Part 808

Brede (&?;), n. [See Braid woven cord.] A braid. [R.]

Half lapped in glowing gauze and golden brede. Tennyson.

Breech (&?;), n. [See Breeches.] 1. The lower part of the body behind; the buttocks.

2. Breeches. [Obs.] Shak.

3. The hinder part of anything; esp., the part of a cannon, or other firearm, behind the chamber.

4. (Naut.) The external angle of knee timber, the inside of which is called the throat.

Breech, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Breeched (&?;); p. pr. & vb. n. Breeching (&?;).] 1. To put into, or clothe with, breeches.

A great man . . . anxious to know whether the blacksmith's youngest boy was breeched. Macaulay.

2. To cover as with breeches. [Poetic]

Their daggers unmannerly breeched with gore. Shak.

3. To fit or furnish with a breech; as, to breech a gun.

4. To whip on the breech. [Obs.]

Had not a courteous serving man conveyed me away, whilst he went to fetch whips, I think, in my conscience, he would have breeched me. Old Play.

5. To fasten with breeching.

Breech"block (&?;), n. The movable piece which closes the breech of a breech-loading firearm, and resists the backward force of the discharge. It is withdrawn for the insertion of a cartridge, and closed again before the gun is fired.

Breech"cloth` (&?;), n. A cloth worn around the breech.

Breech"es (&?;), n. pl. [OE. brech, brek, AS. brk, pl. of brc breech, breeches; akin to Icel. brk breeches, ODan. brog, D. broek, G. bruch; cf. L. bracae, braccae, which is of Celtic origin. Cf. Brail.] 1. A garment worn by men, covering the hips and thighs; smallclothes.

His jacket was red, and his breeches were blue. Coleridge.

2. Trousers; pantaloons. [Colloq.]

Breeches buoy, in the life-saving service, a pair of canvas breeches depending from an annular or beltlike life buoy which is usually of cork. This contrivance, inclosing the person to be rescued, is hung by short ropes from a block which runs upon the hawser stretched from the ship to the shore, and is drawn to land by hauling lines. -- Breeches pipe, a forked pipe forming two branches united at one end. -- Knee breeches, breeches coming to the knee, and buckled or fastened there; smallclothes. -- To wear the breeches, to usurp the authority of the husband; -- said of a wife. [Colloq.]

Breech"ing (&?;), n. 1. A whipping on the breech, or the act of whipping on the breech.

I view the prince with Aristarchus' eyes, Whose looks were as a breeching to a boy. Marlowe.

2. That part of a harness which passes round the breech of a horse, enabling him to hold back a vehicle.

3. (Naut.) A strong rope rove through the cascabel of a cannon and secured to ringbolts in the ship's side, to limit the recoil of the gun when it is discharged.

4. The sheet iron casing at the end of boilers to convey the smoke from the flues to the smokestack.

Breech"load`er (&?;), n. A firearm which receives its load at the breech.

For cavalry, the revolver and breechloader will supersede the saber. Rep. Sec. War (1860).

Breech"-load`ing, a. Receiving the charge at the breech instead of at the muzzle.