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Webster's Dictionary (1865)

2 entries under this word

Fracture

Fräc'türe, n.

noun

(fräkt'yur, 53), n. [Fr. fracture, Pr. fractura, frachura, Sp. & Pg. fractura, It. frattura, Lat. fractura, from frangere, fractum, to break.]

Sense 1. The act of breaking or snapping asunder; rupture; breach.

Sense 2. (Surg.) The breaking of a bone.

Sense 3. (Min.) The appearance of a freshly-broken surface, by which its texture is displayed; as, a compact fracture; a fibrous fracture; foliated, striated, or conchoidal fracture. Kirwan.

Compound fracture, a fracture in which there is an open wound from the surface down to the fracture. — Simple fracture, a fracture in which the bone only is divided. Dunglison.

Synonyms— FRACTURE, RUPTURE. These words denote different kinds of breaking, according to the objects to which they are applied. Fracture is applied to hard substances; as, the fracture of a bone. Rupture is applied to soft substances; as, the rupture of a blood-vessel. It is often used figuratively. “To be an enemy, and once to have been a friend, does it not embitter the rupture?” South.

“High-piled hills of fractured earth.” Thomson.

Fräc'türe, v. t.

verbtransitive

v. t. [imp. & p. p. FRACTURED; p. pr. & vb. n. FRACTURING.] [Fr. fracturer.] To cause a fracture or fractures in; to break; to burst asunder; to crack; to separate the continuous parts of; as, to fracture a bone; to fracture the skull.