cuirass

cui·rass  (kw-rs)

n.

1.

a. A piece of armor for protecting the breast and back.

b. The breastplate alone.

2. A defense or protection: "A carefully primped irony, that cuirass of art in the early Eighties, is necessarya distance so affected as to constitute a hopeless impediment to feeling" (Robert Hughes).

3. Zoology A protective covering of bony plates or scales.

tr.v. cui·rassed, cui·rass·ing, cui·rass·es

To protect with a cuirass.

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[Middle English curas, from Old French curasse, probably alteration (influenced by Old French cuir, leather) of Old Provençal coirassa, from Late Latin coricea (vestis), leather (garment), feminine of coriceus, from Latin corium, hide; see sker-¹ in Indo-European roots.]

Thesaurus

Noun

1.

cuirass - medieval body armor that covers the chest and back backplate - plate armor protecting the back; worn as part of a cuirass body armor, body armour, cataphract, coat of mail, suit of armor, suit of armour - armor that protects the wearer's whole body