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Into the breech or the breach?
If you are about to provide some much-needed assistance in a situation do you get ready to step (or leap, or jump) into the breach or the breech? The former. The sense of breach this expression applies to is “a gap (as in a wall) made by battering.” Breech, on the other hand, refers most often to a part of a rifle (near the rear of the barrel), the buttocks, or short pants which cover the hips and thighs (this sense is always found used in the plural, breeches). You may, if you are in a state of undress, step into your breeches before you step into the breach, but you would never step into your breaches before stepping into the breech.
Synonyms
Examples of breech in a Sentence
Tim Madigan, Smithsonian Magazine, 22 Oct. 2024
At delivery, about 10% of breech babies are in a complete breech position.4
Incomplete (footling) breech
A footling breech position is when the baby’s legs are extended and facing straight down.
—Donna Murray, Rn, Parents, 25 July 2024
Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear are trading ballrooms and breeches for boats and beaches.
—Maureen Lee Lenker, EW.com, 19 Sep. 2024
In light of the breeches, his credit for season two was removed.
—Borys Kit, The Hollywood Reporter, 3 Sep. 2019
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Cite this Entry
“Breech.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/breech. Accessed 25 Nov. 2024.
Copy CitationMedical Definition
breech
1 of 2 nounbreech
2 of 2 adverbLaura CunninghamJayne Anne Phillips
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