Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A piece of armor for protecting the breast and back, often consisting of two pieces fastened together.
- noun The front piece of this armor.
- noun Zoology A protective covering of bony plates or scales.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A piece of defensive armor covering the body from the neck to the girdle, and combining a breastplate and a backpiece.
- noun Any similar covering, as the protective armor of a ship; specifically, in zoology, some hard shell or other covering forming an indurated defensive shield, as the carapace of a beetle or an armadillo, the bony plates of a mailed fish, etc.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun A piece of defensive armor, covering the body from the neck to the girdle.
- noun The breastplate taken by itself.
- noun (Zoöl) An armor of bony plates, somewhat resembling a cuirass.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A piece of
defensive armor , covering the body from theneck to thegirdle . - noun The breastplate taken by itself.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun medieval body armor that covers the chest and back
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Primitive armour was based on a leather foundation, hence the name cuirass, was derived from _cuir_ (leather).
Arts and Crafts in the Middle Ages A Description of Mediaeval Workmanship in Several of the Departments of Applied Art, Together with Some Account of Special Artisans in the Early Renaissance Julia de Wolf Gibbs Addison
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The cuirass was the parade one; the one he had used in battle was too worn and hacked to match the splendors around.
Funeral Games Renault, Mary, 1905-1983 1981
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Persian; and there the Circassian* with his long hair and chain cuirass.
Chapter 2 - Part V 1822
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Golden, in his _Five Nations_, writes of the Red Indians as wearing "a kind of cuirass made of pieces of wood joined together."
Homer and His Age Andrew Lang 1878
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Their bodies were protected by a vest of quilted cotton, impervious to light missiles, and over this the chiefs wore mantles of gorgeous feather-work, and the richer of them a kind of cuirass of gold or silver plates.
The True Story Book Andrew Lang 1878
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A two-year-old boy died after falling on a 'cuirass' fish and one of its bones pierced his brain on Monday.
Stabroek News 2009
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In 1883 Mr. Leaf wrote: "I take it that the _zoma_ means the waist of the cuirass which is covered by the _zoster_, and has the upper edge of the _mitrê_ or plated apron beneath it fastened round the warrior's body. ...
Homer and His Age Andrew Lang 1878
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So, thanks to French and Latin, English-speakers now sink their teeth into cuirass, carnage, carnality, and carnivore.
The English Is Coming! Leslie Dunton-Downer 2010
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So, thanks to French and Latin, English-speakers now sink their teeth into cuirass, carnage, carnality, and carnivore.
The English Is Coming! Leslie Dunton-Downer 2010
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He smote the broad chest with his knuckles, and pressed and prodded the thick muscle-pads that covered the shoulders like a cuirass.
arby commented on the word cuirass
This word cracks me up because it sounds vaguely obscene, and yet it's so stodgy and historical.
May 9, 2007
trivet commented on the word cuirass
A piece of armor for protecting the breast and back. / The breastplate alone.
A defense or protection.
Zoology: A protective covering of bony plates or scales.
(Middle English curas, from Old French curasse, probably alteration (influenced by Old French cuir, leather) of Old Provençal coirassa, from Late Latin coricea (vestis), leather (garment), feminine of coriceus, from Latin corium, hide; see sker-1 in Indo-European roots.)
June 2, 2007