Emily Dickinson Lexicon

BREAST, n. [brest; Sax. breast; Sw. bröst; D. borst, the breast, a lad, a notch; G. brust, breast, and brüsten, to hold up the head, to look big; Dan. bröst, breast; also default, defect, blemish; also, bryst, breast, pap; bryster sig, to strut; brister, to burst. The sense seems to be a protuberance.]

1. The soft, protuberant body, adhering to the thorax, which, in females, furnishes milk for infants. His breasts are full of milk. – Job xxi. 24.
2. The fore part of the thorax, or the fore part of the human body between the neck and the belly.
3. The part of a beast which answers to the breast in man. This, in quadrupeds, is between the fore legs, below the neck.
4. Figuratively, the heart; the conscience; the disposition of the mind; the affections; the seat of the affections and passions. – Cowley. Dryden.
5. Formerly, the power of singing. – Tusser.