BREECHING

Noun

breeching (plural breechings)

The ceremony of dressing a boy in trousers for the first time.

A conduit through which exhaust gases are conducted to a chimney.

(nautical) A rope used to secure a cannon.

(equestrian) A component of horse harness or tack, enabling the horse to hold back a vehicle.

Source: Wiktionary

Breech"ing, n.

1. 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.

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

3. (Naut.)

Definition: 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.

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

BREECH

Breech, n. Etym: [See Breeches.]

1. The lower part of the body behind; the buttocks.

2. Breeches. [Obs.] Shak.

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

4. (Naut.)

Definition: The external angle of knee timber, the inside of which is called the throat.

Breech, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Breeched; p. pr. & vb. n. Breeching.]

1. To put into, or clothe with, breeches. A great man . . . anxious to know whether the blacksmith's youngest boy was breeched. Macaulay.

2. To cover as with breeches. [Poetic] Their daggers unmannerly breeched with gore. Shak.

3. To fit or furnish with a breech; as, to breech a gun.

4. 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.

5. To fasten with breeching.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition