pectoral

What it means

1. not comparableOf or pertaining to the breast, or chest.

   the pectoral muscles

   2 more examples

   Clad in red robes and a gold pectoral cross, Agostini finally lowered his gaze as he crossed the marble floor.

   1985, Stephen Marley, Managra, page 14

   ... footballers, fashionable Counsel, corrupt parliamentarians, glistening Under Secretaries from helpful Whitehall Ministries, Greek shipowners, cockney hairdressers, unlisted maharajahs, drunk magistrates, venal mayors, ruling princes of countries that have ceased to exist, prelates in suède boots and pectoral crosses...

   1986, John le Carré, A Perfect Spy

2. not comparableRelating to, or good for, diseases of the chest or lungs.

   But, in general, a few days' confinement, abstinence from flesh meat, and frequent sippings of some tepid pectoral drink, sufficed for the cure.

   1852, Theophilus Thompson, Annals of Influenza Or Epidemic Catarrhal Fever in Great Britain from 1510 to 1837, page 107

3. not comparablebiologyHaving the breast conspicuously colored.

   the pectoral sandpiper

In a sentence

the pectoral muscles

Where it comes from

1. Latinpectorālis
2. Englishpectoral

All senses are ultimately from Latin pectorālis, but some may have come through Old French and Middle English.