Breast , v. t. [imp. & p. p.Breasted; p. pr. &
vb. n. Breasting.]
To meet, with the breast; to struggle with or oppose manfully; as, to breast the storm or
waves.
The court breasted the popular current by sustaining the demurrer.
Wirt.
To breast up a hedge, to cut the face
of it on one side so as to lay bare the principal upright stems of the plants.
Breast (br&ebreve;st), n. [OE. brest,
breost, As. breóst; akin to Icel. brjōst,
Sw. bröst, Dan. bryst, Goth. brusts, OS.
briost, D. borst, G.
brust.]
1. The fore part of
the body, between the neck and the
belly; the chest; as, the
breast of a man or of a horse.
2. Either one of
the protuberant glands,
situated on the front of the
chest or thorax in the
female of man and of some other mammalia, in which milk is
secreted for the nourishment of the young; a mamma; a teat.
My brother, that sucked the breasts of my mother.
Cant. viii. 1.
3. Anything resembling the human breast, or bosom; the front or forward part of anything; as, a chimney
breast; a plow breast; the breast of a hill.
Mountains on whose barren breast
The laboring clouds do often rest.
Milton.
4. (Mining) (a) The face of a coal working. (b) The front of a furnace.
5. The seat of consciousness; the repository of thought and self-consciousness, or of secrets; the seat of the affections and passions; the heart.
He has a loyal breast.
Shak.
6. The power of singing; a musical voice; -- so called, probably, from the connection of the voice with the lungs, which lie within the breast. [Obs.]
By my troth, the fool has
an excellent breast.
Shak.
Breast drill, a portable drilling machine, provided with a breastplate, for forcing the drill against the work. - - Breast pang. See Angina pectoris, under
Angina. -- To make a clean
breast, to disclose the secrets which weigh upon one; to make full confession.
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