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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 It is withdrawn for the insertion of a cartridge, and closed again before the gun is fired.

Miscellaneous curiosities and works of decorative art, considered collectively. A piece of bric-a-brac, any curious or antique article of virtu, as a piece of antiquated furniture or metal work, or an odd knickknack.

A piece or fragment of a brick. See Bat, 4. Bacon.

The piece in the interior of a gun lock, which holds in place the timbler, sear, etc.

, used for paving; also, a molded sample of solidified cement or mortar for use as a test piece for showing the strength of the material.

ily broken; apt to break; fragile; not tough or tenacious. Farewell, thou pretty, brittle piece Of fine-cut crystal. Cotton. Brittle silver ore, the mineral stephanite.

Separated into parts or pieces by violence; divided into fragments; as, a broken chain or rope; a broken dish.

broken state; in broken language. The pagans worship God . . . as it were brokenly and by piecemeal. Cudworth.

(Mil.), a small copper-hooped barrel with only one head, the other end being closed by a piece of leather, which is drawn together with strings like a purse. It is used for carrying powder from the magazine to the battery, in siege or seacoast service.

ks, vulgar tricks and postures. Nor that it will ever constitute a wit to conclude a tart piece of buffoonery with a "What makes you blush" Spectator.

A cannon ball. [Obs.] A ship before Greenwich . . . shot off her ordnance, one piece being charged with a bullet of stone. Stow.

A piece of wood placed on a lumberman's sled to sustain the end of heavy timbers. [Local, U.S.]

A chest of drawers for clothes, especially when made as an ornamental piece of furniture. [U.S.] Bureau system. See Bureaucracy. -- Bureau Veritas, an institution, in the interest of maritime underwriters, for the survey and rating of vessels all over the world. It was founded in Belgium in 1828, removed to Paris in 1…

iron, made to close air- tight, for the preservation of a dead body. -- Burial ground, a piece of ground selected and set apart for a place of buriials, and consecrated to such use by religious ceremonies. -- Burial place, any place where burials are made. -- Burial service. (a) The religious service performed at th…

A cloaklike garment and hood woven in one piece, worn by Arabs.

A thin flat piece of metal, formed from a sheet by punching; a small washer put on the end of a rivet before it is swaged down.

A mixture of shot, nails, stones, pieces of old iron, etc., fired from a cannon at short range, in an emergency. [R.]

To fly apart or in pieces; of break open; to yield to force or pressure, especially to a sudden and violent exertion of force, or to pressure from within; to explode; as, the boiler had burst; the buds will burst in spring. From the egg that soon Bursting with kindly rupture, forth disclosed Their callow young. Milton.…

se a bush harrow on (land), for covering seeds sown; to harrow with a bush; as, to bush a piece of land; to bush seeds into the ground.

he rarest pictures with bushels of gold, without counting the weight or the number of the pieces. Dryden.