cuirass
/kwɪˈɹæs/ noun, verb
Forms cuirasses cuirassing cuirassed
- noun A piece of defensive armor, covering the body from the neck to the girdle.
- noun The breastplate taken by itself.
- verb (transitive) To cover with defensive armor; to armor-plate.
Etymology
First use appears c. 1464. From Middle English curasse, curesse, from Old French cuirace, spelling influenced by modern French cuirasse.
Webster’s 1913
- noun An armor of bony plates, somewhat resembling a cuirass.
Etymology [F.cuirasse, orig., a breascuir, cuirie influenced by It. corazza, or Sp. cora, fr. an assumed LL. coriacea, fr. L. coriacevs, adj., of leather, fr. corium leather, hide; akin to Gr. skora hide, Lith. skura hide, leather. Cf. Coriaceous.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “cuirass”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details