What does breast mean?

Definitions for breast
brɛstbreast

This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word breast.

Princeton's WordNet

  1. breast, chestnoun

    the front of the trunk from the neck to the abdomen

    "he beat his breast in anger"

  2. breast, bosom, knocker, boob, tit, tittynoun

    either of two soft fleshy milk-secreting glandular organs on the chest of a woman

  3. breast, white meatnoun

    meat carved from the breast of a fowl

  4. breastverb

    the part of an animal's body that corresponds to a person's chest

  5. breastverb

    meet at breast level

    "The runner breasted the tape"

  6. summit, breastverb

    reach the summit (of a mountain)

    "They breasted the mountain"; "Many mountaineers go up Mt. Everest but not all summit"

  7. front, breastverb

    confront bodily

    "breast the storm"

Wiktionary

  1. breastnoun

    Either of the two organs on the front of a woman's chest, which contain the mammary glands; also the analogous organs in men.

    Tanya's breasts grew alarmingly during pregnancy.

  2. breastnoun

    The chest, or front of the human thorax.

  3. breastnoun

    A section of clothing covering the breast area.

  4. breastnoun

    The figurative seat of the emotions, feelings etc.; one's heart or innermost thoughts.

    She kindled hope in the breast of all who heard her.

  5. breastnoun

    The ventral portion of an animal's thorax.

    The robin has a red breast.

  6. breastnoun

    A choice cut of poultry, especially chicken or turkey, taken from the bird's breast.

    Would you like breast or wing?

  7. breastverb

    To push against with the breast; to meet full on, to oppose, to face.

    He breasted the hill and saw the town before him.

  8. Etymology: From brest, from breost, from

Samuel Johnson's Dictionary

  1. BREASTnoun

    Etymology: breost, Saxon.

    The substance of the breasts is composed of a great number of glands, of an oval figure, which lie in a great quantity of fat. Their excretory ducts, as they approach the nipple, join and unite together, till at last they form seven, eight, or more, small pipes, called tubuli lactiferi, which have several cross canals, by which they communicate with one another, that if any of them be stopped, the milk, which was brought to it, might not stagnate, but pass through by the other pipes, which all terminate in the extremity of the nipple. They have arteries and veins from the subclavian and intercostal. They have nerves from the vertebral pairs, and from the sixth pair of the brain. Their use is to separate the milk for the nourishment of the fœtus. The tubes, which compose the glands of the breast in maids, like a sphincter muscle, contract so closely, that no part of the blood can enter them; but when the womb grows big with a fœtus, and compresses the descending trunk of the great artery, the blood flows in a greater quantity, and with a greater force, through the arteries of the breasts, and forces a passage into their glands, which, being at first narrow, admits only of a thin water; but growing wider by degrees, as the womb grows bigger, the glands receive a thick serum, and, after birth, they run with a thick milk; because that blood, which before did flow to the fœtus, and, for three or four days afterwards, by the uterus, beginning then to stop, does more dilate the mamillary glands. John Quincy.

    They pluck the fatherless from the breast. Job, xxiv. 9.

    Needless was written law, where none opprest;
    The law of man was written in his breast. John Dryden, Ovid.

    Margarita first possess’d,
    If I remember well, my breast. Abraham Cowley.

  2. To Breastverb

    To meet in front; to oppose breast to breast.

    Etymology: from the noun.

    The threaden sails
    Draw the huge bottoms through the furrow’d sea,
    Breasting the lofty surge. William Shakespeare, Henry V.

Wikipedia

  1. Breast

    The breast is one of two prominences located on the upper ventral region of a primate's torso. Both females and males develop breasts from the same embryological tissues. In females, it serves as the mammary gland, which produces and secretes milk to feed infants. Subcutaneous fat covers and envelops a network of ducts that converge on the nipple, and these tissues give the breast its size and shape. At the ends of the ducts are lobules, or clusters of alveoli, where milk is produced and stored in response to hormonal signals. During pregnancy, the breast responds to a complex interaction of hormones, including estrogens, progesterone, and prolactin, that mediate the completion of its development, namely lobuloalveolar maturation, in preparation of lactation and breastfeeding. Humans are the only animals with permanent breasts. At puberty, estrogens, in conjunction with growth hormone, cause permanent breast growth in female humans. This happens only to a much lesser extent in other primates—breast development in other primates generally only occurs with pregnancy. Along with their major function in providing nutrition for infants, female breasts have social and sexual characteristics. Breasts have been featured in ancient and modern sculpture, art, and photography. They can figure prominently in the perception of a woman's body and sexual attractiveness. A number of cultures associate breasts with sexuality and tend to regard bare breasts in public as immodest or indecent. Breasts, especially the nipples, are an erogenous zone.

ChatGPT

  1. breast

    Breasts are a pair of mammary glands present on the chest area of both male and female mammals, particularly prominent in females. They are responsible for the production and storage of milk in females, providing nutrition to newborns. Structurally, they consist of fatty tissue, lobules (milk-producing glands), and ducts for milk transportation. Their size, shape, and appearance can differ significantly amongst individuals.

Webster Dictionary

  1. Breastnoun

    the fore part of the body, between the neck and the belly; the chest; as, the breast of a man or of a horse

  2. Breastnoun

    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

  3. Breastnoun

    anything resembling the human breast, or bosom; the front or forward part of anything; as, a chimney breast; a plow breast; the breast of a hill

  4. Breastnoun

    the face of a coal working

  5. Breastnoun

    the front of a furnace

  6. Breastnoun

    the seat of consciousness; the repository of thought and self-consciousness, or of secrets; the seat of the affections and passions; the heart

  7. Breastnoun

    the power of singing; a musical voice; -- so called, probably, from the connection of the voice with the lungs, which lie within the breast

  8. Breastverb

    to meet, with the breast; to struggle with or oppose manfully; as, to breast the storm or waves

  9. Breastnoun

    a torus

Wikidata

  1. Breast

    The breast is the upper ventral region of the torso of a primate, in left and right sides, containing the mammary gland which in a female can secrete milk used to feed infants. Both men and women develop breasts from the same embryological tissues. However, at puberty, female sex hormones, mainly estrogen, promote breast development which does not occur in men due to the higher amount of testosterone. As a result, women's breasts become far more prominent than those of men. During pregnancy, the breast is responsive to a complex interplay of hormones that cause tissue development and enlargement in order to produce milk. Three such hormones are estrogen, progesterone and prolactin, which cause glandular tissue in the breast and the uterus to change during the menstrual cycle. Each breast contains 15–20 lobes. The subcutaneous adipose tissue covering the lobes gives the breast its size and shape. Each lobe is composed of many lobules, at the end of which are sacs where milk is produced in response to hormonal signals.

Chambers 20th Century Dictionary

  1. Breast

    brest, n. the forepart of the human body between the neck and the belly: one of the two mammary glands in women, forming soft protuberances on the chest: the corresponding part of any animal: (fig.) conscience, disposition, affections.—v.t. to bear the breast against: to oppose manfully: to mount.—n. Breast′-bone, the bone running down the middle of the breast, to which the first seven ribs are attached.—adv. Breast′-deep, deep, as up to the breast.—adj. Breast′ed, having a breast.—adv. Breast′-high, high as the breast—ns. Breast′-knot, a knot of ribbons worn on the breast; Breast′pin, an ornamental pin for the breast; Breast′plate, a plate or piece of armour for the breast: (B.) an embroidered square of linen worn on the breast of the Jewish high-priest, bearing twelve precious stones, each inscribed with the name of one of the tribes of Israel; Breast′-plough, a kind of spade for cutting turf, with a cross-bar against which the breast is pressed; Breast′rail, the upper rail of a breastwork; Breast′summer, Bres′summer, a summer or beam supporting the whole front of a building in the same way as a lintel supports the portion over an opening; Breast′-wall, a retaining wall; Breast′-wheel, a water-wheel which is turned by water delivered upon it at about half its height; Breast′work, a hastily constructed earthwork.—To make a clean breast of, to make a full confession. [A.S. bréost; Ger. brust, Dut. borst.]

U.S. National Library of Medicine

  1. Breast

    In humans, one of the paired regions in the anterior portion of the THORAX. The breasts consist of the MAMMARY GLANDS, the SKIN, the MUSCLES, the ADIPOSE TISSUE, and the CONNECTIVE TISSUES.

Editors Contribution

  1. breast

    A element of a human body from the neck to the waist.

    Both males and females have breast, the difference is the female breast secretes milk.


    Submitted by MaryC on February 3, 2020  


  2. breast

    Female mammary glands.

    The female breast secretes milk when a woman is pregnant.


    Submitted by MaryC on February 3, 2020  

Suggested Resources

  1. breast

    The breast symbol -- In this Symbols.com article you will learn about the meaning of the breast symbol and its characteristic.

Entomology

  1. Breast

    the under surface of thorax or sternum.

Matched Categories

British National Corpus

  1. Written Corpus Frequency

    Rank popularity for the word 'breast' in Written Corpus Frequency: #4839

  2. Nouns Frequency

    Rank popularity for the word 'breast' in Nouns Frequency: #1406

Anagrams for breast »

  1. barest

  2. baster

  3. bestar

  4. Tarbes

How to pronounce breast?

How to say breast in sign language?

Numerology

  1. Chaldean Numerology

    The numerical value of breast in Chaldean Numerology is: 8

  2. Pythagorean Numerology

    The numerical value of breast in Pythagorean Numerology is: 2

Examples of breast in a Sentence

  1. Jason Chaffetz:

    This has absolutely nothing to do with providing health care to young women who need a breast exam.

  2. Otis Brawley:

    She has one of the particularly bad breast cancer genes.

  3. Jennifer Grayson:

    You have to look at this as a societal issue…the fact that we’re promoting ‘breast is best’ in an environment where there is such an utter lack of support for American women to be able to successfully breastfeed their babies.

  4. Jessica Wardell:

    The main problem people have with breast-feeding is they sexualize breasts, so it offends them, if we could make them less taboo, breast-feeding would be much more acceptable in society.

  5. Georges Bernanos:

    What does the truth matter? Haven't we mothers all given our sons a taste for lies, lies which from the cradle upwards lull them, reassure them, send them to sleep: lies as soft and warm as a breast!

Popularity rank by frequency of use

breast#1#2012#10000

Translations for breast

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"breast." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 19 Mar. 2024. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/breast>.

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