B R R 



161 



BR E 



scent to the next deck below commences. 



2. Break is the name given to a light 



but strong-built carriage, used for train- 

 ing horses to gentle draught. 3. In 



architecture, a break is a recess or shrink- 

 ing back of a part behind its ordinary 



range. 4. In printing, the abort lines 



which end paragraphs are called breaks. 



BREAK'ERS. In marine language, rocks 

 which lie immediately under the surface, 

 and break the waves as they pass over 

 them; also the billows which break 

 against the rocks. 



BREAKING BULK, the act of beginning 

 to unlade a vessel, or of discharging the 

 first part of the cargo. 



BREAKING GROUND, a military term for 

 opening the trenches, and beginning the 

 works for a siege. 



BREAK-JOINT. Among masons, one 

 stone placed on the joint of two stones in 

 the course below, to bind the work. 



BREAKING THE LINE. A naval ma- 

 noeuvre, by which the assailant cuts 

 asunder the enemy's order of battle, and 

 places one part of the hostile fleet be- 

 tween two fires. 



BREAK'WATER. 1. A mole at the en- 

 trance of a harbour, to diminish the force 

 of the waves ; it is often formed by sink- 

 ing the hull of an old vessel. 2. A small 



buoy fastened to a large one, when the 

 rope of the latter is not long enough to 

 reach the surface of the water. 



BREAM'ING, burning off the filth, such 

 as grass, ooze, shells, and sea-weed, 

 from a ship's bottom. It is performed by 

 kindling furze, &c. under the bottom, 

 which loosens and melts the pitch, and 

 brings it off, with whatever filth may be 

 adhering. 



BREAST-CASKET, one of the largest and 

 longest of the caskets or strings on the 

 middle of the yard of a ship. 



BREAST'FAST, a large rope to confine a 

 ship sidewise to a wharf or quay. 



BREAST-HOOKS, thick pieces of timber 

 placed directly across the stem of a ship, 

 to strengthen the fore part, and unite the 

 bows on each side. 



BREAST'PLATE. 1. A strap that runs 

 across a horse's breast, from one side of 



the saddle to the other. 2. Armour for 



the breast. 3. A part of the vestment 



of the Jewish high-priest, consisting of a 

 folded piece of richly embroidered stuff, of 

 which the ephod was made. 



BREAST-PLOUGH, a turf-spade driven 

 forward by the hands, placed opposite the 

 breast. 



BREAST-ROPF.I. In shifts, those ropes 

 used to fasten the yards to the parrels, 

 and with the parrels to hold the yards fast 

 to the mast; more commonly called 

 parrel-ropes. 



BREA'T-SCMMEK. See BRESSCMMER. 



HEEL, a water-wheel which 



receives the water at about half it 

 height, or at the level of the axis. 



BREAST-WORK, a military term for 

 works thrown up to afford protection 

 against the shot of the enemy. Breast- 

 works are usually made of earth. 



BREC'CIA, an Italian term used by mine- 

 ralogists, &c. to designate such rocky- 

 masses as consist of angular fragments 

 united by a common cement. When the 

 fragments are rounded, the conglomerate 

 is called pudding-stone, from a fancied re- 

 semblance to plum-pudding. Concrete is 

 a factitious breccia or pudding-stone. 



BREECH. 1. The hinder part of a gun, 



from the cascabel to the bore. 2. The 



knee-timber in a ship. 



BREECH'IXG, a rope used to secure the 

 cannon of a ship-of-war, and prevent 

 them from recoiling too much when dis- 

 charged. Named from its being passed 

 round the breech or hinder part of the gun. 



BREEZE, Fr. brise, Bel. breeze. 1. A 

 shifting wind that blows from the sea 

 and land alternately for a certain time, 

 and is in some degree regular in its alter- 

 nations. The wind from the sea is called 

 a sea-breeze, that from the land is a land- 

 breeze. The first blows during day, ana 



the latter during night. 2. Small ashes 



and cinders made use of instead of coals 



in the burning of bricks. 3. The name 



of the horse , gad , or breeze fly. The latter 

 has been supposed to arise from the sound 

 made by its wings. It is from Sax. briose, 

 from Gothic bry, a point or sting. 



BRE'HON,an ancient Irish magistrate. 

 Each tribe had one brehon, whose judg- 

 ments were given in the open air on the 

 tops of hills. This accounts for the many 

 brehon-chairs throughout the r:ourtry. The 

 office was abolished under Edwani III. 



BRE'HON-LAWS, the ancient wn written 

 laws of Ireland, administered by the 

 brehons. 



BREN'NAOE, from bran. In old law, a 

 tribute paid by tenants in lieu of bran, 

 which they were required to furnish for 

 their lords' hounds. 



BRES'SUMMER, ) A lentel beam in the 



BREST'-SUMMZR. ) exterior wall of a 

 building, principally over shop- windows, 

 to sustain the superincumbent part of the 

 wall. Bressummers are commonly sup- 

 ported by iron or wooden pillars. Se 

 SUMMER. 



BRETES'SE, in heraldry, a line embattled 

 on both sides. 



BRET'TICES, in coal mines, wooden planka 

 to prevent the falling in of the strata. 



BREVE, from brevis, short. The name 

 of a note in music of the third degree of 

 length, and formerly of a square form, us 

 M ; but now of an oval form, with a per- 

 pendicular line on each side to the stave, 

 thug, o,- The breve without a (lot 

 II 



