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Breeching - 4 dictionary results

breech⋅ing

  [brich-ing, bree-ching]
Use Breeching in a Sentence
–noun
1. the part of a harness that passes around the haunches of a horse.
2. a smoke pipe connecting one or more boilers with a chimney.
3. Navy. (formerly) a strong rope fastened to a ship's side for securing a gun or checking its recoil.
Origin:
1505–15; breech + -ing 1

breech

  [n. breech; v. breech, brich]
–noun
1. the lower, rear part of the trunk of the body; buttocks.
2. the hinder or lower part of anything.
3. Ordnance. the rear part of the bore of a gun, esp. the opening and associated mechanism that permits insertion of a projectile.
4. Machinery. the end of a block or pulley farthest from the supporting hook or eye.
5. Nautical. the outside angle of a knee in the frame of a ship.
–verb (used with object)
6. Ordnance. to fit or furnish (a gun) with a breech.
7. to clothe with breeches.
Origin:
bef. 1000; ME breeche, OE brēc, pl. of brōc; c. ON brōk, OHG bruoh
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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breech·ing   (brē'chĭng, brĭch'ĭng)   
n.  
  1. The strap of a harness that passes behind a draft animal's haunches.
  2. The short wool or hair on the rump and hind legs of a sheep, goat, or dog.
  3. The parts of a gun that make up the breech.
  4. A rope formerly used to secure the breech of a cannon to the side of a ship to control the recoil.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Breeching

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.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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