vbl. sb. [f. BREAST sb. and v. + -ING1.]
1. a. The action of confronting or opposing with the breast, of ascending the breast of a slope, etc. b. concr. A covering for the breast, breastwork.
1817. Southey, Morte Arth., I. Introd. 60. ‘The French,’ says the chronicler of Pero Nino … ‘arm the horses with head pieces and breastings of leather.’
1836. Landor, Lett. Conserv., 76. The current of evil is only to be stemmed by the united weight and breasting of the people.
1870. Daily News, 7 Dec., 6/4. Its flanking fire would have prohibited the breasting of the slope toward Villiers.
2. techn. The curved channel in which a breast water-wheel works.
