The Meta-Encyclopedia

Single-source entries: B (134)

These 15 listings are so strange that each appears in only one of the 7 encyclopedias we compared. They include such classics as Breccia, Breckinridge, Breda.

Breathings, The

One of the methods of yoga practice. There are three varieties of breathing amongst yogis: (1) by Bridge of Souls quite emptying the lungs, and holding them so as long as possible; (2) by filling the lungs as full as may be; and (3) by merely retaining whatever breath happens to be in them. It is thus possible to suppress thought, thereby saving up much vital force.

Only in An Encyclopaedia of Occultism

Breccia

a kind of marble composed of a mass of angular fragments, closely cemented together in such a manner that when broken they form bréches or notches. In geology, the word has now a more extended signification. It signifies a rock composed of angular as distinguished from rounded fragments united by a cement of lime, oxide of iron, etc. There are quartzite breccias, ferruginous breccias, volcanic breccias, bone breccias, etc. BRÉCHE-DE-ROLAND (brāsh' de rōlan), that is, "the breach of Roland," a mountain pass in the Pyrenees, between France and Spain, which, according to a well known legend, was opened up by Roland, one of the paladins of Charlemagne, with one blow of his sword Durandal, in order to afford a passage to his army. It is an immense gap in the rocky mountain barrier 43 miles to the N. of Huesca.

Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia

Breckinridge

JOHN CABELL, Vice-President of the United States, born near Lexington, Ky., Jan. 21, 1821; practiced law in Lexington until 1847, when he was chosen major of a volunteer regiment for the Mexican War. He sat in Congress in 1851-1855, and in 1856 was elected Vice-President, with James Buchanan as President. In 1860 he was the pro-slavery candidate for the presidency, but was defeated by Abraham Lincoln. A United States Senator from March to December, 1861, he then entered the Confederate army, was appointed a Major-General, in 1862, and held some important commands during the Civil War. He was Secretary of War, in Jefferson Davis' cabinet, at the close of the struggle, and escaped to Europe, whence he returned in 1868. He died in Lexington, May 17, 1875.

Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia

Breckinridge (II)

JOSEPH CABELL, an American military officer, born in Baltimore, Md., Jan. 14, 1842; a nephew of Gen. John C. Breckinridge of the Confederate army. He practiced law in Danville, Ky., till the beginning of the Civil War, when he joined the Union army. He was made a First Lieutenant in the Regular army Aug. 1, 1863, a Captain in 1874, Brigadier in 1889, and Major-General U. S. A., Feb. 18, 1898. He served in the Santiago campaign, Inspector- General U. S. A., 1899-1903. He was retired in 1903, after 40 years of service.

Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia

Breda

a town in Holland, province of North Brabant, at the confluence of the Merk and the Aa. Breda was once a strong fortress and of great military importance as a strategical position. From the 16th to the end of the 18th century Breda has an interesting military history of sieges, assaults and captures, with which the names of the most famous generals of their time, the Duke of Parma, Maurice of Orange, the Marquis Spinola, Dumouriez, and Pichegru, etc., are connected. It was the residence for a time of the exiled Charles II. of England, and it was in the Declaration of Breda that he promised liberty of conscience, a general amnesty, etc., on his restoration. Pop. about 28,000.

Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia

Breech

in firearms and ordnance, the rear portion of a gun; the portion behind the chamber; in shipbuilding, the outer angle of a knee timber; the inner angle is the throat.

Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia

Breech Loader

a firearm in which the charge is introduced at the rear instead of at the muzzle. The use of breach loaders goes back to the 16th century; indeed, it is probable that that form of arm is about as old as the muzzle loader.

Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia

Breech Loading

made to be loaded at the breech. Breech-loading gun or cannon, a gun or cannon made to be loaded at the breech instead of the muzzle.

Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia

Breech Pin

in firearms, a plug screwed into the rear end of a barrel, forming the bottom of the charge chamber. Otherwise called a breech plug or breech screw.

Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia

Breech Screw

in firearms, the plug which closes the rear end of the bore of a firearm barrel. The parts are known as the plug, the face, the tenon, the tang, and the tangscrew hole.

Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia

Breech Sight

the hinder sight of a gun. In conjunction with the front sight, it serves to aim the gun at an object. It is graduated to degrees and fractions, their length on the scale being equal to the tangents of an arc having a radius equal to the distance between the front and rear sights. The front sight is merely a short piece of metal screwed into the gun, usually at the muzzle, but sometimes between the trunnions, or on one of the rimbases, with its upper edge parallel to the bore of the gun. The rear sight may be detached, having a circular base fitting the base of the gun, or may slide through a slotted lug, and be retained at any given height by a set screw. The breech sight, the tangent scale and the pendulum are merely different forms of this device.

Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia

Breeches

a garment worn by men, covering the hips and thighs, and reaching to the knees. (Pantaloons, or trousers, are sometimes erroneously given this name.)

Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia

Breeches Bible

a name given to a Bible printed in 1579; and so called from the reading of Gen. iii: 7: "They sowed figge tree leaves together and made themselves breeches." Wyclif's version contains the same words.

Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia

Breed's Hill

a slight elevation in the Charlestown district of Boston, Mass., about 700 yards from Bunker Hill. Although the famous engagement of June 17, 1775, is known as the Battle of Bunker Hill, most of the fighting was done on Breed's Hill. Here was located the American redoubt, against which the British made their three historical charges, and here Warren fell. The Bunker Hill monument stands on Breed's Hill.

Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia

Breede

a river in Cape Colony, rises in the Warm-Bokkeveld, and flows chiefly in a S. E. direction through the district of Zwellendam, entering the Indian Ocean at St. Sebastian's Bay, about 60 miles N. E. of Cape Agulhas, the most southerly point of Africa.

Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia