breech
Part of speech: noun
adv
adj
verb
Morphological type: simple
Topics: engineering
firearms
government
medicine
military
natural-sciences
nautical
obstetrics
physical-sciences
politics
sciences
tools
transport
war
weaponry
Etymology: From Middle English breche, from Old English brēċ, from Proto-Germanic *brōkiz pl, from Proto-Germanic *brōks (“clothing for loins and thighs”). Cognate with Dutch broek, Alemannic German Bruech, Swedish brok. Doublet of vraka.
Inflected forms:
form: breeches
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: breeches
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: breeching
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: breeched
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: breeched
pos: verb
tags: past
Senses:
gloss: A garment whose purpose is to cover or clothe the buttocks.
pos: noun
tags: attributive
countable
historical
in-plural
uncountable
examples: 'Lat be,' quod he, ‘it shal nat be, so theech!
Thou woldest make me kisse thyn old breech,
And swere it were a relik of a seint,
The stallion lipped Alanna’s breech pockets. “He’s spoiled rotten.” Fishing a lump of sugar out, she fed it to him.
The typical American combat soldier in World War I wore an olive-drab tunic, stiff at the neck, breech-style trousers, and combat shoes with canvas leggings or, preferably, wrappings.
He reached into his breech pockets. They were huge, but well-tailored and disguised properly within the folds of the pants.
gloss: The buttocks or backside.
pos: noun
tags: archaic
countable
uncountable
examples: And he made a woman for playing the whore, sit upon a great stone, on her bare breech twenty-foure houres, onely with corne and water, every three dayes, till nine dayes were past […]
When pamper'd Cupids, bestly Veni's, / And motly, squinting Harvequini's, / Shall lick no more their Lady's Br—, / But die of Looseness, Claps, or Itch; / Fair Thames from either ecchoing Shoare / Shall hear, and dread my manly Roar.
"Oho!" says Thwackum, "you will not! then I will have it out of your br—h;" that being the place to which he always applied for information on every doubtful occasion.
gloss: The part of a cannon or other firearm behind the chamber.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: The external angle of knee timber, the inside of which is called the throat.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: A breech birth.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: With the hips coming out before the head.
pos: adv
tags: not-comparable
gloss: Born, or having been born, breech.
pos: adj
tags: not-comparable
gloss: To dress in breeches. (especially) To dress a boy in breeches or trousers for the first time (the breeching ceremony).
pos: verb
tags: dated
transitive
examples: […] it occurred before I was breeched, and I was breeched at three years and a quarter old;
A great man […] anxious to know whether the blacksmith's youngest boy was breeched.
gloss: To beat or spank on the buttocks.
pos: verb
tags: dated
transitive
gloss: To fit or furnish with a breech.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: to breech a gun
gloss: To fasten with breeching.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
gloss: To cover as if with breeches.
pos: verb
tags: obsolete
poetic
transitive
examples: Their daggers unmannerly breeched with gore.
Related words: breeches
Derived words: bear's breech
bear's-breech
be-breeched
breechblock
breech-cloth
breechcloth
breechclout
breech delivery
breech face
breechless
breechloader
breech-loader
breech-loading
breechloading
breech pin
breech screw
nonbreech
quack-breech
quake-breech
quakebreech
rod for one's breech
unbreech
wipe-breech
Translations: