Kept alive the bread round? (8)

I believe the answer is:

breathed

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'kept alive' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this definition defines the answer.

'the bread round?' is the wordplay.
'round?' indicates putting letters inside.
'the' placed into 'bread' is 'BREATHED'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for breathed that I've seen before include "Inhaled and exhaled" , "was whispering" .)

I've seen this clue in The Globe and Mail.

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