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breakBREAK, v.t. pret. broke, [brake.obs.] pp. broke or broken. [L. frango, fregi, n casual; Heb.to break, to free or deliver, to separate.] 10. To make bankrupt. 11. To discard, dismiss or cashier; as, to break an officer. 12. To crack, to part or divide, as the skin; to open, as an aposteme. 13. To violate, as a contract or promise, either by a positive act contrary to the promise, or by neglect or non-fulfillment. 14. To infringe or violate, as a law, or any moral obligation, either by a positive act or by an omission of what is required. 15. To stop; to interrupt; to cause to cease; as, to break conversation; to break sleep. 16. To intercept; to check; to lessen the force of; as, to break a fall, or a blow. 17. To separate; to part; as, to break company of friendship. 18. To dissolve any union; sometimes with off; as, to break off a connection. 19. To cause to abandon; to reform or cause to reform; as, to break one of ill habits or practices. 20. To open as a purpose; to propound something new; to make a first disclosure of opinions; as, to break one's mind. 21. To frustrate; to prevent. 22. To take away; as, to break the whole staff of bread. Ps. 105. 23. To stretch; to strain; to rack; as, to break one on the wheel. To break the back, to strain or dislocate the vertebers with too heavy a burden; also, to disable one's fortune. To break bulk, to begin to unload. To break a deer, to cut it up at table. To breakfast, to eat the first meal in the day, but used as a compound word. To break ground, to plow. To break ground, to dig; to open trenches. To break the heart, to afflict grievously; to cause great sorrow or grief; to depress with sorrow or despair. To break a jest, to utter a jest unexpected. To break the neck, to dislocate the joints of the neck. To break off, to put a sudden stop to; to interrupt; to discontinue. To break sheer, in marine language. When a ship at anchor is in a position to keep clear of the anchor, but is forced by wind or current out of that position,she breaks her sheer. To break up, to dissolve or put an end to; as, to break up house-keeping. To break upon the wheel, to stretch and break the bones by torture upon the wheel. To break wind, to give vent to wind from the body backward. BREAK, v.i. To part; to separate;to divide in two; as, the ice breaks; a band breaks. 10. To come to an explanation. 11. To suffer an interruption of friendship; to fall out. 12. To faint, flag or pant. To break away, to disengage itself from; to rush from; also, to dissolve itself or dissipate, as fog or clouds. To break forth, to issue out. To break from, to disengage from; to depart abruptly, or with vehemence. To break in, to enter by force; to enter unexpectedly; to intrude. To break loose, to get free by force; to escape from confinement by violence; to shake off restraint. To break off, to part; to divide; also, to desist suddenly. To break off from, to part from with violence. To break out, to issue forth; to discover itself by its effects, to arise or spring up; as, a fire breaks out; a sedition breaks out; a fever breaks out. To break up, to dissolve itself and separate; as a company breaks up; a meeting breaks up; a fog breaks up; but more generally we say, fog, mist or clouds break away. To break with, to part in enmity; to cease to be friends; as, to break with a friend or companion. This verb carries with it its primitive sense of straining, parting, severing, bursting, often with violence, with the consequential senses of injury, defect and infirmity. BREAK, n. A state of being open, or the act of separating; an opening made by force; an open place. It is the same word as brack, differently written and pronounced. |