Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Apt to break fences; unruly: applied to cattle.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Apt to break fences or to break out of pasture; unruly.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Apt to break fences or to break out of pasture; unruly.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

breach +‎ -y

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Examples

  • From "breachy" cattle, breaking through with ease,

    The Emigrant Mechanic and Other Tales in Verse Together with Numerous Songs Upon Canadian Subjects Thomas Cowherd 1862

  • We are over-fond of drawing monitory morals from the lives of gifted persons, tacking together our little ten-by-twelve pinfolds to impound breachy human nature in, but it is only because we know more than we have any business to know of the private concerns of such persons that we have the opportunity.

    The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 06, No. 35, September, 1860 Various

  • The better way is to separate breachy animals from the lot, as others will imitate their habits sooner or later, and then, if not curable, _sell them_.

    Scientific American Supplement, No. 275, April 9, 1881 Various

  • Not even the breachiest of breachy young heifers could be expected to tinkle a cowbell with such briskness.

    The Escape of Mr. Trimm His Plight and other Plights 1910

  • 'Does Mr. Gray realize what a great compliment he has paid me, a poor rustic, an untutored country girl, with a little knowledge about the bees and clover, and some cunning as to the tricks of breachy cattle?

    Four Canadian Highwaymen 1873

  • Perhaps in this matter they were too particular, as there was no fear of "breachy cattle," or any cattle, intruding on the crop; but Hector maintained that deer and bears were as much to be guarded against as oxen and cows.

    Lost in the Backwoods Catharine Parr Strickland Traill 1850

  • Perhaps in this matter they were too particular, as there was no fear of "breachy cattle," or any cattle, intruding on the crop; but Hector maintained that deer and bears were as much to be guarded against as oxen and cows.

    Canadian Crusoes Catharine Parr Strickland Traill 1850

  • Indeed some folks say they are the most breachy of the two, and ought to go to pound themselves.

    The Clockmaker Thomas Chandler Haliburton 1830

  • Well, that's sure to set him at it, just as a high fence does a breachy ox, first to look over it, and then to push it down with its rump; it's human natur '.

    The Clockmaker Thomas Chandler Haliburton 1830

  • Well, that's sure to set him at it, just as a high fence does a breachy ox, first to look over it, and then to push it down with its rump; its human natur.

    The Clockmaker — or, the Sayings and Doings of Samuel Slick, of Slickville Thomas Chandler Haliburton 1830

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  • (adjective) - Brackish; applied to smuggled spirits which have been impregnated with salt-water. --William Cope's Glossary of Hampshire Words and Phrases, 1883

    April 22, 2018