breast up

verb6

1. •
   To move in close, to situate oneself right up against something; to belly up.

   • Peeping down, we beheld a company, breasted up against a board, groaning under numerous viands. — 1849
2. •
   To confront an obstacle directly, by pushing straight into it.

   • Unable to evade this, he drove into it, and his gallant mount breasted up and held its feet all the way across. — 1922
3. •
   To confront (someone or something) boldly, or to stand proudly or defiantly.

   • In the south the northernmost Alps breasted up to be swept by the receding red-gold flood of the day's last light. — 1911
4. •
   To sail two boats side by side so that neither is in front of the other.

   • Joel and Maryann, their skill honed by anger and determination to prove their point, breasted up the boats in quick time and edged side by side into Hatton's bottom lock. — 2004
5. •
   To cut the face of (a hedge) on one side so as to lay bare the principal upright stems of the plants.

   • Cut off 15 inches, breast up the hedge and leave it standing at 30 inches . — 1852
6. •
   (old-fashioned) To reinforce or stabilize; to shore up.

   • After the room is boarded up and the timbers drilled and charged, the drift is breasted up (see plan and elevation Fig. 22). — 1912