhave/take a breatherhave/take a breatherinformalPAUSE to stop what you are doing for a short time in order to rest, especially when you are exercising → breather
Examples from the Corpus
have/take a breather• Take your skis off and have a breather.• Regroup and take a breather at midday.• He was not digging at all now but taking a breather, evidently.• When the last Demon's dead, take a breather before the celebrations start.• Main picture: The female takes a breather.• Gilts, after four days of rising quotations, softened an eighth as the pound took a breather.• A party of skylarks were taking a breather from their incessant high-rise singing to indulge in an early-morning splashing. 