breech

plural breeches

1. attributivecountablehistoricalin pluraluncountableA garment whose purpose is to cover or clothe the buttocks.First known use 11th c.

   The stallion lipped Alanna’s breech pockets. “He’s spoiled rotten.” Fishing a lump of sugar out, she fed it to him.

   1992, Tamora Pierce, Wild Magic, New York, N.Y.: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, →ISBN, page 57

   3 more examples

   'Lat be,' quod he, ‘it shal nat be, so theech! Thou woldest make me kisse thyn old breech, And swere it were a relik of a seint,

   late 14th century, Geoffrey Chaucer, The Pardoner's Tale, The Canterbury Tales

   The typical American combat soldier in World War I wore an olive-drab tunic, stiff at the neck, breech-style trousers, and combat shoes with canvas leggings or, preferably, wrappings.

   2009, John C[oyne] McManus, American Courage, American Carnage: 7th Infantry Chronicles: The 7th Infantry Regiment’s Combat Experience, 1812 Through World War II, New York, N.Y.: Forge, →ISBN, pages 244–245

   He reached into his breech pockets. They were huge, but well-tailored and disguised properly within the folds of the pants.

   2015, David Nabhan, The Pilots of Borealis, London: Gollancz, published 2020, →ISBN

2. archaiccountableuncountableThe buttocks or backside.First known use 16th c.

   "Oho!" says Thwackum, "you will not! then I will have it out of your br—h;" that being the place to which he always applied for information on every doubtful occasion.

   1749, Henry Fielding, chapter VIII, in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, book III

   2 more examples

   And he made a woman for playing the whore, sit upon a great stone, on her bare breech twenty-foure houres, onely with corne and water, every three dayes, till nine dayes were past […]

   1624, John Smith, Generall Historie, Kupperman, published 1988, page 157

   When pamper'd Cupids, bestly Veni's, / And motly, squinting Harvequini's, / Shall lick no more their Lady's Br—, / But die of Looseness, Claps, or Itch; / Fair Thames from either ecchoing Shoare / Shall hear, and dread my manly Roar.

   1736, Alexander Pope, Bounce to Fop

3. countableuncountableengineeringThe part of a cannon or other firearm behind the chamber.First known use 16th c.
4. countableuncountablenauticalThe external angle of knee timber, the inside of which is called the throat.
5. countableuncountablemedicineA breech birth.

1. not comparablemedicineWith the hips coming out before the head.

1. not comparablemedicineBorn, or having been born, breech.

present singular third person breeches · participle present breeching · participle past breeched · past breeched

1. datedtransitiveTo dress in breeches. (especially) To dress a boy in breeches or trousers for the first time (the breeching ceremony).

   A great man […] anxious to know whether the blacksmith's youngest boy was breeched.

   1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter X, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC

   1 more example

   […] it occurred before I was breeched, and I was breeched at three years and a quarter old;

   1748-1832, Jeremy Bentham, The Works of Jeremy Bentham, Volume 10

2. datedtransitiveTo beat or spank on the buttocks.
3. transitiveTo fit or furnish with a breech.

   to breech a gun

4. transitiveTo fasten with breeching.
5. obsoletepoetictransitiveTo cover as if with breeches.

   Their daggers unmannerly breeched with gore.

   c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iii]