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cuirasses

 - 4 dictionary results

cui⋅rass

  [kwi-ras]
Use cuirasses in a Sentence
–noun
1. Also called corselet. defensive armor for the torso comprising a breastplate and backplate, originally made of leather.
2. either of the plates forming such armor.
3. any similar covering, as the protective armor of a ship.
4. Zoology. a hard shell or other covering forming an indurated defensive shield.
–verb (used with object)
5. to equip or cover with a cuirass.
Origin:
1425–75; < F cuirasse < LL coriācea, n. use of fem. of coriāceus (adj.) leather, equiv. to L cori(um) leather + -āceus -aceous; r. late ME curas < MF curasse, var. of cuirasse
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To cuirasses
cui·rass   (kwĭ-rās')   
n.  

    1. A piece of armor for protecting the breast and back.

    2. The breastplate alone.

  2. A defense or protection: "A carefully primped irony, that cuirass of art in the early Eighties, is necessary—a distance so affected as to constitute a hopeless impediment to feeling" (Robert Hughes).

  3. Zoology A protective covering of bony plates or scales.

tr.v.   cui·rassed, cui·rass·ing, cui·rass·es
To protect with a cuirass.

[Middle English curas, from Old French curasse, probably alteration (influenced by Old French cuir, leather) of Old Provençal coirassa, from Late Latin coriācea (vestis), leather (garment), feminine of coriāceus, from Latin corium, hide; see sker-1 in Indo-European roots.]
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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Word Origin & History

cuirass 
1464, from M.Fr. cuirasse, from L.L. coriacea vestis "garment of leather," from L. corium "leather, hide."
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Medical Dictionary

Main Entry: cui·rass
Pronunciation: kwi-'ras, kyu-
Function: noun
1 : a plaster cast for the trunk and neck
2 : arespirator that covers the chest or the chest and abdomen and provides artificial respiration by means of an electric pump
Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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