breast-line 
breast-line (brest'lin), . A rope used to 
unite the pontoons of a floating bridge, 
breast-molding ftowBt'infil'clmg), n. 1. The 
molding on a window-sill. 2. Paneling be- 
neath a window. 
breast-pain (brest'pau), n. A distemper in 
horses, indicated by stiffness and staggering 
of the fore legs, and inability to bow the head 
to the ground. 
breast-pang (brest'paug), . Angina pectoris. 
See am/inn. [Rare.] 
breastpin Cbrest'pin). H. A pin worn on the 
breast for a fastening or for ornament; a 
brooch; a scarf-pin. 
breastplate (brest'plat), . [ME. brestjilate ; < 
breast + plate.] 1. A square ornament worn 
by the Jewish high priest, consisting of the same 
textile fabric as the ephod, and bearing twelve 
precious stones engraved with the names of the 
twelve tribes of Israel, set in gold. The breast- 
plate was hung by chains of gold to that part of the ephod 
which was on the shoulder, and the lower side was se- 
cured to the girdle Ijy blue laces ; for this purpose four 
rings of gold were 
secured to the four 
corners. It was 
also called the 
breafitjilrtte of judg- 
ment, because it 
contained the 
Urim and the 
Thnmmim. 
2. The armor 
for the front of 
the bodv, when 
made in one 
piece reaching 
from the waist 
to about the 
collar-bone, it 
was not introduced 
until a very late 
period in the his- 
tory of armor, and 
was not common 
until the early 
years of the six- 
teenth century, 
when armor for the 
limbs was being 
abandoned. See back unit breast (under back*), corselet, 
and euirani. 
3. A strap that runs across a horse's breast. 
4. A plate or piece which receives the butt- 
end of a boring-tool, and is held against the 
breast when the tool is in use. Also called con- 
science an&palette. 5. The sternum or central 
piece on the lower side of the cephalothorax 
of a spider, between the bases of the legs. 
6. The lower shell or plastron of a tortoise. 
Darwin. 
breast-plow (brest'plou), . A kind of spade 
with a cross-bar against which the breast is 
pressed to propel it, for cutting and paring turf. 
breast-pump (brest'pump), H. A small suction 
apparatus for drawing milk from the breast. 
breast-rail (brest'ral), w. The upper rail of 
a balcony or of a breastwork on the quarter- 
deck of a ship. 
breast-ropet (brest'rop), n. Naut., an old term 
for parrel-rope. See breast-band, 1. 
breast-strap (brest'strap), . A strap used to 
support the neck-yoke of a carnage-harness, 
and connected with the names or collar. 
Breast-strap slide, an iron loop sliding on the breast- 
strap and taking the wear of the ling on the end of the 
neck-yoke. 
breast-summer, n. See brest-summer. 
breast-wall (brest'wal), . 1. A retaining 
wall at the foot of a slope. 2. A wall built 
breast-high. 
breastweed (brest'wed), . A name given to 
the lizard's-tail of the United States, Kawurus 
eernuus, from its use as a remedy in mammary 
inflammation, etc. 
breast-wheel (brest'hwel), . A water-wheel 
with radial floats or buckets, upon which the 
Breastplate, 
century ; steel 
ing a 
" L'A 
mented with gilding, and bearing a coat of 
arms on the orcast. (From " L'Art pour 
Tons.") 
672 
water is admitted at any point from about the 
plane of the axle to 45 or more above it. The 
water is confined to the floats by a breasting of planks or 
masonry, almost touching the periphery of the wheel and 
extending from the bottom of the sluice to near the low- 
est point of the wheel. If the water is admitted to the 
wheel at a point very near its summit and on the same 
side as the sluice, it is called a pitch-back wheel. 
breast-WOOd (brest'wiid), . In liort., the 
shoots of fruit-trees which grow out from the 
front of the branches trained on espaliers or 
against walls. 
breastwork (brest'werk), n. 1. In fort., a 
hastily constructed work thrown up breast- 
high for defense. 2. Naut., a sort of balus- 
trade of rails or moldings which terminates the 
quarter-deck and poop at the fore ends, and 
also incloses the forecastle both before and 
behind. 3. The parapet of a building. 
breat (bret), n. [Another form of bret, brit, 
q. v.l A local English name of the turbot. 
breath (breth), . [Early mod. E. breth, < ME. 
breetli, bretli, < AS. brceth, breath, odor; cf. 
OHG. bradain, MHG. bradem, G. brodem, broden, 
steam, vapor, exhalation; perhaps connected 
with AS. bradan = OHG. brdtan, MHG. brdten, 
G. braten, roast, broil (see brawn), and with Gr. 
7T/W/0EH), burn, blow. The vowel in breath, orig. 
long, has become short, while remaining long 
in the verb breathe.'] If. Vapor; steam; ex- 
halation. 
Then sehalle thou caste 
Into the pot and cover in hast, 
And loke no brethe ther passe out. 
Liber Cure Cocoruin, p. 19. 
That is blode and fire and brethe of smoke. 
Hampole, Prick of Conscience, I. 4727. 
When bremly brened those besteg, & the brethe rysed, 
The savour of his sacrafyse sogt to hym euen 
That all spedeg fe spylleg. 
Alliterative Poems (ed. Morris), ii. 609. 
2. The air inhaled and exhaled in respiration. 
My breath to heaven like vapor goes : 
May my soul follow soon ! 
Tennyson, St. Agnes' Eve. 
3. Ability to breathe; life as dependent on 
respiration. 
Xo man has more contempt than I of breath. Dryden. 
4. The state or power of breathing freely: as, 
to be out of breath; to be in breath. 
The king shall drink to Hamlet's better breath. 
Shot., Hamlet, v. 2. 
I lose my colour, I lose my breath. Tennynott, Eleiinore. 
5. A single act of breathing; a respiration: as, 
he swears at every breath; to draw a full breath. 
Between two breathn what crowded mysteries lie, 
The first short gasp, the last and long-drawn sigh ! 
0. W. Holme*, A Rhymed Lesson. 
Hence 6. The time of a single respiration; 
a single, act ; an instant. 
The historian makes two blunders in a breath. 
Pretcott, Ferd. and Isa., ii. 14. 
Sweet and bitter in a breath. 
Tennyson, In Memoriam, iii. 
7. Respite; pause; time to breathe. 
Give me some little breath, some pause. 
S7i*., Rich. III., iv. 2. 
8. A gentle exercise, causing a quicker respi- 
ration. [Rare.] 
But, for your health and your digestion sake, 
An after-dinner's breath. Shak., T. and 0., ii. 3. 
9. A respiratory movement, as of free air ; a 
blowing. 
calm and unruffled as a summer's sea, 
When not a breath of wind flies o'er its surface. 
Addition, Cato, i. 4. 
10. Spoken words ; speech. [Rare.] 
A rt thou thou the slave that with thy breath hast kill'd 
Mine innocent child? Shak. t Much Ado, v. 1. 
I will stand. 
Like the earth's center, unmoved. Lords, your breath 
Must finish these divisions. 
Beau, ami Fl., Laws of Candy, v. 1. 
11. A mere word; a trivial circumstance; a 
thing without substance; a trifle. 
A dream, a breath, a froth of fleeting joy. 
Shak., Lucrece, 1. 212. 
A breath can make them, as a breath has made. 
GroMouiiM, Deg. VII., 1. R4. 
12. An odorous exhalation. 
The breath 
1 >f the fading edges of box beneath. 
Tennyson, Song. 
13. In" philoi. , a breathing; aspiration; aspi- 
rate sound. 
in! 
ive 
Breast-wheel. 
Even in the latest Semitic alphabets the breaths ai 
emi-consonants of the primitive Semitic alphabet ha 
etatmd their Original character. 
Isaac Taylor, The Alphabet, I. 184. 
_.._ 
retai 
breathe 
14. Opinion; sentiments: as, I would fain hear 
his breath on this matter. Jnniicntm. [Scotch.] 
Breath of the nostrils, in the I'.ible, vital breath (see 
Hen. ii. 7); hence, anything essential to the existence of a 
person or an institution ; the inspiring cause of anything, 
or that which sustains it. 
No institutions spring up in such countries except those 
which the prince founds, and he may be truly said to be 
the breath of their nostril*. Brougham. 
Out Of breath, breathless ; short of breath. 
Too much breathing put him o( nf breath. 
Milton, Ep. Hobson, ii. 
To gather breath. See gather. To get one's second 
breath, to recover the free use of the lungs after the first 
exhaustion incident to running, rowing, etc. [Uolloq.] 
Under the breath, in a whisper. With bated breath. 
See bate-. 
breathable (bre'Tiia-bl), a. [< breathe + -able.] 
Capable of being breathed ; respirable. 
breathableness (bre'THa-bl-nes), . The state 
of being breathable. 
breathe (breTH), r. ; pret. and pp. Ireatltnl, 
ppr. breatliin</. [< ME. brethen, breathe, blow, 
exhale odor, < breth, breath: see breath.] I. 
in trans. 1. To draw air into and expel it from 
the lungs ; respire ; figuratively, to live. 
When he breathed he was a man. Shak., L. L. L., v. '1. 
Where, in the vast world, 
Doth that man breathe, that can so much command 
His blood and his affection? 
B. Juntson, Every Man out of his Humour, i. 1. 
I did 
(jiod's bidding and man's duty, so, breathe free. 
Browning, King and Book, I. 253. 
2. To make a single respiration. 
Before you can say, Come, and Go, 
And breathe twice. Shak., Tempest, iv. 1. 
3. To take breath ; rest from action. 
Breathe awhile, and then to 't again. 
Shak., 1 Hen. IV., 11. 4. 
Well, let this breathe a while. 
B. Jonson, Every Man in his Humour, v. 1. 
4. To pass, as air; blow: as, "when winds 
breathe sweet," Shak., Lover's Compl., 1. 103. 
Oh, breathe upon thy ruined vineyard still ; 
Though like the dead it long unmoved has lain. 
Jone* Very, Poems, p. 88. 
5. To give utterance to disparaging or calum- 
nious remarks; make insinuations: with upon. 
You must seem to take as unpardonable offence, as if 
he had torn your mistress's colours, or breathed upon her 
picture. B. Jonson, Every Man out of his Humour, i. 1. 
6. To exhale, as an odor; emanate. 
And all Arabia breathes from yonder box. 
Pope, R. of the L., i. 134. 
7. Figuratively, of inanimate things, to be in- 
stinct; be alive. 
The staircase in fresco by Sir James Thornhill breathed 
with the loves and wars of gods and heroes. Disraeli. 
IE. trans. 1. To inhale and exhale in respi- 
ration: as, to breathe vitiated air. 2. To in- 
ject by breathing; infuse: with into: as, "to 
breathe life into a stone," Shak., All's Well, ii. 1. 
And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, 
and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. Gen. ii. 7. 
Where faith made whole with deed 
Breathe* its awakening breath 
Into the lifeless creed. Lowell, Coium. Ode. 
3. To exhale; send out as breath; express; 
manifest. 
Can any mortal mixture of earth's mould 
Breathe such divine, enchanting ravishment? 
Milton, Comus, I. 245. 
They [the Indians] entered . . . into an agreement to 
twenty-nine rules, all breathiivj u desire to conform them- 
selves to English customs. 
Emerson, Historical Discourse at Concord. 
4. To exercise ; keep in breath. 
Methinks . . . every man should beat thee; I think 
thou wast created for men to breathe themselves upon 
thee. Shak., All's Well, ii. 3. 
I'll send for one of these fencers, and he shall breathe 
you, by my direction. 
H. Joanna, Every Man in his Humour, i. 4. 
5. To inspire or blow into; cause to sound by 
breathing. 
They breathe the flute or strike the vocal wire. Prim: 
6. To utter; speak; whisper. 
Or let the church, our mother, breathe her rinse. 
Shak.. K. John. iii. 1. 
Thus breathes she forth her spite. Shak., Lncreee, 1. 762. 
That breathe a thousand tender vows. 
'/'. /n/ir.<ii. In Memoriam, xx. 
7. To suffer to rest or recover breath. 
He breathtl Ids sword, and rested him till day. 
,s>rv*x t 'y, K. tj., VI. xi. 47. 
A moment no\v he .sl;iekel bis speed, 
A moment breathed his panting steed. 
Nwr. L. .,f L. M., i. 
8. To open and bleed (a vein). 
Kvery village burlier \vhu hr<-uf/i' >l n vein. 
Ency>: Kri>., XI. 603. 
