breastwork (brestwerk)

1. In fort., a hastily constructed work thrown up breast high for defense.-2. Naut., a sort of balustrade 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.] A local English name of the turbot. breath (breth), n. [Early mod. E. breth, halation. Then schalle thou caste Into the pot and cover in hast, And loke no brethe ther pa e out. Liber Cure Cocorum, p. 19. That is blode and fire and brethe of smoke. IMG:content-2479.png:[blocks in formation] 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 nostrils. Brougham , Out of breath, breathle ; short of breath. Too much breathing put him out of 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. [Colloq.]Under the breath, in a whisper. - With bated breath. See bate2 . breathable (brē'Tha-bl), a. [ breathe (brēTH), v.; pret. and pp. breathed, ppr. breathing. [ B. Jonson, Every Man out of his Humour, i. 1. IMG:content-2480.png:[graphic] IMG:content-2481.png:[blocks in formation] IMG:content-2482.png:[blocks in formation] Breathe awhile, and then to 't again. Well, let this breathe a while. B. Jonson, Every Man in his Humour, v. 1. breathe sweet," Shak., Lover's Compl., 1. 103. Oh, breathe upon thy ruined vineyard still; Though like the dead it long unmoved has lain. 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 and breast (under back1 ), corselet, and cuira . 3. A strap that runs acro a horse's breast.4. A plate or piece which receives the buttend of a boring-tool, and is held against the breast when the tool is in use. Also called conscience and 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. IMG:content-2483.png:[blocks in formation] Jones Very , Poems, p. 88. 5. To give utterance to disparaging or calumnious remarks; make insinuations: with upon. You must seem to take as unpardonable offence, as if he had torn your mistre '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. I lose my colour, I lose my breath . Tennyson, Eleanore. 5. A single act of breathing; a respiration: as, he swears at every breath ; to draw a full breath . 7. Figuratively, of inanimate things, to be in- Between two breaths what crowded mysteries lie, - The first short gasp, the last and long-drawn sigh! O. W. Holmes, A Rhymed Le on. a single act; an instant. breast-plow (brest'plou), п . A kind of spade Hence-6. The time of a single respiration; with a cro -bar against which the breast is pre ed to propel it, for cutting and paring turf. breast-pump (brest'pump), n . A small suction apparatus for drawing milk from the breast.