%bree%

n. 1. (Bot.) The English cow parsnip (Heracleum sphondylium) Dr. Prior. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. a widely cultivated southern European acanthus (Acanthus mollis) with whitish purple-veined flowers. See Acanthus, n., 1.
Syn. -- bear's breech, bear's-breech, bear's breeches, sea holly. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. [ See Breeches. ] 1. The lower part of the body behind; the buttocks. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Breeches. [ Obs. ] Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. The hinder part of anything; esp., the part of a cannon, or other firearm, behind the chamber. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Naut.) The external angle of knee timber, the inside of which is called the throat. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Breeched p. pr. & vb. n. Breeching ] 1. To put into, or clothe with, breeches. [ 1913 Webster ]

A great man . . . anxious to know whether the blacksmith's youngest boy was breeched. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To cover as with breeches. [ Poetic ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Their daggers unmannerly breeched with gore. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To fit or furnish with a breech; as, to breech a gun. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To whip on the breech. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Had not a courteous serving man conveyed me away, whilst he went to fetch whips, I think, in my conscience, he would have breeched me. Old Play. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. To fasten with breeching. [ 1913 Webster ]

. The breech mechanism in breech-loading small arms and certain special guns, as automatic and machine guns; -- used frequently in referring to the method by which the movable barrels of breech-loading shotguns are locked, unlocked, or rotated to loading position. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. The movable piece which closes the breech of a breech-loading firearm, and resists the backward force of the discharge. It is withdrawn for the insertion of a cartridge, and closed again before the gun is fired. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A cloth worn around the breech. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. covering for the loins.
Syn. -- breechcloth, loincloth, G-string. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

adj. dressed in trousers.
Syn. -- pantalooned, trousered. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. pl. [ OE. brech, brek, AS. brēk, pl. of brōc breech, breeches; akin to Icel. brōk breeches, ODan. brog, D. broek, G. bruch; cf. L. bracae, braccae, which is of Celtic origin. Cf. Brail. ] 1. A garment worn by men, covering the hips and thighs; smallclothes. [ 1913 Webster ]

His jacket was red, and his breeches were blue. Coleridge. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Trousers; pantaloons. [ Colloq. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Breeches buoy, in the life-saving service, a pair of canvas breeches depending from an annular or beltlike life buoy which is usually of cork. This contrivance, inclosing the person to be rescued, is hung by short ropes from a block which runs upon the hawser stretched from the ship to the shore, and is drawn to land by hauling lines. --
Breeches pipe, a forked pipe forming two branches united at one end. --
Knee breeches, breeches coming to the knee, and buckled or fastened there; smallclothes. --
To wear the breeches, to usurp the authority of the husband; -- said of a wife. [ Colloq. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. A whipping on the breech, or the act of whipping on the breech. [ 1913 Webster ]

I view the prince with Aristarchus' eyes,
Whose looks were as a breeching to a boy. Marlowe. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. That part of a harness which passes round the breech of a horse, enabling him to hold back a vehicle. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Naut.) A strong rope rove through the cascabel of a cannon and secured to ringbolts in the ship's side, to limit the recoil of the gun when it is discharged. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. The sheet iron casing at the end of boilers to convey the smoke from the flues to the smokestack. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A firearm which receives its load at the breech. [ 1913 Webster ]

For cavalry, the revolver and breechloader will supersede the saber. Rep. Sec. War (1860). [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Receiving the charge at the breech instead of at the muzzle. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } A strong iron or steel plug screwed into the breech of a musket or other firearm, to close the bottom of the bore. [ 1913 Webster ]

A device attached to the breech of a firearm, to guide the eye, in conjunction with the front sight, in taking aim. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. 1. To bear and nourish young; to reproduce or multiply itself; to be pregnant. [ 1913 Webster ]

That they breed abundantly in the earth. Gen. viii. 17. [ 1913 Webster ]

The mother had never bred before. Carpenter. [ 1913 Webster ]

Ant. Is your gold and silver ewes and rams?
Shy. I can not tell. I make it breed as fast. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To be formed in the parent or dam; to be generated, or to grow, as young before birth. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To have birth; to be produced or multiplied. [ 1913 Webster ]

Heavens rain grace
On that which breeds between them. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To raise a breed; to get progeny. [ 1913 Webster ]

The kind of animal which you wish to breed from. Gardner. [ 1913 Webster ]

To breed in and in, to breed from animals of the same stock that are closely related. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Bred p. pr. & vb. n. Breeding. ] [ OE. breden, AS. brēdan to nourish, cherish, keep warm, from brōd brood; akin to D. broeden to brood, OHG. bruoten, G. brüten. See Brood. ] 1. To produce as offspring; to bring forth; to bear; to procreate; to generate; to beget; to hatch. [ 1913 Webster ]

Yet every mother breeds not sons alike. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

If the sun breed maggots in a dead dog. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To take care of in infancy, and through the age of youth; to bring up; to nurse and foster. [ 1913 Webster ]

To bring thee forth with pain, with care to breed. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

Born and bred on the verge of the wilderness. Everett. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To educate; to instruct; to form by education; to train; -- sometimes followed by up. [ 1913 Webster ]

But no care was taken to breed him a Protestant. Bp. Burnet. [ 1913 Webster ]

His farm may not remove his children too far from him, or the trade he breeds them up in. Locke. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To engender; to cause; to occasion; to originate; to produce; as, to breed a storm; to breed disease. [ 1913 Webster ]

Lest the place
And my quaint habits breed astonishment. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. To give birth to; to be the native place of; as, a pond breeds fish; a northern country breeds stout men. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. To raise, as any kind of stock. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. To produce or obtain by any natural process. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Children would breed their teeth with less danger. Locke. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- To engender; generate; beget; produce; hatch; originate; bring up; nourish; train; instruct. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. A race or variety of men or other animals (or of plants), perpetuating its special or distinctive characteristics by inheritance. [ 1913 Webster ]

Twice fifteen thousand hearts of England's breed. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Greyhounds of the best breed. Carpenter. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Class; sort; kind; -- of men, things, or qualities. [ 1913 Webster ]

Are these the breed of wits so wondered at? Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

This courtesy is not of the right breed. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A number produced at once; a brood. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ Breed is usually applied to domestic animals; species or variety to wild animals and to plants; and race to men. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who breeds or originates quarrels. [ Obs. ] “No telltale nor no breedbate.” Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ or } n. Breadth. [ Obs. ] Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. One who, or that which, breeds, produces, brings up, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

She was a great breeder. Dr. A. Carlyle. [ 1913 Webster ]

Italy and Rome have been the best breeders of worthy men. Ascham. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A cause. “The breeder of my sorrow.” Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. The act or process of generating or bearing. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The raising or improving of any kind of domestic animals; as, farmers should pay attention to breeding. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Nurture; education; formation of manners. [ 1913 Webster ]

She had her breeding at my father's charge. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Deportment or behavior in the external offices and decorums of social life; manners; knowledge of, or training in, the ceremonies, or polite observances of society. [ 1913 Webster ]

Delicacy of breeding, or that polite deference and respect which civility obliges us either to express or counterfeit towards the persons with whom we converse. Hume. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. Descent; pedigree; extraction. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Honest gentlemen, I know not your breeding. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Close breeding,
In and in breeding, breeding from a male and female from the same parentage. --
Cross breeding, breeding from a male and female of different lineage. --
Good breeding, politeness; genteel deportment. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Education; instruction; nurture; training; manners. See Education. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. brise; akin to It. brezza breeze, Sp. briza, brisa, a breeze from northeast, Pg. briza northeast wind; of uncertain origin; cf. F. bise, Pr. bisa, OHG. bisa, north wind, Arm. biz northeast wind. ] 1. A light, gentle wind; a fresh, soft-blowing wind. [ 1913 Webster ]

Into a gradual calm the breezes sink. Wordsworth. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. An excited or ruffed state of feeling; a flurry of excitement; a disturbance; a quarrel; as, the discovery produced a breeze. [ Colloq. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Land breeze, a wind blowing from the land, generally at night. --
Sea breeze, a breeze or wind blowing, generally in the daytime, from the sea. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. braise cinders, live coals. See Brasier. ] 1. Refuse left in the process of making coke or burning charcoal. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Brickmaking) Refuse coal, coal ashes, and cinders, used in the burning of bricks. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To blow gently. [ R. ] J. Barlow. [ 1913 Webster ]

To breeze up (Naut.), to blow with increasing freshness. [ 1913 Webster ]

/mhw>, n. [ OE. brese, AS. briósa; perh. akin to OHG. brimissa, G. breme, bremse, D. brems, which are akin to G. brummen to growl, buzz, grumble, L. fremere to murmur; cf. G. brausen, Sw. brusa, Dan. bruse, to roar, rush. ] (Zool.) A fly of various species, of the family Tabanidæ, noted for buzzing about animals, and tormenting them by sucking their blood; -- called also horsefly, and gadfly. They are among the largest of two-winged or dipterous insects. The name is also given to different species of botflies. [ Written also breese and brize. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Motionless; destitute of breezes. [ 1913 Webster ]

A stagnant, breezeless air becalms my soul. Shenstone. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. State of being breezy. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Characterized by, or having, breezes; airy. “A breezy day in May.” Coleridge. [ 1913 Webster ]

'Mid lawns and shades by breezy rivulets fanned. Wordsworth. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Fresh; brisk; full of life. [ Colloq. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ French Canadian. ] (Zoöl.) The pronghorn antelope. [ Also written cabrit, cabret. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. A breed or an animal produced from parents of different breeds; a new variety, as of plants, combining the qualities of two parent varieties or stocks. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Anything partaking of the natures of two different things; a hybrid. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ From Daubrée, a French mineralogist. ] (Min.) A sulphide of chromium observed in some meteoric irons. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Bot.), a delicate perennial spring-flowering herb (Dicentra cucullaria) of eastern U.S., having peculiar double-spurred white flowers. See Illust. of Dicentra
Syn. -- Dicentra cucullaria. [ 1913 Webster + WordNet 1.5 ]

a. Half-blooded. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A person who is half-blooded; the offspring of parents of different races, especially of the American Indian and the white race. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ Cf. Inbreed. ] To generate within; to inbreed. [ Obs. ] Hakewill.

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Inbred p. pr. & vb. n. Inbreeding. ] [ Cf. Imbreed. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. To produce or generate within. Bp. Reynolds. [ 1913 Webster ]

To inbreed and cherish . . . the seeds of virtue. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To breed in and in. See under Breed, v. i. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. & i. To breed by crossing different stocks of animals or plants. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To breed to excess; as, the bulls were so huge and overbred no matador wanted to fight them. [ 1913 Webster +PJC ]

(Naut.), a strong breeze. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.) A race or strain differing in certain characters from the parent breed; an incipient breed. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.) The duck mole. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Unbreeched p. pr. & vb. n. Unbreeching. ] [ 1st pref. un- + breech. ] 1. To remove the breeches of; to divest or strip of breeches. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Gun.) To free the breech of, as a cannon, from its fastenings or coverings. Pennant. [ 1913 Webster ]