CUIRASS

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does cuirass mean? 

• CUIRASS (noun)
  The noun CUIRASS has 1 sense:

1. medieval body armor that covers the chest and back

  Familiarity information: CUIRASS used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CUIRASS (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Medieval body armor that covers the chest and back

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("cuirass" is a kind of...):

body armor; body armour; cataphract; coat of mail; suit of armor; suit of armour (armor that protects the wearer's whole body)

Meronyms (parts of "cuirass"):

backplate (plate armor protecting the back; worn as part of a cuirass)

 Context examples 

Miss Lavinia, self-charged with the superintendence of my darling's wardrobe, is constantly cutting out brown-paper cuirasses, and differing in opinion from a highly respectable young man, with a long bundle, and a yard measure under his arm.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Traversing the long and matted gallery, I descended the slippery steps of oak; then I gained the hall: I halted there a minute; I looked at some pictures on the walls (one, I remember, represented a grim man in a cuirass, and one a lady with powdered hair and a pearl necklace), at a bronze lamp pendent from the ceiling, at a great clock whose case was of oak curiously carved, and ebon black with time and rubbing.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)