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English Dictionary: breech-loading by the DICT Development Group
3 results for breech-loading
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
breech-loading
adj
  1. (of guns) designed to be loaded at the breech
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
   Breech-loading \Breech"-load`ing\, a.
      Receiving the charge at the breech instead of at the muzzle.

From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
   Gun \Gun\, n. [OE. gonne, gunne; of uncertain origin; cf. Ir.,
      {Gael}.) A LL. gunna, W. gum; possibly (like cannon) fr. L.
      canna reed, tube; or abbreviated fr. OF. mangonnel, E.
      mangonel, a machine for hurling stones.]
      1. A weapon which throws or propels a missile to a distance;
            any firearm or instrument for throwing projectiles by the
            explosion of gunpowder, consisting of a tube or barrel
            closed at one end, in which the projectile is placed, with
            an explosive charge behind, which is ignited by various
            means. Muskets, rifles, carbines, and fowling pieces are
            smaller guns, for hand use, and are called {small arms}.
            Larger guns are called {cannon}, {ordnance},
            {fieldpieces}, {carronades}, {howitzers}, etc. See these
            terms in the Vocabulary.
  
                     As swift as a pellet out of a gunne When fire is in
                     the powder runne.                              --Chaucer.
  
                     The word gun was in use in England for an engine to
                     cast a thing from a man long before there was any
                     gunpowder found out.                           --Selden.
  
      2. (Mil.) A piece of heavy ordnance; in a restricted sense, a
            cannon.
  
      3. pl. (Naut.) Violent blasts of wind.
  
      Note: Guns are classified, according to their construction or
               manner of loading as {rifled} or {smoothbore},
               {breech-loading} or {muzzle-loading}, {cast} or
               {built-up guns}; or according to their use, as {field},
               {mountain}, {prairie}, {seacoast}, and {siege guns}.
  
      {Armstrong gun}, a wrought iron breech-loading cannon named
            after its English inventor, Sir William Armstrong.
  
      {Great gun}, a piece of heavy ordnance; hence (Fig.), a
            person superior in any way.
  
      {Gun barrel}, the barrel or tube of a gun.
  
      {Gun carriage}, the carriage on which a gun is mounted or
            moved.
  
      {Gun cotton} (Chem.), a general name for a series of
            explosive nitric ethers of cellulose, obtained by steeping
            cotton in nitric and sulphuric acids. Although there are
            formed substances containing nitric acid radicals, yet the
            results exactly resemble ordinary cotton in appearance. It
            burns without ash, with explosion if confined, but quietly
            and harmlessly if free and open, and in small quantity.
            Specifically, the lower nitrates of cellulose which are
            insoluble in ether and alcohol in distinction from the
            highest (pyroxylin) which is soluble. See {Pyroxylin}, and
            cf. {Xyloidin}. The gun cottons are used for blasting and
            somewhat in gunnery: for making celluloid when compounded
            with camphor; and the soluble variety (pyroxylin) for
            making collodion. See {Celluloid}, and {Collodion}. Gun
            cotton is frequenty but improperly called nitrocellulose.
            It is not a nitro compound, but an ethereal salt of nitric
            acid.
  
      {Gun deck}. See under {Deck}.
  
      {Gun fire}, the time at which the morning or the evening gun
            is fired.
  
      {Gun metal}, a bronze, ordinarily composed of nine parts of
            copper and one of tin, used for cannon, etc. The name is
            also given to certain strong mixtures of cast iron.
  
      {Gun port} (Naut.), an opening in a ship through which a
            cannon's muzzle is run out for firing.
  
      {Gun tackle} (Naut.), the blocks and pulleys affixed to the
            side of a ship, by which a gun carriage is run to and from
            the gun port.
  
      {Gun tackle purchase} (Naut.), a tackle composed of two
            single blocks and a fall. --Totten.
  
      {Krupp gun}, a wrought steel breech-loading cannon, named
            after its German inventor, Herr Krupp.
  
      {Machine gun}, a breech-loading gun or a group of such guns,
            mounted on a carriage or other holder, and having a
            reservoir containing cartridges which are loaded into the
            gun or guns and fired in rapid succession, sometimes in
            volleys, by machinery operated by turning a crank. Several
            hundred shots can be fired in a minute with accurate aim.
            The {Gatling gun}, {Gardner gun}, {Hotchkiss gun}, and
            {Nordenfelt gun}, named for their inventors, and the
            French {mitrailleuse}, are machine guns.
  
      {To blow great guns} (Naut.), to blow a gale. See {Gun}, n.,
            3.
No guarantee of accuracy or completeness!
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