☼ Concept Map

''cuirass'' ▫ᴱᴺ Entries

↩ 🔳 🔳 🔳

Primary

⁀➴

''cuirass'' ▫ᴱᴺ｜Definition｜1st｜20260213203653-00-⌔

cuirass - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

🖼️ ➺

Noun

cuirass (plural cuirasses)

  • A piece of defensive armor, covering the body from the neck to the girdle.
    • ✤ The cuirass covered the body before and behind, it consisted of two parts, a breast and back piece of iron, fastened together by means of straps and buckles, or other contrivances. They were originally as the name imports, made of leather, but afterwards of metal, both brass and iron.1
  • The breastplate taken by itself.
    • ✤ Lady Orkney’s history, to whose house we are going, is a curious one. As Miss Elizabeth Villiers, by her charms she pierced the cuirass that enveloped the well-disciplined heart of William III.2

Verb

cuirass (third-person singular simple present cuirasses, present participle cuirassing, simple past and past participle cuirassed)

  • (transitive) To cover with defensive armor; to armor-plate.

Etymology

First use appears c. 1464. From Middle English curasse, curesse, from Old French cuirace, spelling influenced by modern French cuirasse.

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /kwɪˈɹæs/, /ˈkjʊəɹæs/
  • Audio (Southern England): 🔊
  • Rhymes: -æs

Printed 2026-06-28.

(echo:: @ ⌗)

Footnotes

  1. 1786, Francis Grose, A Treatise on Ancient Armour and Weapons, page 19: ↩

  2. 1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, pages 43–44: ↩

Link to original

Secondary

• • •