breechen

A rope used to limit the recoil of a cannon on a ship

In order to prevent any accidents which might happen, by the iron pin of the carriage giving way, from so sudden a shock, a breechen is made fast, from the sliding carriage, to the head of the boat, and properly secured: the gun being fired, the elasticity of the breechen permits her to recoil about two inches, which certainly is a much less strain to the boat, and a safer method of using the gun; for, allowing the breechen to break, there is then the same principle of the iron pin to be depended upon, as at present.

1839, The London Saturday Journal, No. XVIII, 4 May, 1839, London: William Smith, p. 274, https://books.google.ca/books?id=ekEwAQAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false The gun is discharged by means of a lock screwed on to the side of a vent-patch near the touch-hole, and its recoil is limited by a stout piece of rope called a breechen, which is rove through a ring at the breech, the ends being secured to bolts on each side of the port-hole.

The part of the harness that fits over the horse's rump and holds the load back or permits the horse to back it up https://web.archive.org/web/20160705124646/http://www.gaitedhorses.net/Articles/HorseGlossary.html

1884, Saddlers, Harness Makers, and Carriage Builders' Gazette, London: John Kemp, 1 November, 1884, Vol. XIV, pp. 155-6, https://books.google.ca/books?id=YQ9LAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false Remember, when a horse is on its side the kicking-strap is useless, and the breechen nearly so, to prevent the swing of its hind legs; your aim is to get it away from the steps or wheel-plate of the trap, which, in its struggles, may cut its legs fearfully.

The breechen kept pressure back off the horse's hind quarters when they braked — the horses were very aware of this and paid close attention to its functioning.