Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Either of two milk-secreting, glandular organs on the chest of a woman; the female mammary gland.
  • noun A corresponding rudimentary gland in a human male, especially when enlarged by exposure to estrogen or appearing to be enlarged by overlying body fat.
  • noun The superior ventral surface of the human body, extending from the neck to the abdomen.
  • noun A corresponding part in other animals.
  • noun The part of a garment that covers the chest.
  • noun The seat of affection and emotion.
  • noun Something likened to the human breast, as in being in round or broad.
  • noun The face of a mine or tunnel.
  • noun Sports Breaststroke.
  • transitive verb To go to the top of; ascend.
  • transitive verb To move forward or advance through or across.
  • transitive verb To confront or deal with resolutely.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun One of two soft protuberant bodies adhering to the thorax in women, in which the milk is secreted for the nourishment of infants; the mammary gland and associated structures.
  • noun The outer part of the thorax, or the external part of the body between the neck and the belly, in man and beasts.
  • noun In entomology, the lower or sternal surface of the thorax.
  • noun Figuratively, the seat of the affections and emotions; the repository of consciousness, designs, and secrets; the affections; the heart.
  • noun The mind; the secret thoughts.
  • noun In music, the chest; capacity for singing.
  • noun Anything resembling the breast in position, either as being in front, like the human breast, or below, like the breast in the lower animals.
  • noun That part of certain machines against which the breast of the operator pushes, as in the breast-drill, breast-plow, etc.
  • noun A line on which persons or things are ranged abreast, or side by side.
  • noun A bush for a small shaft or spindle.
  • To oppose with the breast; act with the breast upon; bear the breast against; hence, to meet in front boldly or openly; stem.
  • To practise breasting, as for deer. See breasting, 3.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To meet, with the breast; to struggle with or oppose manfully.
  • transitive verb to cut the face of it on one side so as to lay bare the principal upright stems of the plants.
  • noun The fore part of the body, between the neck and the belly; the chest.
  • noun Either one of the protuberant glands, situated on the front of the chest or thorax in the female of man and of some other mammalia, in which milk is secreted for the nourishment of the young; a mamma; a teat.
  • noun Anything resembling the human breast, or bosom; the front or forward part of anything.
  • noun The face of a coal working.
  • noun The front of a furnace.
  • noun The seat of consciousness; the repository of thought and self-consciousness, or of secrets; the seat of the affections and passions; the heart.
  • noun obsolete The power of singing; a musical voice; -- so called, probably, from the connection of the voice with the lungs, which lie within the breast.
  • noun a portable drilling machine, provided with a breastplate, for forcing the drill against the work.
  • noun See Angina pectoris, under Angina.
  • noun to disclose the secrets which weigh upon one; to make full confession.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Either of the two organs on the front of a woman's chest, which contain the mammary glands; also the analogous organs in men.
  • noun The chest, or front of the human thorax.
  • noun A section of clothing covering the breast area.
  • noun The figurative seat of the emotions, feelings etc.; one's heart or innermost thoughts.
  • noun The ventral portion of an animal's thorax.
  • noun A choice cut of poultry, especially chicken or turkey, taken from the bird’s breast; also a cut of meat from other animals, breast of mutton, veal, pork.
  • verb transitive To push against with the breast; to meet full on, to oppose, to face.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb confront bodily
  • verb reach the summit (of a mountain)
  • noun either of two soft fleshy milk-secreting glandular organs on the chest of a woman

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English brest, from Old English brēost.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English brest, from Old English brēost, from Proto-Germanic

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