Break (brāk), v. t.
[imp. broke (brōk), (Obs. Brake);
p. p. Broken (brō"k'n), (Obs. Broke);
p. pr. & vb. n. Breaking.] [OE. breken, AS.
brecan; akin to OS. brekan, D. breken, OHG.
brehhan, G. brechen, Icel. braka to creak, Sw.
braka, bräkka to crack, Dan. brække to
break, Goth. brikan to break, L. frangere. Cf. Bray to
pound, Breach, Fragile.] 1. To strain
apart; to sever by fracture; to divide with violence; as, to break a
rope or chain; to break a seal; to break an axle; to
break rocks or coal; to break a lock. Shak.
2. To lay open as by breaking; to divide; as, to
break a package of goods.
3. To lay open, as a purpose; to disclose, divulge,
or communicate.
Katharine, break thy mind to me.
Shak.
4. To infringe or violate, as an obligation, law,
or promise.
Out, out, hyena! these are thy wonted arts . . .
To break all faith, all vows, deceive, betray.
Milton
5. To interrupt; to destroy the continuity of; to
dissolve or terminate; as, to break silence; to break one's
sleep; to break one's journey.
Go, release them, Ariel;
My charms I'll break, their senses I'll restore.
Shak.
6. To destroy the completeness of; to remove a part
from; as, to break a set.
7. To destroy the arrangement of; to throw into
disorder; to pierce; as, the cavalry were not able to break the
British squares.
8. To shatter to pieces; to reduce to
fragments.
The victim broke in pieces the musical instruments
with which he had solaced the hours of captivity.
Prescott.
9. To exchange for other money or currency of
smaller denomination; as, to break a five dollar bill.
10. To destroy the strength, firmness, or
consistency of; as, to break flax.
11. To weaken or impair, as health, spirit, or
mind.
An old man, broken with the storms of state.
Shak.
12. To diminish the force of; to lessen the shock
of, as a fall or blow.
I'll rather leap down first, and break your fall.
Dryden.
13. To impart, as news or information; to broach; -
- with to, and often with a modified word implying some reserve; as,
to break the news gently to the widow; to break a purpose
cautiously to a friend.
14. To tame; to reduce to subjection; to make
tractable; to discipline; as, to break a horse to the harness or
saddle. "To break a colt." Spenser.
Why, then thou canst not break her to the lute?
Shak.
15. To destroy the financial credit of; to make
bankrupt; to ruin.
With arts like these rich Matho, when he speaks,
Attracts all fees, and little lawyers breaks.
Dryden.
16. To destroy the official character and standing
of; to cashier; to dismiss.
I see a great officer broken.
Swift.
With prepositions or adverbs: --
To break down. (a) To crush; to
overwhelm; as, to break down one's strength; to break down
opposition. (b) To remove, or open a way through,
by breaking; as, to break down a door or wall. -- To
break in. (a) To force in; as, to break
in a door. (b) To train; to discipline; as, a
horse well broken in. -- To break of, to
rid of; to cause to abandon; as, to break one of a
habit. -- To break off. (a) To
separate by breaking; as, to break off a twig.
(b) To stop suddenly; to abandon. "Break
off thy sins by righteousness." Dan. iv. 27. -- To
break open, to open by breaking. "Open the door, or I
will break it open." Shak. -- To break out,
to take or force out by breaking; as, to break out a pane of
glass. -- To break out a cargo, to unstow a
cargo, so as to unload it easily. -- To break
through. (a) To make an opening through, as,
as by violence or the force of gravity; to pass violently through; as,
to break through the enemy's lines; to break through the
ice. (b) To disregard; as, to break through
the ceremony. -- To break up. (a)
To separate into parts; to plow (new or fallow ground). "Break
up this capon." Shak. "Break up your fallow ground."
Jer. iv. 3. (b) To dissolve; to put an end
to. "Break up the court." Shak. -- To
break (one) all up, to unsettle or
disconcert completely; to upset. [Colloq.]
With an immediate object: --
To break the back. (a) To
dislocate the backbone; hence, to disable totally. (b)
To get through the worst part of; as, to break the back of a
difficult undertaking. -- To break bulk, to
destroy the entirety of a load by removing a portion of it; to begin to
unload; also, to transfer in detail, as from boats to cars. --
To break cover, to burst forth from a protecting
concealment, as game when hunted. -- To break a deer
or stag, to cut it up and apportion the parts among
those entitled to a share. -- To break fast, to
partake of food after abstinence. See Breakfast. -- To
break ground. (a) To open the earth as for
planting; to commence excavation, as for building, siege operations, and
the like; as, to break ground for a foundation, a canal, or a
railroad. (b) Fig.: To begin to execute any
plan. (c) (Naut.) To release the anchor
from the bottom. -- To break the heart, to crush
or overwhelm (one) with grief. -- To break a house
(Law), to remove or set aside with violence and a felonious
intent any part of a house or of the fastenings provided to secure it.
-- To break the ice, to get through first
difficulties; to overcome obstacles and make a beginning; to introduce a
subject. -- To break jail, to escape from
confinement in jail, usually by forcible means. -- To break a
jest, to utter a jest. "Patroclus . . . the livelong day
breaks scurril jests." Shak. -- To break
joints, to lay or arrange bricks, shingles, etc., so that the
joints in one course shall not coincide with those in the preceding
course. -- To break a lance, to engage in a tilt
or contest. -- To break the neck, to dislocate
the joints of the neck. -- To break no squares,
to create no trouble. [Obs.] -- To break a path,
road, etc., to open a way through obstacles by force
or labor. -- To break upon a wheel, to execute
or torture, as a criminal by stretching him upon a wheel, and breaking his
limbs with an iron bar; -- a mode of punishment formerly employed in some
countries. -- To break wind, to give vent to
wind from the anus.
Syn. -- To dispart; rend; tear; shatter; batter; violate;
infringe; demolish; destroy; burst; dislocate.
Break (brāk), v. i. 1.
To come apart or divide into two or more pieces, usually with
suddenness and violence; to part; to burst asunder.
2. To open spontaneously, or by pressure from
within, as a bubble, a tumor, a seed vessel, a bag.
Else the bottle break, and the wine runneth out.
Math. ix. 17.
3. To burst forth; to make its way; to come to
view; to appear; to dawn.
The day begins to break, and night is fled.
Shak.
And from the turf a fountain broke,
and gurgled at our feet.
Wordsworth.
4. To burst forth violently, as a storm.
The clouds are still above; and, while I speak,
A second deluge o'er our head may break.
Dryden.
5. To open up; to be scattered; to be dissipated;
as, the clouds are breaking.
At length the darkness begins to break.
Macaulay.
6. To become weakened in constitution or faculties;
to lose health or strength.
See how the dean begins to break;
Poor gentleman! he droops apace.
Swift.
7. To be crushed, or overwhelmed with sorrow or
grief; as, my heart is breaking.
8. To fall in business; to become
bankrupt.
He that puts all upon adventures doth oftentimes
break, and come to poverty.
Bacn.
9. To make an abrupt or sudden change; to change
the gait; as, to break into a run or gallop.
10. To fail in musical quality; as, a singer's
voice breaks when it is strained beyond its compass and a tone or
note is not completed, but degenerates into an unmusical sound instead.
Also, to change in tone, as a boy's voice at puberty.
11. To fall out; to terminate friendship.
To break upon the score of danger or expense is to be
mean and narrow-spirited.
Collier.
With prepositions or adverbs: -
To break away, to disengage one's self abruptly;
to come or go away against resistance.
Fear me not, man; I will not break away.
Shak.
To break down. (a) To come down by
breaking; as, the coach broke down. (b) To
fail in any undertaking.
He had broken down almost at the outset.
Thackeray.
--
To break forth, to issue; to come out
suddenly, as sound, light, etc. "Then shall thy light break
forth as the morning." Isa. lviii. 8;
often with into in expressing or giving vent to one's feelings.
"Break forth into singing, ye mountains." Isa. xliv. 23.
To break from, to go away from abruptly.
This radiant from the circling crowd he
broke.
Dryden.
--
To break into, to enter by breaking; as, to
break into a house. -- To break in upon, to
enter or approach violently or unexpectedly. "This, this is he; softly
awhile; let us not break in upon him." Milton. -- To
break loose. (a) To extricate one's self
forcibly. "Who would not, finding way, break loose from hell?"
Milton. (b) To cast off restraint, as of morals
or propriety. -- To break off. (a)
To become separated by rupture, or with suddenness and violence.
(b) To desist or cease suddenly. "Nay, forward,
old man; do not break off so." Shak. -- To break off
from, to desist from; to abandon, as a habit. --
To break out. (a) To burst forth; to
escape from restraint; to appear suddenly, as a fire or an epidemic.
"For in the wilderness shall waters break out, and stream in the
desert." Isa. xxxv. 6 (b) To show itself in
cutaneous eruptions; -- said of a disease. (c) To
have a rash or eruption on the akin; -- said of a patient. --
To break over, to overflow; to go beyond limits.
-- To break up. (a) To become
separated into parts or fragments; as, the ice break up in the
rivers; the wreck will break up in the next storm.
(b) To disperse. "The company breaks up."
I. Watts. -- To break upon, to discover itself
suddenly to; to dawn upon. -- To break with.
(a) To fall out; to sever one's relations with; to part
friendship. "It can not be the Volsces dare break with us."
Shak. "If she did not intend to marry Clive, she should have
broken with him altogether." Thackeray. (b)
To come to an explanation; to enter into conference; to speak.
[Obs.] "I will break with her and with her father."
Shak.
Break (
[1913 Webster]), n. [See Break, v.
t., and cf. Brake (the instrument), Breach,
Brack a crack.] 1. An opening made by fracture
or disruption.
2. An interruption of continuity; change of
direction; as, a break in a wall; a break in the deck of a
ship. Specifically: (a) (Arch.) A
projection or recess from the face of a building. (b)
(Elec.) An opening or displacement in the circuit, interrupting
the electrical current.
3. An interruption; a pause; as, a break in
friendship; a break in the conversation.
4. An interruption in continuity in writing or
printing, as where there is an omission, an unfilled line, etc.
All modern trash is
Set forth with numerous breaks and dashes.
Swift.
5. The first appearing, as of light in the morning;
the dawn; as, the break of day; the break of dawn.
6. A large four-wheeled carriage, having a straight
body and calash top, with the driver's seat in front and the footman's
behind.
7. A device for checking motion, or for measuring
friction. See Brake, n. 9 & 10.
8. (Teleg.) See Commutator.
