This breaftplate was fattened at the four corners ; thofe 
on the top to each fhoulder by a golden hook or ring at the 
end of a wreathed chain ; and thofe below to the girdle of 
the ephod, by two firing's or ribbons, which had likewife 
two rings and hobks. This ornament was never to be fe¬ 
vered from theprieftly garment ; and it was called the me¬ 
morial, to put the high-priett innnind how dear thofe tribes' 
ought to be to him, whole names he wore on his bread:. It- 
is alfo called the breafiplatcrf judgment, becaufe it had the 
divine oracle of urim and thummim annexed to it. See 
Urim and Thummim. 
BREAST’PLOUGH,/. [from 'breafi and plough.-] A 
plough ufed for paring turf, driven by the breaft. —The 
breafplough which a man ihoves before him.., Mortimer. 
BREAST'ROPE 3 ,y. [from breajl and rope.] Inafhip, 
thofe ropes which fatten the yards to the parrels, and, with 
the parrels, hold the yards fall to the matt. 
B RE AST'WORK, f. [from breajl and work. ] In forti¬ 
fication, works thrown up as high as the breaft of the de¬ 
fendants; the fame with Parapet, 
BREATH, f. \_brat.he, Sax.] The air drawn in and 
ejected out of the body by living animals. Life : 
No man lias more cohtempt than I of breath ; 
But whence haft thou fhe pow’r to give me death ? Dryd. 
The ftate or power of breathing freely ; oppofed to the 
condition in which a man is breathlefs and fpent. Refpite ; 
paufe; relaxation. Breeze; moving air: 
Calm and unruffled as a fummer’s fea, 
When not a breath of wind flies o’er its furface. Addifon. 
A Angle act; an inftant: 
You menace me, and court me, in a breath ; 
Your Cupid looks as dreadfully as death. Dryden. 
BREA'THABLE, adj. That may be breathed ; as, 
Breathable air. 
To BREATHE, v. n. To draw in and throw out the air 
by the lungs ; to infpire and expire. To live : 
Let him breathe, between the heav’ns and earth, 
A private man in Athens. Shahejpeare. 
To take breath ; to reft.—He prefently followed the viblo- 
ry fo hot upon the Scots, that lie fullered them not to breathe , 
or gather themfel ves together again. Sp. —To pafs as air : 
Shall I not then be ftifled in the vault, 
To whole foul mouth no healthfome air breathes in, 
And there be ftrangled ere my Romeo comes ? Shahejpeare. 
To BREATHE, v. a. To infpire, or inhale into one’s 
own body, and ejedt or expire out of it: 
.Their pains and poverty defire to bear, 
To view the light of heav’n, and breathe the vital air. Dryd. 
To injedt by breathing : with into. —He breathed into us the 
breath of life,"a vital adtive fpirit; whofe motions, he ex¬ 
pects, fhould own tire dignity of its original. Decay of Pie¬ 
ty. —To expire ; to ejedt by breathing: with out. —She is 
called, by ancient authors, the tenth tnufe ; and by Plu¬ 
tarch is compared to Caius, the fon of Vulcan, who breath¬ 
ed out nothing but flame. Speblator. —To exercife ; to keep 
in breath.—Thy greyhounds are as fwift as breathed flags. 
SkakeJ'pcare. —To infpire ; to move or adluate by breath: 
The artful youth proceed to form the quire; 
They breathe the flute, or ftrike the vocal wire. Prior. 
T© exhale ; to fend out as breath : 
His altar breathes 
Ambrofial odours, and ambrofiai flow’rs. Milton. 
To litter privately : 
I have tow’rd heav’n breathed a fecret vow, 
To live in pray’r and contemplation. Shakcfp eare. 
To give air of vent to : 
'Lhe ready cure, to cool the raging pain, 
Is uuderneath the foot to breathe a vein, Drjden, 
B R E 
BREA'THER,y. One that breathes or lives.—I will 
chide no breather in the world but myfelf. Shakfpeare.— 
One that utters any thing: 
No particular feandal once can touch, 
But it confounds the breather. Shakfpeare. 
Infpirer ; one that animates or infufes by infpiration : 
The breather of all life does now expire : 
His milder father fummons him away. Norris. 
BREA'TBING,/. Afpiration; fecret prayer: 
While to high heav’n his pious breathings turn'd,- 
Weeping he hop’d, and -facrificing nioufn’d. Prior. 
Breathing place ; vent: 
The warmth diftends the chinks, and makes 
New breathings, whence new nourifliment (lie takes. Dryd. 
BREATH'LESS, adj. Out of breath; fpent with la¬ 
bour.—Many lo drained themfel ves in their race, that they 
fell down breathlefs and dead. Hayward. —Dead: 
Yielding to the fentence, breathlefs thou 
And pale lhalt lie, as what thou buried now. Prior. 
BREAUTE', a town of France, in the department of 
the Lower Seine, and chief place_of a canton, in the dif- 
trift of Montivilliers: three leagues and a half north-eaft 
of Montivilliers, and four and a half N. W. of Caudebec, 
BRE'BINCE, a river of France, which runs into the 
Loire, near Digoin. 
BREC'CIA,y. An Italian term, frequently ufed by 
mineralogifts, to denote fuch compound ftones as are com- 
pofed of agglutinated fragments of confiderable fize. When 
the agglutinated parts are rounded, the fto’ne is called pud- 
ding-ftone. Breccias are denominated according to the na¬ 
ture of their component parts. Thus we have calcareous 
breccias, or marbles, and filiceous breccias, which are ftill 
more minutely clafled, according to their varieties. See 
the mineralogies of Cronftedt, Kirvvan, and others. 
BRE'CEY, a town of Fiance, in the department of the 
Channel, and chief place of a canton, in the tiiftribt of 
Mortain : two leagues and a half eaft of Avranches, and 
three and a quarter weft-north-weft of Mortain. 
BRE'CHEN NIDER, a town of Germany, in the cir¬ 
cle of the Lower Rhine, and electorate of Treves: fix- 
teen miles weft-fouth-weft of Wetzlar, and feventy-eight 
eaft-north-eaft of Treves. 
BRE'CHIN, a town of Scotland, in the county of An¬ 
gus or Forfar, a royal borough, and one of the five that 
fend a member to the Britilh parliament. On the 5th of 
July, 1572, Sir Adam Gordon, who, with a party of the 
queen’s, was laying fiege to the caftle of Gienbervie, fur- 
prifed forne of the king’s friends in this town, and cut off 
the whole. In the year 1452, a battle was fought a little 
way-from Brechin, between the earls of Crawford and 
Huntley, when the former was defeated. The town is 
feated on the fide of a hill, waftied by the river Southeik, 
over which is a ftone bridge, which unites a fuburb built 
on ground held in feu from the familyof Northelk. There 
is a well-fupplied weekly market on Tuefdays. The chief 
trade is in linen and yarn. It is ten miles north-eaft of 
Forfar, and twenty-two north-north-eaft at' Dundee. 
BRECI-IKl'NA, in the Courland mythology, the pro- 
te&refs of the rana and ferpent tribes of animals, which, 
in that part of the Rufflan territory, were formerly objects 
of peculiar veneration. 
BRECK'ERFELD, a town of Germany, in the circle 
of Weftphalia, and county of Marck : twenty-fi$ miles 
north-north-eaft of Cologn. 
BRECK'NOCK, or Brec on, the county town of Breck- 
nocklhire, diftant 161 miles from London, and thirty-four 
from Llanbeder ; it is fituafed in the center of the county, 
at the confluence of the Hodney and the Dike, over which 
there is a good ftone bridge. The Romans, as appears 
from feveral coins, and other .antiquities^ had formerly a 
ftation here. Its'caftle and walls were built by Bernard 
Newmarch, 
