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breast up

C1 formal inseparable intransitive
In simple words

to push your way up through something hard

Literal meaning: The image is literal: moving upward breast-first against resistance.

Meanings

1 C1 formal

to move upward while pressing through resistance with the front of the body

"They breasted up the steep snowy path in silence."

Grammar: inseparable
Usage notes

Rare and literary. Often used for movement through water, waves, snow, or steep ground.

Commonly used with

hill slope waves current bank snow

Forms

Base
breast up
I/you/we/they
3rd person
breasts up
he/she/it
Past simple
breasted up
yesterday
Past participle
breasted up
have + pp
-ing form
breasting up
continuous

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Synonyms

push upward force one's way up climb up

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