BREECH

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does breech mean? 

• BREECH (noun)
  The noun BREECH has 1 sense:

1. opening in the rear of the barrel of a gun where bullets can be loaded

  Familiarity information: BREECH used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• BREECH (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Opening in the rear of the barrel of a gun where bullets can be loaded

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

breech; rear of barrel; rear of tube

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

opening (a vacant or unobstructed space that is man-made)

Meronyms (parts of "breech"):

breech closer; breechblock (a metal block in breech-loading firearms that is withdrawn to insert a cartridge and replaced to close the breech before firing)

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

barrel; cask (a cylindrical container that holds liquids)

 Context examples 

I drew off my shoes, stockings, and breeches.

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

Pre-cise-ly! was the answer; and, 'comme cela,' she charmed my English gold out of my British breeches' pocket.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

A manual method of maneuvering the fetus from outside the mother's abdomen to convert a breech into a cephalic presentation.

(External Fetal Rotation, NCI Thesaurus)

Several times we shipped a little water, and my breeches and the tails of my coat were all soaking wet before we had gone a hundred yards.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

His black breeches and silk stockings ended in very small pointed shoes, so highly polished that they twinkled with every movement.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He was a rough, powerful peasant, with cap and tunic of untanned sheepskin, leather breeches, and galligaskins round legs and feet.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Partly under him lay the shot-gun, still broken open at the breech.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

“In breeches and gaiters, broad-brimmed hat, grey coat, speckled choker,” said the waiter.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

The rifles still lay upon the ground, and one of them—Lord John's—had the empty cartridge in the breech.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Possible complications include: • Preterm (premature) labor, when labor starts before 37 completed weeks of pregnancy • Problems with the umbilical cord • Problems with the position of the baby, such as breech, in which the baby is going to come out feet first • Birth injuries

(Childbirth Problems, NIH)