| 释义 |
breast-plate|ˈbrɛstpleɪt|
[f. breast n. + plate, q.v. for Forms.]
1. A piece of armour for protecting the breast; also, any plate worn on the breast.
c1386Chaucer Knt.'s T. 2120 Som wol ben armed in an haubergeon And in bristplate. 1535Coverdale Ephes. vi. 14 Hauing on the breast-plate of righteousnesse. 1678Bunyan Pilgr. i. 62 Sword, Shield, Helmet, Breastplate. 1814Scott Ld. of Isles vi. xxxii, A lance's point Has found his breastplate's loosen'd joint. 1833J. Holland Manuf. Metals II. 11 The breast-plate..with a little steel boss in the centre and straps attached to fasten it over the workman's belly. 1844Regul. & Ord. Army 158 The Bayonet Belt is to be then fitted in front, and wherever it crosses the Pouch Belt, there the Breast-Plate is to be placed.
2. A folded piece of embroidered linen worn on the breast of the Jewish high-priest, and adorned with twelve precious stones, representing the twelve tribes. Cf. Exod. xxviii. xxxix.
1581Marbeck Bk. of Notes 75 In the Ephod or in the brest plate were .12. precious stones. 1611Bible Ex. xxviii. 4 A breastplate [Wyclif breest broche, racional; Coverdale brestlappe], and an Ephod, and a robe. 1667Milton P.L. iii. 598 The Twelve that shon In Aarons Brest-plate. 1868Marriott Vest. Chr. 79.
3. In various technical uses: as
a. Building. A breast-summer.
b. Mech. A plate in which the butt end of a drill is inserted when the pressure is applied by the breast in boring.
c. = breast- plough.
d. A strap or arrangement of straps passing across the breast of a riding-horse and attached to the saddle and saddle-girths.
e. Zool. The under part of the horny case of a tortoise or turtle; the plate covering the lower side of the thorax of some insects.
f. The inscription-plate on a coffin.
1667Primatt City & C. Build. 59 Summers, Brest-plates, with Joysts, Rafters, and Window-frames. 1677Moxon Mech. Exerc. (1703) 7 The Drill-Plate, or Breast-Plate..hath an hole punched a little way into it, to set the blunt end of the Shank of the Drill in. 1704Dict. Rust. et Urb. s.v. Burning, A Breastplayt to pare off the Turff. a1720W. Gibson Diet of Horses viii. (ed. 3) 127, I have seen horses sometimes galled and fretted by buckling their Breast⁓plates too tight. 1845Darwin Voy. Nat. xvii, We lived entirely upon tortoise-meat; the breast-plate roasted..with the flesh on it is very good. 1849in Southey Comm.-pl. Bk. Ser. ii. 586 A butterfly..through a very remarkable opening in the breast-plate, emitted a great quantity of a sort of froth. 1864Derby Mercury 7 Dec., The outer shell of the coffin was of oak..upon the breast-plate was an inscription recording the name and age of the deceased. |