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Definition of "cuirass" [cui•rass]

  • A piece of armor for protecting the breast and back. (noun)
  • The breastplate alone. (noun)
  • A defense or protection: "A carefully primped irony, that cuirass of art in the early Eighties, is necessary—a distance so affected as to constitute a hopeless impediment to feeling” ( Robert Hughes). (noun)
  • Zoology A protective covering of bony plates or scales. (noun)
  • To protect with a cuirass. (verb-transitive)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "cuirass" in a sentence
  • "Primitive armour was based on a leather foundation, hence the name cuirass, was derived from _cuir_ (leather)."
  • "The cuirass was the parade one; the one he had used in battle was too worn and hacked to match the splendors around."
  • "Persian; and there the Circassian* with his long hair and chain cuirass."