breech

▪ I. breech, n.
    (briːtʃ)
    Forms: 1 bréc, (bræc), 3 brych, 3–5 brech, 4–6 breche, 4–7 breeche, 6 breache, briech, bryche, 6–7 breetch, 7 brich, 7– britch, 9 breach, 5– breech.
    [Com. Teut.: OE. bréc (:—bróec), pl. of *bróc fem. = OFris. brók, pl. brék, (MDu. broec, Du. broek), OHG. bruoh (MHG. bruoch, mod.Ger. bruch, obs. in 18th c., but still in Switz. pl. brüch), ON. brók, pl. brœkr (Sw. brōk, Da. brōg):—OTeut. type *brôk-s fem. monosyl. ‘article of clothing for the loins and thighs’.
    Often stated to be an adoption of L. brāca (also brăca, bracca), or its Gaulish original, which was app. *brācca, (see brogue) clothing for the legs (‘barbara tegmina crurum’ Vergil æn. xi. 777); but *brôk-s has all the marks of an original Teutonic word = Aryan *bhrâg-s. The Celtic brācca is considered by Dr. Whitley Stokes to be phonetically descended from an earlier *brāg-na, a derivative of the same root bhrāg-, and so cognate with the Teutonic.]
    † 1. A garment covering the loins and thighs: at first perh. only a ‘breech-cloth’; later reaching to the knees. a. in OE. bréc, plural of bróc.

a 1000 Reg. St. Benot 55 (Bosw.) Brec, femoralia. a 1100 Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 328 Femoralia, bræc.

    b. in ME. usually brēch, breech as a sing.

a 1100 Cott. Cleop. Gloss. in Wr.-Wülcker 433 Lumbare, gyrdel oððe brec. a 1225 Ancr. R. 420 Sum wummon..wereð þe brech of heare ful wel i-knotted. c 1380 Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. II. 3 Joon hadde neiþer coote ne breche. c 1400 Mandeville xxiii. (1839) 250 Alle the women weren Breech, as wel as men. 1480 Caxton Chron. Eng. cci. 183 The good man..come thyder al naked sauf his breche. 1535 Coverdale Jer. xiii. 1 Get the a lynnen breche, and gyrde it aboute thy loynes. 1562 J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 16 To beg a breeche of a bare arst man. 1642 Jack Puffe 39 in Hazl. E.P.P. IV. 316 With out-stucke bomm, streight breech, and spit at side.

    c. Now always in pl. breeches (ˈbrɪtʃɪz), or a pair of breeches (perh. not so used before 15th c.). Breeches are distinguished from trousers by coming only just below the knee, but dialectally (and humorously) breeches includes trousers.

[c 1205 Lay. 18028 Heo..gripen heore cniues & of mid here breches. 1382 Wyclif Gen. iii. 7 They soweden to gidre leeves of a fige tree, & maden hem brechis.] a 1500 Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 629 Bracce, brechys. 1555 Fardle Facions i. iv. 41 Some make them brieches of the heares of their heades. 1560 Bible (Genev.) Gen. iii. 7 They sewed figge tree leaues together, and made themselues breeches. 1591 Spenser M. Hubberd 211 His breeches were made after the new cut. 1661 Pepys Diary 6 Apr., To put both his legs through one of his knees of his breeches. 1784 Cowper Task i. 10 As yet black breeches were not. 17.. Chestnut Horse, Dreamed of his boots, his spurs, his leather breeches, Of leaping five-barred gates, and crossing ditches. 1858 Hawthorne Fr. & It. Jrnls. II. 179 Their trousers being tucked up till they were strictly breeches.

    2. a. Hence the phrase, said of a wife, to wear the breeches (breech obs.): to assume the authority of the husband; to rule, be ‘master’.

[1553 T. Wilson Rhet. 89 As though the good man of the house weare no breeches or that the Graye Mare were the better horse.] 1568 T. Howell Newe Sonn. (1879) 151 He is a cokes: and worthy strokes, whose wife the Breeches beare. 1593 Shakes. 3 Hen. VI, v. v. 24 That you might still haue worne the Petticoat, And ne'er haue stolne the Breech from Lancaster. 1600 Maides Metam. iv. in Bullen O. Pl. (1882) I. 147 This is leape yeare: Women weare breetches, petticoats are deare. 1606 Choice, Chance & C. (1881) 22 She that is master of her husband must weare the breeches. 1665 Glanvill Sceps. Sci. xvi. 100 The Female rules, and our Affections wear the breeches. 1807 W. Irving Salmag. (1824) 102 The violent inclination she felt to wear the breeches.

    b. Phr. too big for one's breeches or britches: see big a. 3 e.
    3. A term of ridicule applied to the Commonwealth coinage, suggested by the arrangement of two shields on the reverse side of the coin.

1673 Ld. Lucas Sp. in Ho. Peers 3 All the Parliament money called Breeches, (a fit Stamp for the Coyn of the Rump) is wholly vanished.

    4. a. The part of the body covered by this garment; the buttocks, posteriors, rump, seat. (Instances of this sense before 16th c. are very doubtful: the OE. passage, so often cited, as well as the ME. ones, prob. belong to 1.)

[c 1000 Sax. Leechd. II. 146/3 Nim gate hær smec under þa brec wiþ þær ræᵹe reosan. c 1305 Edmund Conf. 164 in E.E.P. (1862) 75 He was byneþe his brech igurd faste ynouȝ Wiþ a strong corde. 1480 Caxton Descr. Brit. 40 At her brech out and home They hong their money.]

a 1533 Frith Disp. Purg. (1829) 110 Then hath he made a rod for his own breech. 1599 Greene Alphonsus (1861) 231 Unless I send some one to scourge thy breech. 1630 Hayward Edw. VI, 74 A lewd boy turned towards him his naked britch. 1682 N. O. Boileau's Lutrin ii. 147 She dropt backwards upon her breech. 1751 Smollett Per. Pic. xlvi. (1779) II. 88 Our hero..dismissed him with a kick on the breech. 1821 Byron Juan v. lxviii, Trowsers..such as fit an Asiatic breech.

    b. spec. in Obstetr.; also ellipt. for breech delivery, position, presentation.

1673 H. Chamberlen tr. F. Mauriceau's Accomplisht Midwife ii. xxiv. 201 The Chirurgeon perceiving the Child to come with the Breech foremost, ought to put it back, if he can. 1752 W. Smellie Treat. Theory & Pract. Midwifery iii. iv. 323 When the legs are delivered, let him wrap a cloath round the breech of the child. 1781 A. Hamilton Treat. Midwifery 244 The varieties of the breech are, 1st, The fore parts of the child placed to the pubes of the mother; 2dly, To the sacrum; 3dly, To either side. 1840 T. Castle Blundell's Princ. & Pract. Obstetricy iv. vi. 292 Let then, the natural efforts bring the breech to the outlet of the pelvis, then lay hold of the hips. 1903 J. W. Williams Obstetr. xiii. 262 If interference becomes necessary, the complete breech offers more satisfactory conditions for immediate delivery. 1958 H. Speert Essays on Eponymy lxv. 567 The ‘assisted breech’ has long been taught as the properly conservative method of managing most breech births. 1962 D. E. Reid Textbk. Obstetr. xx. 532/2 During labor, as the breech descends, the shoulders must also descend. 1963 D. G. W. Clyne Textbk. Gynaecol. & Obstetr. xxviii. 666 Maternal death from an uncomplicated breech is almost unknown nowadays.

    c. transf. The hinder parts of a beast; also of its skin or fleece: cf. breeching 4.

1710 Lond. Gaz. No. 4780/4 The Hair galled off his Buttocks with a Breech Tye. 1805 J. Luccock Nat. Wool 193 The breech of the fleece is large and hairy. 1868 Daily News 8 Dec., A steer..like the rejected one..about the ‘breeches’. 1885 F. H. Bowman Struct. Wool 219 The coarsest part of the fleece..where the wool grows in large locks with long coarse hairs..is called the ‘breach’ or ‘britch’. 1940 Chambers's Techn. Dict. 114/1 Britch or breech, a wool-sorter's term for wool obtained from the thighs and root of the tail, estimated as the lowest quality in a fleece. 1963 Times 6 Feb. (N.Z. Suppl.) p. v/3 Britch wool.

    5. techn. a. Gunnery. ‘The hindermost part of a piece of ordnance’ (Bailey); the part of a cannon behind the bore; the corresponding part in a musket or rifle (cf. breech-loader). Also attrib.

1575 Gascoigne Weedes Wks. (1587) 183 The bravest peece for breech and bore that ever yet was bought. 1626 Capt. Smith Accid. Yng. Seamen 32 Her carnooze or base ring at her britch. 1664 Butler Hud. ii. i. 264 Cannons shoot the higher pitches The lower we let down their Breeches. c 1728 Swift Problem Wks. 1755 IV. i. 301 At the breech it flashes first. 1835 Marryat Olla Podr. xvii, Muskets which load at the breech. 1879 Cassell's Techn. Educ. III. 308 The gun always travels with its back part, or breech, towards the horse's heads. 1874 Boutell Arms & Arm. xi. 218 The breech end of the gun.

    b. Occas. used of the lower or thicker end of various instruments, tools, etc.; e.g. the thick end or ‘tail’ of the bolt of a lock.

1677 Moxon Mech. Exerc. (1703) 30 It hath an Hook returning at the Lower End of it, to fall into the Breech of the Bolt. 1793 Sir G. Shuckburgh in Phil. Trans. LXXXIII. 80 A semicircle divided with its nonius, to every 5{p}, on the breech plate of the telescope.

    c. Ship-building. ‘The outside angle formed by the knee-timber, the inside of which is the throat’ (Smyth Sailor's Word-bk.).
    † 6. pl. The roe of a cod-fish. Obs.

1688 R. Holme Armoury ii. xiv. 324 The Spawn, or Frye, is the seed of the fish: of some called Eggs; in a Cod-Fish termed the Breeches.

    7. Comb. chiefly attrib., as breech-belt, breech case, breech-cloth, breech-clout, breech delivery, breech labour, breech-maker, breech-part, breech-piece (of a gun), breech-pocket, breech-rope, breech-sight (of a gun), breech-tie. Also breeches-maker, breeches-pocket.

c 1450 Gloss. in Wr.-Wülcker 734 Hoc lumbare, a *brek-belt. ? c 1475 Hunt. Hare 206 His breche-belt all to-brast.

1774 W. Smellie Treat. Theory & Pract. Midwifery (ed. 5) III. 52 A *Breech case, from Dr. Tathwell. 1924 J. S. Fairbairn Gynæcol. with Obstetr. iii. xv. 283 In a doubtful breech case the finger should be passed along the cleft backwards and forwards.

1841 Catlin N. Amer. Ind. (1844) I. xxix. 232 We found him naked, except his *breech-cloth.

1757 R. Putnam Memoirs 9 July (1903) 12 Having nothing to cover us from the Natts & Musketoes..but a Shirt and *Breech Clout. 1897 Outing (U.S.) XXX. 246/1 A breech-clout for the men, and a short skirt for the women. 1947 J. Bertram Shadow of War vii. iv. 235 We stripped down to our fundoshi—a kind of Japanese breech-clout.

1882 W. T. Lusk Sci. & Art Midwifery x. 200 (heading) The configuration of the fœtus in *breech deliveries. 1964 J. M. Brudenell Obstetr. xi. 94 Because of the risks to the foetus breech deliveries should only be performed by an experienced obstetrician in hospital.

1885 W. S. Playfair Treat. Sci. & Pract. Midwifery (ed. 3) I. iii. v. 365 After a difficult *breech labour is completed the child should be carefully examined.

c 1500 Cocke Lorelles B. (1843) 6 By her crafte a *breche maker.

1858 Greener Gunnery, They all appear to have been loaded by removing a *breech part, or chamber.

1862 F. Griffiths Artil. Man. (ed. 9) 190 The *breech piece is a cylinder..bored, turned, and shrunk upon the end of the barrel.

1831 Carlyle Sart. Res. iii. xi, A Signpost, whereon stood written that such and such a one was *Breeches-Maker to his Majesty.

1783 Cowper Let. 26 Jan., Some held their hands behind them..and others had thrust them into their *breeches pockets.

    8. Special comb., as (sense 5 a) breech action, the mechanism at the breech of a gun; breech-block, a moveable steel block by which the breech end of the barrel in certain fire-arms is closed; breech-lever, a lever by which the breech-block of some cannons is screwed in place; breech-pin, breech-plug, a pin or plug closing the breech end of a gun; breech-screw (see quot.); (sense 4 b) breech baby colloq., a fœtus in the womb in a breech presentation; breech position, in a breech presentation, any of the four possible orientations of the fœtus relative to the mother's pelvis; breech presentation, a presentation (presentation 8 b) in which the buttocks are the nearest part of the fœtus to the os uteri; (sense 1 c) breeches-ball, a ball of composition for cleaning breeches; Breeches Bible, a book-collector's name for the Geneva Bible of 1560 on account of the rendering of Gen. iii. 7, though this was already in Wyclif (cf. 1 c); breeches-buoy, a life-saving apparatus consisting of a life-buoy with suspended canvass support resembling breeches through which the legs are put; breeches-figure, a person who makes a good figure in breeches; so breeches-part, a part in which men's clothes are worn by an actress. Also breech-girdle, -loader.
    The examples are arranged in alphabetical order of the second element.

1885 Daily News 13 Apr. 6/3 The *breech-action [of the gun] is so simple and well-balanced that it can be worked by a child.

1969 Woman 11 Oct. 15/1 There were two of us booked for Caesarian operations. They had decided on that for me because they thought she was a *breech baby.

1798 Jane Austen Northang. Abb. (1833) II. vii. 141 An expenditure in shoe-strings, hair-powder, and *breeches-ball.

1835 Penny Cycl. IV. 374/2 This [the Geneva] edition is often called the ‘*Breeches Bible’, on account of a rendering given in Genesis iii. 7.

1881 Greener Gun 115 The *breech-blocks blew up, in consequence of..imperfect cartridges.

1880 Boy's Own Paper III. 52/1 A life-line, furnished with a ‘*breeches-buoy’ (resembling a pair of canvas breeches with the legs cut off) was secured to the wreck.

1808 Hurstone Piccad. Ambulator II. 45 The fascinating Mrs. A—k—ns, formerly the much admired *breeches-figure on the stage.

1862 F. Griffiths Artil. Man. (ed. 9) 205 *Breech Lever, a weighted arm on the end of the breech screw.

1779 T. Holcroft Let. 30 Oct. in Hazlitt Mem. T. Holcroft (1816) III. 250 Who on the stage has considerable merit in *breeches' parts, coquets, &c. 1865 Dublin Univ. Mag. I. 70 We do not profess special admiration of ladies in what are technically..termed breeches parts.

1727 Bradley Fam. Dict. s.v. Fowling piece, The *Breech-pin..must be somewhat above the Touch-hole. 1885 Harper's Mag. Mar. 632/2 A breech-pin of a gun..was forced into the brain.

1881 Greener Gun 17 The *breech-plug was placed in a groove in the wooden frame.

1876 W. S. Playfair Treat. Sci. & Pract. Midwifery I. iii. v. 352 The phenomena of delivery in the first and third *breech positions.

1811 Lond. Pract. Midwifery (ed. 3) x. 190 In *breech presentations the parts are gradually and well dilated. 1962 D. E. Reid Textbk. Obstetr. xx. 527/1 In rare instances the diagnosis of breech presentation may be established only by use of the x-ray.

1862 F. Griffiths Artil. Man. (ed. 9) 205 *Breech-Screw, a cylinder of iron with a screw turned on the outside, working in a female screw in the breech, presses the vent piece into its place when the gun is loaded.

▪ II. breech, v.
    (brɪtʃ, briːtʃ)
    Forms: 5 brek-yn, 6 breche, britch, 6– breech.
    [f. prec. n.]
    1. To cover or clothe with, or as with, breeches; to put (a boy) into breeches. † to breech it (obs.): to serve as breeches.

1468 Medulla Gram. in Cath. Angl. 42 Bracco, to brekyn. 1509 Barclay Shyp of Folys (1874) I. 167 Breche hir with plate and mayle And for all that..She shall desceyve the. 1612 Rowlands Knaue of Harts 13 Let vs haue..French Doublet, and the Spanish Hose to breech it. 1850 Thackeray Pendennis liii, Incidents which occurred about the period when the hero was breeched.

fig. 1605 Shakes. Macb. ii. iii. 122 Their Daggers Vnmannerly breech'd with gore.

    † 2. To whip on the buttocks; to flog. Obs.

1573 G. Harvey Lett.-bk. (1884) 33 The bois must be britch[t]. 1580 Hollyband Treas. Fr. Tong., Fesser, to breech boyes, to scourge them. 1639 Massinger Unnat. Comb. i. i, Tales out of school! Take heed, you will be breeched. 1821 Scott Kenilw. xxiv, Thou art a prating boy, and should be breeched for thine assurance.

    3. Naut. To secure (a cannon) by a breeching.

1757 Lett. fr. Capt. Gilchrist 26 July (Record Office MS.), By breaching my aftermost guns aft. 1833 Marryat P. Simple (1863) 28 ‘Now..we'll breech these guns’.

Oxford English Dictionary