Crossword clues for breeching
breeching
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Breech \Breech\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Breeched; p. pr. & vb. n. Breeching.]
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To put into, or clothe with, breeches.
A great man . . . anxious to know whether the blacksmith's youngest boy was breeched.
--Macaulay. -
To cover as with breeches. [Poetic]
Their daggers unmannerly breeched with gore.
--Shak. To fit or furnish with a breech; as, to breech a gun.
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To whip on the breech. [Obs.]
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. To fasten with breeching.
Breeching \Breech"ing\, n.
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A whipping on the breech, or the act of whipping on the breech.
I view the prince with Aristarchus' eyes, Whose looks were as a breeching to a boy.
--Marlowe. That part of a harness which passes round the breech of a horse, enabling him to hold back a vehicle.
(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.
The sheet iron casing at the end of boilers to convey the smoke from the flues to the smokestack.
Wiktionary
n. 1 The ceremony of dressing a boy in trousers for the first time. 2 A conduit through which exhaust gases are conducted to a chimney. 3 (context nautical English) A rope used to secure a cannon. 4 (context equestrian English) A component of horse harness or tack, enabling the horse to hold back a vehicle.
Wikipedia
Breeching was the occasion when a small boy was first dressed in breeches or trousers. From the mid-16th century until the late 19th or early 20th century, young boys in the Western world were unbreeched and wore gowns or dresses until an age that varied between two and eight. Various forms of relatively subtle differences usually enabled others to tell little boys from little girls, in codes that modern art historians are able to understand.
Breeching was an important rite of passage in the life of a boy, looked forward to with much excitement, and often celebrated with a small party. It often marked the point at which the father became more involved with the raising of a boy.
Breeching (also britching) may refer to:
- Breeching (boys), putting boys in breeches or trousers for the first time
- Breeching (tack), a strap around the haunches of a draft, pack or riding animal
- Breeching, the flue of a boiler
Usage examples of "breeching".
Captain removes the old breeching from, and places and secures the bight of the new one in the jaws of the cascabel, after the gun is sponged.
The hole in the cascabel for reeving a breeching has been purposely omitted in howitzers, as hitherto the use of a breeching has not been found necessary.
In this case the breeching should be secured after alternate exercises right and left.
Gun Captain then directs the Handspikemen, or if the screw is used, the 2d Captain, to raise the breech so as to level the gun and bring all parts of the tackles and breeching taut.
If the lower-deck guns are to be housed, the Gun Captain directs the gun to be laid square in the middle of the port and run in to a taut breeching, and if loaded, the load to be drawn.
The 2d Sponger and 2d Loader haul taut side-tackles and choke luffs, or, if rolling deep, hitch the falls round the straps of the blocks, and then unshackle the old breeching and shackle the new, which is to be brought to the gun by the 2d Captain.
The 2d Captain passes the old breeching amidships, and the men resume their usual duties at the gun.
Sponger and 2d Loader, after securing the side-tackle falls, will assist to load the gun, and the additional men will assist in unshackling the old and shackling the new breeching, but one of these will do all the duties just assigned to the 1st Captain, so as not to interfere with his ordinary duties in loading.
The shackling of the Breeching and the removal of the Bolt are, therefore, deferred until the Gun has been run out in the subsequent proceedings.
But experience shows that in firing it is better to rely habitually on the Breeching, and use the Compressors to assist.
Preventer, or Inner Breeching, will be found indispensable to avoid accident when running out to leeward in a sea-way.
On such an occasion the preventer breeching is invaluable, and will be the best safeguard, if fitted so that when well stretched it will not permit the fore trucks to ascend on the curve of the Fore-hurter, for it is this which strains the strap of the Compressor.
A thimble is to be turned into the other end, so that the length of the breeching may be conveniently altered.
The spare breechings should never be stowed near the galley nor Engine-room, lest they be damaged by heat and moisture.
The gun being now pivoted to the Port, the Breechings should be shackled and the rear Pivot-Bolt drawn, in regular order.