breast-plate
(ˈbrɛstpleɪt)
[f. breast n. + plate, q.v. for Forms.]
1. A piece of armour for protecting the breast; also, any plate worn on the breast.
| c 1386 Chaucer Knt.'s T. 2120 Som wol ben armed in an haubergeon And in bristplate. 1535 Coverdale Ephes. vi. 14 Hauing on the breast-plate of righteousnesse. 1678 Bunyan Pilgr. i. 62 Sword, Shield, Helmet, Breastplate. 1814 Scott Ld. of Isles vi. xxxii, A lance's point Has found his breastplate's loosen'd joint. 1833 J. Holland Manuf. Metals II. 11 The breast-plate..with a little steel boss in the centre and straps attached to fasten it over the workman's belly. 1844 Regul. & Ord. Army 158 The Bayonet Belt is to be then fitted in front, and wherever it crosses the Pouch Belt, there the Breast-Plate is to be placed. |
2. A folded piece of embroidered linen worn on the breast of the Jewish high-priest, and adorned with twelve precious stones, representing the twelve tribes. Cf. Exod. xxviii. xxxix.
| 1581 Marbeck Bk. of Notes 75 In the Ephod or in the brest plate were .12. precious stones. 1611 Bible Ex. xxviii. 4 A breastplate [Wyclif breest broche, racional; Coverdale brestlappe], and an Ephod, and a robe. 1667 Milton P.L. iii. 598 The Twelve that shon In Aarons Brest-plate. 1868 Marriott Vest. Chr. 79. |
3. In various technical uses: as a. Building. A breast-summer. b. Mech. A plate in which the butt end of a drill is inserted when the pressure is applied by the breast in boring. c. = breast- plough. d. A strap or arrangement of straps passing across the breast of a riding-horse and attached to the saddle and saddle-girths. e. Zool. The under part of the horny case of a tortoise or turtle; the plate covering the lower side of the thorax of some insects. f. The inscription-plate on a coffin.
| 1667 Primatt City & C. Build. 59 Summers, Brest-plates, with Joysts, Rafters, and Window-frames. 1677 Moxon Mech. Exerc. (1703) 7 The Drill-Plate, or Breast-Plate..hath an hole punched a little way into it, to set the blunt end of the Shank of the Drill in. 1704 Dict. Rust. et Urb. s.v. Burning, A Breastplayt to pare off the Turff. a 1720 W. Gibson Diet of Horses viii. (ed. 3) 127, I have seen horses sometimes galled and fretted by buckling their Breast⁓plates too tight. 1845 Darwin Voy. Nat. xvii, We lived entirely upon tortoise-meat; the breast-plate roasted..with the flesh on it is very good. 1849 in Southey Comm.-pl. Bk. Ser. ii. 586 A butterfly..through a very remarkable opening in the breast-plate, emitted a great quantity of a sort of froth. 1864 Derby Mercury 7 Dec., The outer shell of the coffin was of oak..upon the breast-plate was an inscription recording the name and age of the deceased. |