Word Meanings - BREECHBLOCK - Book Publishers vocabulary database

The movable piece which closes the breech of a breech-loading firearm, and resists the backward force of the discharge. It is withdrawn for the insertion of a cartridge, and closed again before the gun is fired.

Related words: (words related to BREECHBLOCK)

• FORCE
  To stuff; to lard; to farce. Wit larded with malice, and malice forced with wit. Shak.
• FIREFLY
  Any luminous winged insect, esp. luminous beetles of the family Lampyridæ. Note: The common American species belong to the genera Photinus and Photuris, in which both sexes are winged. The name is also applied to luminous species of Elateridæ.
• FIRST
  Sw. & Dan. förste, OHG. furist, G. fürst prince; a superlatiye form 1. Preceding all others of a series or kind; the ordinal of one; earliest; as, the first day of a month; the first year of a reign. 2. Foremost; in front of, or in advance of,
• FIREARM
  A gun, pistol, or any weapon from a shot is discharged by the force of an explosive substance, as gunpowder.
• BREECHCLOTH
  A cloth worn around the breech.
• AGAINSTAND
  To withstand.
• FIREDRAKE
  1. A fiery dragon. Beau. & Fl. 2. A fiery meteor; an ignis fatuus; a rocket. 3. A worker at a furnace or fire. B. Jonson.
• CLOSEHANDED
  Covetous; penurious; stingy; closefisted. -- Close"hand`ed*ness, n.
• MOVABLE
  1. Capable of being moved, lifted, carried, drawn, turned, or conveyed, or in any way made to change place or posture; susceptible of motion; not fixed or stationary; as, a movable steam engine. 2. Changing from one time to another; as, movable
• AGAINSAY
  To gainsay. Wyclif.
• FIRMAN
  In Turkey and some other Oriental countries, a decree or mandate issued by the sovereign; a royal order or grant; -- generally given for special objects, as to a traveler to insure him protection and assistance.
• FIRE-FANGED
  Injured as by fire; burned; -- said of manure which has lost its goodness and acquired an ashy hue in consequence of heat generated by decomposition.
• FIREWORM
  The larva of a small tortricid moth which eats the leaves of the cranberry, so that the vines look as if burned; -- called also cranberry worm.
• PIECER
  1. One who pieces; a patcher. 2. A child employed in spinning mill to tie together broken threads.
• BREECH-LOADING
  Receiving the charge at the breech instead of at the muzzle.
• BACKWARD; BACKWARDS
  1. With the back in advance or foremost; as, to ride backward. 2. Toward the back; toward the rear; as, to throw the arms backward. 3. On the back, or with the back downward. Thou wilt fall backward. Shak. 4. Toward, or in, past time or events;
• CLOSEFISTED
  Covetous; niggardly. Bp. Berkeley. "Closefisted contractors." Hawthorne.
• BEFORETIME
  Formerly; aforetime. dwelt in their tents, as beforetime. 2 Kings xiii. 5.
• WHICHEVER; WHICHSOEVER
  Whether one or another; whether one or the other; which; that one which; as, whichever road you take, it will lead you to town.
• FORCEPS
  The caudal forceps-shaped appendage of earwigs and some other insects. See Earwig. Dressing forceps. See under Dressing. (more info) 1. A pair of pinchers, or tongs; an instrument for grasping, holding firmly, or exerting traction upon, bodies
• CYCLOSTYLE
  A contrivance for producing manifold copies of writing or drawing. The writing or drawing is done with a style carrying a small wheel at the end which makes minute punctures in the paper, thus converting it into a stencil. Copies are transferred
• UNCLOSE
  1. To open; to separate the parts of; as, to unclose a letter; to unclose one's eyes. 2. To disclose; to lay open; to reveal.
• ENCLOSE
  To inclose. See Inclose.
• REINFORCEMENT
  See REëNFORCEMENT
• PARCLOSE
  A screen separating a chapel from the body of the church. Hook.
• AFFIRMATIVELY
  In an affirmative manner; on the affirmative side of a question; in the affirmative; -- opposed to negatively.
• THEREAGAIN
  In opposition; against one's course. If that him list to stand thereagain. Chaucer.
• UNFIRM
  Infirm. Dryden.
• SPARPIECE
  The collar beam of a roof; the spanpiece. Gwilt.
• SURFACE LOADING
  The weight supported per square unit of surface; the quotient obtained by dividing the gross weight, in pounds, of a fully loaded flying machine, by the total area, in square feet, of its supporting surface.
• DEFORCEOR
  See DEFORCIANT
• SPITFIRE
  A violent, irascible, or passionate person. Grose.
• IRREMOVABLE
  Not removable; immovable; inflexible. Shak. -- Ir`re*mov"a*bly, adv.
• ZULU-KAFFIR
  A member of the Bantu race comprising the Zulus and the Kaffirs.