BREAST

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does breast mean? 

• BREAST (noun)
  The noun BREAST has 4 senses:

1. the front of the trunk from the neck to the abdomen

2. either of two soft fleshy milk-secreting glandular organs on the chest of a woman

3. meat carved from the breast of a fowl

4. the part of an animal's body that corresponds to a person's chest

  Familiarity information: BREAST used as a noun is uncommon.

• BREAST (verb)
  The verb BREAST has 3 senses:

1. meet at breast level

2. reach the summit (of a mountain)

3. confront bodily

  Familiarity information: BREAST used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• BREAST (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The front of the trunk from the neck to the abdomen

Classified under:

Nouns denoting body parts

Synonyms:

breast; chest

Context example:

he beat his breast in anger

Hypernyms ("breast" is a kind of...):

external body part (any body part visible externally)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "breast"):

bosom (a person's breast or chest)

Holonyms ("breast" is a part of...):

chest; pectus; thorax (the part of the human torso between the neck and the diaphragm or the corresponding part in other vertebrates)

Derivation:

breast (meet at breast level)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Either of two soft fleshy milk-secreting glandular organs on the chest of a woman

Classified under:

Nouns denoting body parts

Synonyms:

boob; bosom; breast; knocker; tit; titty

Hypernyms ("breast" is a kind of...):

mamma; mammary gland (milk-secreting organ of female mammals)

Meronyms (parts of "breast"):

lactiferous duct (ducts of the mammary gland that carry milk to the nipple)

areola; ring of color (small circular area such as that around the human nipple or an inflamed area around a pimple or insect bite)

Holonyms ("breast" is a part of...):

adult female body; woman's body (the body of an adult woman)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Meat carved from the breast of a fowl

Classified under:

Nouns denoting foods and drinks

Synonyms:

breast; white meat

Hypernyms ("breast" is a kind of...):

helping; portion; serving (an individual quantity of food or drink taken as part of a meal)

Holonyms ("breast" is a part of...):

chicken; poulet; volaille (the flesh of a chicken used for food)

turkey (flesh of large domesticated fowl usually roasted)

Sense 4

Meaning:

The part of an animal's body that corresponds to a person's chest

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Hypernyms ("breast" is a kind of...):

external body part (any body part visible externally)

• BREAST (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they breast    ... he / she / it breasts   
Past simple: breasted   
Past participle: breasted   
-ing form: breasting   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Meet at breast level

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Context example:

The runner breasted the tape

Hypernyms (to "breast" is one way to...):

converge; meet (be adjacent or come together)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something

Derivation:

breast (the front of the trunk from the neck to the abdomen)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Reach the summit (of a mountain)

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Synonyms:

breast; summit

Context example:

Many mountaineers go up Mt. Everest but not all summit

Hypernyms (to "breast" is one way to...):

arrive at; attain; gain; hit; make; reach (reach a destination, either real or abstract)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Sense 3

Meaning:

Confront bodily

Classified under:

Verbs of fighting, athletic activities

Synonyms:

breast; front

Context example:

breast the storm

Hypernyms (to "breast" is one way to...):

confront; face (oppose, as in hostility or a competition)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something

 Context examples 

With a tired sigh, and with an impulsive movement all her own, unpremeditated, spasmodic, she rested her head upon his breast.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

He was about to push recklessly forward into the open, when Sir Nigel himself darted in front of him, with his hand upon his breast.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It is used to treat breast and endometrial cancer, and is being studied in the treatment of other types of cancer.

(Megestrol, NCI Dictionary)

A look of surprise passed over his face, and at the first quiver of his eyebrows my heart turned to lead in my breast.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

A drug used to treat advanced breast and endometrial cancer.

(Megace, NCI Dictionary)

An adenoid cystic carcinoma primarily involving the breast.

(Adenoid Cystic Breast Carcinoma, NCI Thesaurus)

Representative examples of adenocarcinoma are ductal and lobular breast carcinoma, lung adenocarcinoma, renal cell carcinoma, hepatocellular carcinoma (hepatoma), colon adenocarcinoma, and prostate adenocarcinoma.

(Adenocarcinoma, NCI Thesaurus)

Most cancers of the breast, pancreas, lung, prostate, and colon are adenocarcinomas.

(Adenocarcinoma, NCI Dictionary)

"But I shall have to cut a hole in your breast, so I can put your heart in the right place. I hope it won't hurt you."

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)

The second course was two ducks trussed up in the form of fiddles; sausages and puddings resembling flutes and hautboys, and a breast of veal in the shape of a harp.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)