*bre*

a. [ L. abbreviatus, p. p. ] 1. Abbreviated; abridged; shortened. [ R. ] “The abbreviate form.” Earle. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Biol.) Having one part relatively shorter than another or than the ordinary type. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. An abridgment. [ Obs. ] Elyot. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Shortened; relatively short; abbreviate. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ LL. abbreviatio: cf. F. abbréviation. ] 1. The act of shortening, or reducing. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The result of abbreviating; an abridgment. Tylor. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. The form to which a word or phrase is reduced by contraction and omission; a letter or letters, standing for a word or phrase of which they are a part; as, Gen. for Genesis; U.S.A. for United States of America. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Mus.) One dash, or more, through the stem of a note, dividing it respectively into quavers, semiquavers, or demi-semiquavers. Moore. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ LL.: cf. F. abbréviateur. ] 1. One who abbreviates or shortens. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. One of a college of seventy-two officers of the papal court whose duty is to make a short minute of a decision on a petition, or reply of the pope to a letter, and afterwards expand the minute into official form. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Serving or tending to abbreviate; shortening; abridging. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. An abbreviation; an abbreviated state or form. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

2. An abridgment; a compendium or abstract. [ 1913 Webster ]

This is an excellent abbreviature of the whole duty of a Christian. Jer. Taylor. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Pref. ab- + reaction, after G. Abreagirung. ] (Psychotherapy) the purging of emotional tensions. See Catharsis, below.
Syn. -- catharsis, katharsis [ Webster 1913 Suppl. WordNet 1.5 ]

adv. [ Pref. a- + breast. ] 1. Side by side, with breasts in a line; as, “Two men could hardly walk abreast.” Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Naut.) Side by side; also, opposite; over against; on a line with the vessel's beam; -- with of. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Up to a certain level or line; equally advanced; as, to keep abreast of [ or with ] the present state of science. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. At the same time; simultaneously. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Abreast therewith began a convocation. Fuller. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. See Abridge. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ L. abrenuntiare; ab + renuntiare. See Renounce. ] To renounce. [ Obs. ] “They abrenounce and cast them off.” Latimer. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ LL. abrenuntiatio. See Abrenounce. ] Absolute renunciation or repudiation. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

An abrenunciation of that truth which he so long had professed, and still believed. Fuller. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. abreptus, p. p. of abripere to snatch away; ab + rapere to snatch. ] A snatching away. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ F., a watering place. ] (Masonry) The joint or interstice between stones, to be filled with mortar. Gwilt. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } a. Made or decorated after the fanciful style of the ornamentation in the Alhambra, which affords an unusually fine exhibition of Saracenic or Arabesque architecture. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖ [ It., according to the breve. ] (Old Church Music) With one breve, or four minims, to measure, and sung faster like four crotchets; in quick common time; -- indicated in the time signature by &unr_;. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Chem.) A salt formed by the combination of ambreic acid with a base or positive radical. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. (Chem.) Of or pertaining to ambrein; -- said of a certain acid produced by digesting ambrein in nitric acid. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. F. ambréine. See Amber. ] (Chem.) A fragrant substance which is the chief constituent of ambergris. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Barbarian. [ Obs. ] Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. wearing no covering for the breasts or featuring such nudity. bare-breasted beauties parading along the beach"
Syn. -- braless, topless. [WordNet 1.5]

{ } n. An ancient rural game, commonly played round stacks of barley, or other grain, in which some of the party attempt to catch others who run from a goal. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Lit. barley broth. See Brew. ] Liquor made from barley; strong ale. [ Humorous ] [ Scot. ] Burns. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. (Bot.) The English cow parsnip (Heracleum sphondylium) Dr. Prior. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. a widely cultivated southern European acanthus (Acanthus mollis) with whitish purple-veined flowers. See Acanthus, n., 1.
Syn. -- bear's breech, bear's-breech, bear's breeches, sea holly. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. A brown, bitter substance found in some of the cells of honeycomb. It is made chiefly from the pollen of flowers, which is collected by bees as food for their young. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.) A small European bird; the blue-throated warbler. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } a. [ AS. brant; akin to Dan. brat, Icel. brattr, steep. ] 1. Steep; high. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Grapes grow on the brant rocks so wonderfully that ye will marvel how any man dare climb up to them. Ascham. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Smooth; unwrinkled. [ Scot. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Your bonnie brow was brent. Burns. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. breke, breche, AS. brice, gebrice, gebrece (in comp.), fr. brecan to break; akin to Dan. bræk, MHG. breche, gap, breach. See Break, and cf. Brake (the instrument), Brack a break ] . 1. The act of breaking, in a figurative sense. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Specifically: A breaking or infraction of a law, or of any obligation or tie; violation; non-fulfillment; as, a breach of contract; a breach of promise. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A gap or opening made made by breaking or battering, as in a wall or fortification; the space between the parts of a solid body rent by violence; a break; a rupture. [ 1913 Webster ]

Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more;
Or close the wall up with our English dead. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. A breaking of waters, as over a vessel; the waters themselves; surge; surf. [ 1913 Webster ]

The Lord hath broken forth upon mine enemies before me, as the breach of waters. 2 Sam. v. 20. [ 1913 Webster ]

A clear breach implies that the waves roll over the vessel without breaking. --
A clean breach implies that everything on deck is swept away. Ham. Nav. Encyc. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. A breaking up of amicable relations; rupture. [ 1913 Webster ]

There's fallen between him and my lord
An unkind breach. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. A bruise; a wound. [ 1913 Webster ]

Breach for breach, eye for eye. Lev. xxiv. 20. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. (Med.) A hernia; a rupture. [ 1913 Webster ]

8. A breaking out upon; an assault. [ 1913 Webster ]

The Lord had made a breach upon Uzza. 1. Chron. xiii. 11. [ 1913 Webster ]

Breach of falth, a breaking, or a failure to keep, an expressed or implied promise; a betrayal of confidence or trust. --
Breach of peace, disorderly conduct, disturbing the public peace. --
Breach of privilege, an act or default in violation of the privilege or either house of Parliament, of Congress, or of a State legislature, as, for instance, by false swearing before a committee. Mozley. Abbott. [ 1913 Webster ]

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Breach of promise, violation of one's plighted word, esp. of a promise to marry. --
Breach of trust, violation of one's duty or faith in a matter entrusted to one. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Rent; cleft; chasm; rift; aperture; gap; break; disruption; fracture; rupture; infraction; infringement; violation; quarrel; dispute; contention; difference; misunderstanding. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Breached p. pr. & vb. n. Breaching. ] To make a breach or opening in; as, to breach the walls of a city. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To break the water, as by leaping out; -- said of a whale. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Apt to break fences or to break out of pasture; unruly; as, breachy cattle. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ AS. brædan to make broad, to spread. See Broad, a. ] To spread. [ Obs. ] Ray. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ AS. breád; akin to OFries. brād, OS. brōd, D. brood, G. brod, brot, Icel. brauð, Sw. & Dan. bröd. The root is probably that of E. brew. √93. See Brew. ] 1. An article of food made from flour or meal by moistening, kneading, and baking. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞
Raised bread is made with yeast, salt, and sometimes a little butter or lard, and is mixed with warm milk or water to form the dough, which, after kneading, is given time to rise before baking. --
Cream of tartar bread is raised by the action of an alkaline carbonate or bicarbonate (as saleratus or ammonium bicarbonate) and cream of tartar (acid tartrate of potassium) or some acid. --
Unleavened bread is usually mixed with water and salt only. [ 1913 Webster ]

Aërated bread. See under Aërated.
Bread and butter (fig.), means of living. --
Brown bread,
Indian bread,
Graham bread,
Rye and Indian bread. See Brown bread, under Brown. --
Bread tree. See Breadfruit. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Food; sustenance; support of life, in general. [ 1913 Webster ]

Give us this day our daily bread. Matt. vi. 11 [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. (Cookery) To cover with bread crumbs, preparatory to cooking; as, breaded cutlets. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The stomach. [ Humorous ] S. Foote. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. a container used to store breads or cake, to keep them fresh.
Syn. -- breadbox. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. a container used to store breads or cake, to keep them fresh.
Syn. -- bread-bin. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

Corn of grain of which bread is made, as wheat, rye, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Braided [ Obs. ] Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Made of bread. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Bot.) 1. The fruit of a tree (Artocarpus incisa) found in the islands of the Pacific, esp. the South Sea islands. It is of a roundish form, from four to six or seven inches in diameter, and, when baked, somewhat resembles bread, and is eaten as food, whence the name. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Bot.) The tree itself, which is one of considerable size, with large, lobed leaves. Cloth is made from the bark, and the timber is used for many purposes. Called also breadfruit tree and bread tree. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Without bread; destitute of food. [ 1913 Webster ]

Plump peers and breadless bards alike are dull. P. Whitehead. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. a queue of people waiting for free food.
Syn. -- bread line. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. (Bot.) The root of a leguminous plant (Psoralea esculenta), found near the Rocky Mountains. It is usually oval in form, and abounds in farinaceous matter, affording sweet and palatable food. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ It is the Pomme blanche of Canadian voyageurs. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Grain, flour, or meal of which bread is made. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. brede, breede, whence later bredette, AS. br&aemacr_;du, fr. brād broad. See Broad, a. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. Distance from side to side of any surface or thing; measure across, or at right angles to the length; width. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Fine Arts) The quality of having the colors and shadows broad and massive, and the arrangement of objects such as to avoid to great multiplicity of details, producing an impression of largeness and simple grandeur; -- called also breadth of effect.

Breadth of coloring is a prominent character in the painting of all great masters. Weale. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Without breadth. [ 1913 Webster ]

ads. Breadthwise. Whewell. [ 1913 Webster ]