Breastwork
noun, slang ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 A fortification consisting of a breast-high bulwark; a parapet.
"Before long we had flung enough sand-bags into place to make a low breastwork behind which the few men who were on this side of the position could lie down and fire."
- 2 fortification consisting of a low wall wordnet
- 3 A railing on the quarter-deck and forecastle.
"The Independencia is a two-turreted, breastwork ship of 9,000 tons displacement. […] The central breastwork is 130 feet in length at the top of the belt, and extends to the upper deck, 11 feet above the water-line. This breastwork incloses the boiler and engine hatches, the scuttles to magazines and shell-rooms, the principal openings for ventilation, and the two turrets."
- 4 A parapet.
"A swarthy boy opened a book and propped it nimbly under the breastwork of his satchel. He recited jerks of verse with odd glances at the text: […]"
- 5 Breast augmentation. slang
Example
More examples"Before long we had flung enough sand-bags into place to make a low breastwork behind which the few men who were on this side of the position could lie down and fire."
Etymology
From breast + work.
Related phrases
More for "breastwork"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.