cuirass

n. armor that protects the chest and back

This article is devoted to the type of armour known as a cuirass. For details of cavalry wearing cuirasses go to cuirassier. For information about cuirass ventilation, see the article about the iron lung Cuirass (French cuirasse, Latin coriaceus, made of leather, from corium, the original breastplate being of leather), the plate armour, is formed of a single piece of metal or other rigid material or composed of two or more pieces, which covers the front of the wearer's person. In a suit of armour, however, since this important piece was generally worn in connection with a corresponding defence for the back, the term cuirass commonly is understood to imply the complete body-armour, including both the breast and the back plates. Thus this complete body armour appears in the Middle Ages frequently to have been described as a pair of plates. The corslet (Fr. corselet, diminutive of the Fr. corps, body), a comparatively light cuirass, is more strictly a breastplate only. Elizabeth I of England often wore a cuirass.
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Noun
1. medieval body armor that covers the chest and back
(hypernym) body armor, body armour, suit of armor, suit of armour, coat of mail, cataphract
(part-meronym) backplate

(n.)
The breastplate taken by itself.
  

(n.)
An armor of bony plates, somewhat resembling a cuirass.
  

(n.)
A piece of defensive armor, covering the body from the neck to the girdle
  

The plate defense for the body . Introduced during the third quarter of the 14th century, it became the "cadillac" defense of the 15th century. Consisting of a breast and backplate , hoops of steel to defend the hips known as faulds , and tassets to defend the hips. During the 14th century, the breastplate was often made from a single piece of steel and the backplate from a brigandine , but during the 15th the breastplate was generally made in two or more pieces (especially in the German "gothic" examples) and the back in many pieces. The piecing yielded a good deal of increased mobility and made the harnesses much easier to produce.
Italian cuirasses were often more rounded in shape, keeping with the Milanese school lines, formed of larger pieces of thicker steel. German models were sharper, formed of more numerous and thinner plates, often featuring fluting to increase the strength lost with the use of small, thin plates.