All 3 Uses of
breech
in
A Farewell to Arms
- Rinaldi took the note, folded it without rising from the bed and slid it in his breeches pocket.†
Book 1 *breeches = pants
- Later I slept on the floor of the corridor; first putting my pocketbook with my money and papers in it inside my shirt and trousers so that it was inside the leg of my breeches.†
Book 2
- I stood up, took off the breeches and pulled off the kneebrace.†
Book 3
Definitions:
-
(1)
(breech) rear
Most commonly used today in the phrase breech birth in reference to a baby who comes out of the birth canal butt-first rather than head-first.More-archaic senses seen in classic literature include:- breechcloth -- a form of loincloth consisting in a strip of material passed between the thighs and held up in front and behind by a belt or string
- breeches -- pants
- a cannon's breech -- the rear of a gun
-
(2)
(meaning too rare to warrant focus) meaning too rare to warrant focus:
A breech birth refers to a child born bottom first. A less common sense of breech refers to the lower part of a pulley block.