unbreech

English edit

Etymology edit

Verb edit

unbreech (third-person singular simple present unbreeches, present participle unbreeching, simple past and past participle unbreeched)

(transitive) To remove the breeches of.
- c. 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Winters Tale”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii]:
  Looking on the lines
  Of my boy's face, my thoughts I did recoil
  Twenty-three years; and saw myself unbreech'd
(military, transitive) To free the breech of (a cannon etc.) from its fastenings or coverings.
- 1801, Thomas Pennant, A journey from London to the Isle of Wight:
  She was overladen with guns , some were unbreeched , and her port - holes left open

References edit

“unbreech”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Anagrams edit

Buechner