breechblock

American  

[breech-blok] / ˈbritʃˌblɒk /

Or breech-block

noun

Ordnance.

1. a movable piece of metal for closing the breech in certain firearms.

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breechblock British  

/ ˈbriːtʃˌblɒk /

noun

1. a metal block in breech-loading firearms that is withdrawn to insert the cartridge and replaced to close the breech before firing

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Etymology

Origin of breechblock

First recorded in 1880–85; breech + block

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

breechblock

The list of Russian firsts which pulls Pyatov up from obscurity starts with the adding machine, anesthesia, Antarctica, atomic fission, runs on to the wedge breechblock and the wool-combing machine.

From Time Magazine Archive

One is hastily procured, and the first captain—a great, brawny, good-natured fellow, who has spent years at sea—deftly fastens the bight of the rope to the handle of the breechblock.

From A Gunner Aboard the "Yankee" by Russell Doubleday

In the bore, pent in by the polished breechblock, is a cartridge which has failed in its duty.

From A Gunner Aboard the "Yankee" by Russell Doubleday

Captain Brownson had noticed the incident and he sent word to delay opening the breechblock until all danger of explosion had passed.

From A Gunner Aboard the "Yankee" by Russell Doubleday

The wooden breechblock completely did away with the heavy hydraulic recoil cylinders which were one of the distinguishing features of the seventy-five.

From The Story of the Great War, Volume IV (of 8) Champagne, Artois, Grodno; Fall of Nish; Caucasus; Mesopotamia; Development of Air Strategy; United States and the War by Francis Trevelyan Miller