B R E 
Our army is difpers’d already : 
I.ike youthful'(leers unyok’d, they took their courfe 
Raft, weft, north, fputh: or, like a Cchool broke up, 
Each hurries tovv’rds his home and fporting-place. 
Shakefpeare . 
To Break with. To part frienddiip with any.—Can 
there be any thing of frienddiip in fnares, hooks, and tre¬ 
pans I Whofoever breaks with his friend upon fuch terms, 
has enough to warrant him in fo doing, both before God 
and man. South. — It is to be obferved of this extenfive and 
perplexed verb, that in all its dgnifications, whether aftive 
or neutral, it has Come reference to its primitive meaning, 
by implying either detriment, fuddennefs, violence, or fe- 
paration.’ It is ufed often with additional particles, up, 
out, in, off, forth, to modify its fignification. 
BREAK, J'. Stale of being broken ; opening.—From 
the break of day until noon, the roaring of the cannon never 
ceafed. Knolles. —A paufe ; an interruption. A line drawn, 
noting that the fenfe is fufpended: 
All modern tradi is 
Set forth with num’rous breaks and dadies. Swift. 
BREAK'ER, f. He that breaks any thing.—If the 
churches were not employed to be places to hear God’s 
law, there would be need of them to be prifons for the 
breakers of the laws of men. South. 
BREAK'ERS,/ in fea-language, a name given to thofe 
billows that break violently over rocks lying under the fur-, 
face of the fea. They are diftinguidied both by their ap¬ 
pearance and found, as they cover that part of the fea 
with a perpetual foam, and produce a hoarfe and terrible 
roaring, very different from what the waves ufually have 
in a deeper bottom. When a (hip is unhappily driven 
among breakers, it is hardly poflible to fave her, as every 
billow that heaves her upwards, ferves to dafli her down 
with additional force. 
To BREAK'FAST, v.n. [from break and/z/?.] To eat 
the firft meal in the day : 
As foon as Phoebus’ rays infpeft us, 
Firft, fir, I read, and then I breakfajl. Prior. 
BREAK'FAST, f. The firft meal in the day.—The 
duke was at breakfajl, the laft of his repafts in this world. 
Wotton. —The thing eaten at the firft meal.—Hope is a good 
breakfaf , but it is a bad fupper. Bacon. —A meal, or food 
in general: 
Had I been feized by a hungry lion, 
I would have been a breakfajl to the beaft. Shakefpeare. 
BRE AK'NECK, f [from break and neck. ] A fall in 
which the neck is broken; a deep place endangering the 
neck: ' 
I muff; 
Forfake the court; to do’t or no, is certain 
To me a breakneck. Shakefpeare. 
BRE AK'PROMISE,/. [from break and promife.] One 
that makes a praftice of- breaking his promife.—I will 
think you the mod atheiftical breakpromife, and the' mod 
hollow lover. Shakefpeare. 
BRE AK'VOW, f. [from break and vow.] He that prac- 
tifeth the breach of vows : 
That daily breakvow, he that wins of all, 
Of kings, of beggars, old men, young men, maids. Skakef. 
BREAL, a town of France, in the department of the 
1 lie and Villaine, and chief place of a canton, in the dif- 
trift of Monvfort: two leagues fouth-eaft of Montfort, and 
two and a half fouth-weftof Rennes. 
BRE AM, f. in ichthyology. SeeCypiUNUS. 
To BREAM, v.a. in fea-language, to burn off the filth, 
poze, (hells, or lea-weed, from a (hip’s bottom, that has 
accumulated in a voyage, or by lying long in a harbour. 
This operation is performed by holding kindled faggots, 
or fuch materials, to the bottom, fo that the flame incor¬ 
porating with the pitch, fulphur, See. that had formerly 
Vol. HE No. 136. 
BRE 369 
covered it, immediately loofens and throws off whatever 
filthjnay have adhered to the planks. After this, the bot¬ 
tom is frefli covered with a compolition of 'fulphur, tallow, 
&c. which not only makes it iinooth and flippery, but alfo 
poifoos and deftroys the worms which eat through the 
planks. Breaming may be performed either when the (hip 
lies a-ground after the tide has ebbed from her, or b\ 
docking or careening. 
BREAST,yi [ breof, Sax.] The middle part of the hu¬ 
man body, between the neck and the belly : 
No, traytrefs! angry Love replies, 
She’s hid fomewhere about thy breaf; 
A place nor God nor man denies, 
For Venus’ dove the proper neft. Prior „ 
The teats of women which contain the milk.—They pluck 
the fatherlefs from the breaf. Job, xxiv. 9. —The part of 
a bead that is under the neck, between the fore legs. The 
dilpofition of the mind : 
I not by wants, or fears, or age, oppreft, 
Stem the wild torrent with a dauntlefs breaf. Dryden, 
The heart; the confcience : 
Needlefs was written law, where none oppreft; 
The law of man was written in his breaf. Dryden , 
The feat of the paffions: 
Each in his breaf the fecret forrow kept, 
And thought it fafe to laugh, though Caffar wept. Rowe. 
To BREAST, v. a. To meet in front; to oppofe bread 
to bread: 
The threaden fails 
Draw the huge bottoms through the furrow’d fea, 
Breaf ing the lofty (urge. Shakefpeare. 
BRE AST'BONE.y. [from breaf and bone. ] The bone 
of the bread ; the fternum.—The belly (hall be eminent, 
by (liadowing the flank, and under th e breaf bone. Pcachem. 
BRE AST'CASKET,/, [from breaf and cafiet .] With 
mariners, the largeft and longed calkets, which are a fort 
of fixings placed in the middle of the yard. 
BRE AST'FAST,/ [from breaf andfaf.] Ina (hip, a 
rope faftened to fome part of her forward on, to hold her 
head to a warp, or the like. 
BREAST'HIGH, adj. [from breaf and high.] Up to 
the bread. 
BREAST'HOOKS, f. [from breaf and hook.'] With 
(hipwrights, the compafling timbers before, that help to 
(Lengthen the ftem, and all the fore part of the (hip. See 
Naval Architecture. 
BREAST'KNOT,/ [from breaf and knot. ] A knot or 
bunch of ribbands worn by women on the bread. 
BREAST'PLATE,/ [from breajt and plate.] Armour 
for the bread:. See Armour. 
What (Longer breaf plate than a heart untainted ? 
Thrice he is arm’d that hath his quarrel juft. Shakefpeare. 
BREAST'PLATE, in Jevvifh antiquity, one of the veft- 
ments worn by the high priefts. It was a folded piece of 
the fame rich fluff’ of which the ephod was made; and it 
was fet with twelve precious (tones, on each of which was 
engraven the name of one’ of the tribes. They were fet 
in,four rows, three in a row, and divided by the little gol¬ 
den fquares or partitions in which they were fet. The 
names of thefe (tones, that of the tribes engraven on them, 
and their difpofition on the breaft-plate, are as follow : 
Sardine 
REUBEN 
Emerald 
JUDAH 
Ligure 
GAD 
Beryl 
ZEBURUN 
Topaz 
Sapphire 
A.qate -1 
Onyx 
SIMEON 
DAN 
ASHER j 
JOSEPH 
Carbuncle 
Diamond 
I Arnet/nf I 
JaJ'per \ 
LEVI 
NAPATHAI.l 
(iSSACHAR 1 
BENJAMIN j 
5B 
This 
