Break

v.t. [imp. BROKE (BRAKE, obs.); p.p. BROKE or BROKEN; p.pr. & vb.n. BREAKING.] [A-S. & O. Sax. brecan, D. breken, Goth. brikan, O. H Ger. brechan, N. H. Ger. brechen, Icel. brâka, Sw. bräcka, Dan. bräkke; allied to Lat. frangere, for fragere, Skr. bhandj, in which the letter r has been dropped, Gr. ῥηγνύναι, where the initial consonant has been omitted. Cf. BRAY.]

1Sense 1. (a.) 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. “Shall break the locks of prison gates.” Shak. Hence, to lay open by breaking; as, to break a package of goods. And (Fig.) to lay open, as a purpose; to disclose, divulge, or communicate. “Katharine, break thy mind to me.” Shak. (b.) 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.

(c.) To interrupt; to destroy the continuity of; to dissolve or terminate.

Break not your sleeps for that. Shak.

Go, release them, Ariel; My charms I’ll break, their senses I’ll restore. Shak.

Him who disobeys, Me disobeys, breaks union. Milton.

(d.) To destroy the completeness of; to remove a part from; as, to break a set.

2Sense 2. To dash or 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.

3Sense 3. Hence, (a.) To shatter or crush, without separation of parts; to destroy the strength, firmness, or consistency of; to bruise; as, to break flax. “I saw him break Skogan’s head.” Shak. (b.) To weaken, impair, or subdue, as health or the faculties. “An old man, broken with the storms of state.” Shak. (c.) 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. And (Fig.) to impart cautiously, so as to avoid shocking or exciting opposition. Bacon. (d.) To tame; to reduce to subjection; to make tractable; to discipline. “To break a colt.” Spenser. “Why then thou canst not break her to the lute.” Shak. “That golden scepter, which thou didst reject, is now an iron rod, to bruise and break thy disobedience.” Milton. (e.) To destroy the financial credit of; to make bankrupt. “With arts like these rich Matho, when he speaks, Attracts all fees, and little lawyers breaks.” Dryden. (f.) To destroy the official character and standing of; to cashier. “I see a great officer broken.” Swift.

With prepositions or adverbs.

To break across (Tilting), to suffer the spear to be turned out of its direction, and be fractured across the body of the opponent, instead of by the thrust with the point. Nares.—To break down, to crush; to overwhelm.—To break in, to force in; as, to break in a door. Also, to train; to discipline; as, a horse well broken in.—To break of, to rid of; to cause to reform, or abandon; as, to break one of a habit.—To break off, to separate by breaking; as, to break off a twig; to interrupt; to put an end to. “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 over, to transgress; to overleap; to disregard; as, to break over a rule.—To break up, to separate into parts; to dissolve; to put an end to. “Break up this capon.” Shak. “Break up your fallow ground.” Jer. iv. 3. “Break up the court.” Shak.

With an object.

To break the back, neck, &c., to dislocate the joints of; to disable.—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 fast, to partake of food after abstinence, especially in the morning. See BREAKFAST.—To break ground, 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 railroad. Hence (Fig.), to begin to execute any plan; (Naut.), to release the anchor from the bottom. Totten.—To break the heart, to crush or overwhelm with grief.—To break a house (Law), to remove any part of the house or of the fastenings provided to secure it, with violence and a felonious intent. Bouvier.—To break the ice, to get through first difficulties; to overcome obstacles and make a beginning.—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 bricks, shingles, &c., so that the joints in one course shall not coincide with those in the preceding course.—To break a path, road, or the like; to open a way through obstacles by force.—To break sheer (Naut.), to be forced by wind or current out of a position; to sheer clear of her anchor;—said of a vessel when she is at anchor. Totten.—To break upon a wheel, to execute or torture, as a criminal by stretching him out upon a cart-wheel or wooden frame in form of a St. Andrew’s cross, and breaking his limbs with an iron bar;—a mode of punishment formerly used in Germany and France.—To break wind, to give vent to wind from the anus.

Synonyms—To dispart; rend; tear; crash; shatter; batter; violate; infringe; demolish; destroy.

v. i. 1. To come apart or to pieces with violence; to burst asunder.

Else the bottles break, and the wine runneth out. Matt. ix. 17.

2Sense 2. To open spontaneously, or by force from within, as a bubble, a tumor, a seed-vessel.

3Sense 3. To burst forth; to come to view; to appear; to dawn. “The day begins to break, and night is fled.” Shak.

4Sense 4. To burst forth violently; to produce disastrous effects, as a storm.

The clouds are still above, and while I speak, A second deluge o’er our heads may break. Dryden.

5Sense 5. 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.

6Sense 6. To fail in business; to become bankrupt.

He that puts all upon adventures doth oftentimes break, and come to poverty. Bacon.

7Sense 7. To change the gait; as, to break into a run or gallop.

8Sense 8. 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; also, to become dissipated, as the clouds. “Fear me not, man; I will not break away.” Shak. — To break down, to come down by breaking; as, the coach broke down; 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, &c.; — with in or into; to give vent to one’s feelings. “Then shall thy light break forth as the morning.” Isa. lviii. 8. “Break forth into singing, ye mountains.” Isa. xliv. 23. — To break in, or in upon, to enter violently or unexpectedly. “This, this is he; softly awhile; Let us not break in upon him.” Milton. — To break loose, to extricate one’s self forcibly; to shake off restraint. “Lives there who loves his pain? Who would not, finding way, break loose from hell?” Milton. — To break off, to become separated by rupture, or with suddenness and violence; to desist. “Nay, forward, old man; do not break off so, For we may pity, though not pardon thee.” Shak. — To break out, to burst forth; to escape from restraint; to appear suddenly, as a fire or disease. “For in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert.” Isa. xxxv. 6. “There are men of concealed fire, that doth not break out in the ordinary circumstances of life.” Addison. Also, to show itself in cutaneous eruptions; — said of certain diseases; to become covered with cutaneous eruptions; — said of a patient. — To break up, to become separated into parts or fragments. “The ice breaks up in the rivers.” “The wreck will break up in the next storm.” Hence, to be dissolved; to disperse. “The company breaks up.” Watts. — To break with, to fall out; to part friendship. “It can not be The Volscians dare break with us.” Shak. “I will break with her and with her father.” Also, to come to an explanation; to enter into conference; to speak. “But perceiving this great alteration in his friend, he thought fit to break with him thereof.” Sydney.