breeching


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breech·ing

 (brē′chĭng, brĭch′ĭng)
n.
1. The strap of a harness that passes behind a draft animal's haunches.
2. The short wool or hair on the rump and hind legs of a sheep, goat, or dog.
3. The parts of a gun that make up the breech.
4. A rope formerly used to secure the breech of a cannon to the side of a ship to control the recoil.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

breeching

(ˈbrɪtʃɪŋ; ˈbriː-)
n
1. (Horse Training, Riding & Manège) the strap of a harness that passes behind a horse's haunches
2. (Military) navy (formerly) the rope used to check the recoil run of a ship's guns or to secure them against rough weather
3. (Firearms, Gunnery, Ordnance & Artillery) the parts comprising the breech of a gun
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

breech•ing

(ˈbrɪtʃ ɪŋ, ˈbri tʃɪŋ)

n.
the part of a harness that passes around the haunches of a horse..
[1505–15]
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.

Breeching

A heavy, laminated leather harness strap fitting around the horse’s rump. It was fastened to other parts of the harness to keep the harness from slipping forward over the horse’s head when the hames were connected to a neck yoke and the horse used to brake an implement.
1001 Words and Phrases You Never Knew You Didn’t Know by W.R. Runyan Copyright © 2011 by W.R. Runyan
References in classic literature ?
He looked out several times at Mukhorty and could see that his back was uncovered and the drugget and breeching lying on the snow, and that he ought to get up and cover him, but he could not bring himself to leave Nikita and disturb even for a moment the joyous condition he was in.
Yet it was necessary for him to get up because Ivan Matveich, the police-officer, would soon call for him and he had to go with him--either to bargain for the forest or to put Mukhorty's breeching straight.
Gerber promotes its Downrange Tomahawk as the ultimate breeching tool for law enforcement.