Brede
(Brede, or Breede) n. Breadth. [Obs.] Chaucer.
Brede
(Brede) n. [See Braid woven cord.] A braid. [R.]
Half lapped in glowing gauze and golden brede.
Tennyson.
Breech
(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
(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.
Breechblock
(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 It is withdrawn for the insertion of a cartridge, and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.
Breechcloth
(Breech"cloth`) n. A cloth worn around the breech.
