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Any division extending like a branch; any arm or part connected with the main body of thing; ramification; as, the branch of an antler; the branch of a chandelier; a branch of a river; a branch of a railway. Most of the branches , or streams, were dried up. W. Irving.

cifically, one used as a memorial to the dead, and generally having the portrait, coat of arms, etc.

Armor for the arm; -- generally used for the whole arm from the shoulder to the wrist, and consisting, in the 15th and 16th centuries, of many parts.

Full, strong muscles, esp. of the arm or leg, muscular strength; a protuberant muscular part of the body; sometimes, the arm. Brawn without brains is thine. Dryden. It was ordained that murderers should be brent on the brawn of the left hand. E. Hall. And in my vantbrace put this withered brawn. Shak.…

To make or utter with a loud, discordant, or harsh and grating sound. Arms on armor clashing, brayed Horrible discord. MIlton. And varying notes the war pipes brayed. Sir W. Scott.

reak silence; to break one's sleep; to break one's journey. Go, release them, Ariel; My charms I'll break, their senses I'll restore. Shak.

A plate of metal covering the breast as defensive armor. Before his old rusty breastplate could be scoured, and his cracked headpiece mended. Swift.

ss of respiration, has parted with oxygen and has received carbonic acid, aqueous vapor, warmth, etc. Melted as breath into the wind. Shak.

ut, degenerated. "The strain of man's bred out into baboon and monkey." Shak. -- Bred to arms. See under Arms. -- Well bred. (a) Of a good family; having a good pedigree. "A gentleman well bred and of good name." Shak. [Obs., except as applied to domestic animals.] (b) Well brought up, as shown in having good manners…

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

The breech mechanism in breech-loading small arms and certain special guns, as automatic and machine guns; --used frequently in referring to the method by which the movable barrels of breech- loading shotguns are locked, unlocked, or rotated to loading position.

A strong iron or steel plug screwed into the breech of a musket or other firearm, to close the bottom of the bore.

A device attached to the breech of a firearm, to guide the eye, in conjunction with the front sight, in taking aim.

The movable piece which closes the breech of a breech-loading firearm, and resists the backward force of the discharge. It is withdrawn for the insertion of a cartridge, and closed again before the gun is fired.

A garment worn by men, covering the hips and thighs; smallclothes. His jacket was red, and his breeches were blue. Coleridge.

A firearm which receives its load at the breech. For cavalry, the revolver and breechloader will supersede the saber. Rep. Sec. War (1860).

metimes followed by up. But no care was taken to breed him a Protestant. Bp. Burnet. His farm may not remove his children too far from him, or the trade he breeds them up in. Locke.

The raising or improving of any kind of domestic animals; as, farmers should pay attention to breeding.

A seal or charm for a watch chain. "His chains and breloques." Thackeray.

r inhabitant of Brittany, or Bretagne, in France; also, the ancient language of Brittany; Armorican.