| 释义 |
▪ I. break, v.|breɪk|
Pa. tense broke |brəʊk|. Pa. pple. broken |ˈbrəʊk(ə)n|, broke. Forms: 1 brecan (Northumb. brican), 2–5 breken, 3–6 breke, 6–7 breake, 6– break; (also 2–3 breoken, 3–4 brec, 4 brek, 4–5 breek, 5 brakyn, byrkyn, 6 Sc. brek, breik, 7 breack). pa. tense sing. 1–3 bræc, 2–4 brac, (Orm. bracc), 3–5 (& 6 Sc.) brak, 4– (Sc.) brack; also 2–3 brec, 3 breac, 4 brek, breck, 4–5 breek, breke, 6 breake, 4–8 brake; pl. 1 brǽcon, (2 breaken, breoken), 2–4 breken, 3–4 breke, 4 breeken; also 3–5 braken, (2–5 north. brak, 4 brac, 4– brack); sing. and pl. 4–6 (7–9 arch.) brake, 6– broke, (6 brooke, 7 broak). pa. pple. 1 brocen, 2–3 ibroken, 3– broken, (3–5 brokun, -yn, 4–5 y-broke), 4– broke, (7 broak, brake, 8 Sc. breaken).
[OE. brecan (bricþ, pa. tense bræc, brǽcon, pa. pple. brocen), corresp. to OFris. breka, OS. brekan, (MDu., Du. breken), OHG. brehhan (MHG., mod.G. brechen), Goth. brikan (pa. tense brak, brêkum, pple. brukans):—OTeut. stem brek-, corresp. to L. frag- (frang-o, frēgi, frac-tum), Aryan *bhreg-. The original short vowels of the present stem and pa. pple were lengthened in ME., though breck, brick, and brocken are still retained dialectally. The normal pa. tense brak, brack (= OE. bræc, Ormin's bracc), remains in the north; the normal plural in ME. was brēken, breeke(n, which would have become breake in 16th c.; but by the operation of levelling, we find also a ME. sing. brēk, breek, and a (north.) pl. brak, brack; a pl. braken occurs in Layamon, and in late ME. brāke became the regular form both in sing. and pl., which, being retained in the Bible of 1611, is still familiar as an archaic form. But early in the 16th c., if not before, brake began to be displaced by the modern broke, formed after the pa. pple. Of the pa. pple., broken is still the regular form, but from the end of the 14th c. this was often shortened to broke, which was exceedingly common in prose and speech during the 17–18th c., and is still recognized in verse.]
(Many of the uses of this verb are so contextual, that it is difficult, if not impossible, to find places for them in a general scheme of its signification: when not found here, they may be sought under other words of the phrase.)
I. To sever into distinct parts by sudden application of force, to part by violence. Often with an adjunct indicating result, as in to break asunder, in pieces, small. See also break up.
1. a. trans. generally.
a1000Psalm ii. 9 (Spelm.) Swa swa fæt tiᵹelen ðu bricst hi. c1175Lamb. Hom. 79 Me brekeð þe nute for to habbene þene curnel. a1300Cursor M. 6542 Þe tables þat in hand he bare, To pees he þam brak right þar. 1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. v. xx. (1495) 125 The thynge that is kytte and broke bi the foreteeth. c1440Promp. Parv. 49 Brakyn a-sunder cordys and ropis. 1589Warner Alb. Eng. v. xxvii. 137 Spurres hewen off the heeles, and Swords broke ouer head. 1601Bp. Barlow Serm. Paules Crosse 17 A threefold rope is not easily broken. 1652Proc. Parl. No. 136. 2130 His Coach was broke to peeces. 1653Walton Angler 123 He should not have broke my line by running to the Rods end. 1700Blackmore Job 70 All my members were in pieces broke. 1710Steele Tatler No. 222 ⁋3 A natural Inclination to break Windows. 1799G. Smith Laboratory II. 261 He [the fish] will certainly break you, as we term it (that is, snap your line) and make his escape. 1814Scott Ld. of Isles vi. xiv, I've broke my trusty battle-axe.
b. intr. for refl.
c1175Lamb. Hom. 83 Þet gles ne brekeð. c1230Hali Meid. 15 Þat hit ne breke ne beie. a1300Cursor M. 4389 He drou, sco held, þe tassel brak. c1400Mandeville ii. 13 Thei breken for dryenesse, whan Men meven hem. 1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 47 Anone it breketh, and so shedeth the wyne. 1601Shakes. Twel. N. i. v. 24 If both [points] breake, your gaskins fall. 1860Tyndall Glac. ii. §17. 317 The glacier was evidently breaking beneath our feet.
2. In various spec. uses, as
†a. To rend or tear (cloth, paper). Still in s.w. dial. (See also broken.)
a1000Beowulf 1511 Sae deor moniᵹ hilde tuxum here syrcan bræc. 1382Wyclif John xxi. 11 The nett..ful of grete fischis..the nett is not brokun. c1489Caxton Sonnes of Aymon i. 37 There had you seen many a gowne torne and broken. 1516T. Allen in Lodge Illust. Brit. Hist. (1838) I. 23 After the sight thereof, your Lordship should break or burn it [the letter]. 1557Order of Hospitalls G ij, Mending of such [sheets, etc.] as shalbe broken from time to time.
b. To cut up (a deer); to tear in pieces (a fox), also with up; to carve (a fowl), also with out, up (obs.).
c1320Sir Tristr. 452 Bestes þai brac and bare. 1513Bk. Keruynge in Babees Bk. (1868) 267 Breke that egryt. Ibid. 277 Take the capon by the legges..& breke hym out. 1588Shakes. L.L.L. iv. i. 58 Boyet, you can carue, Breake vp this Capon. 1810Scott Lady of L. iv. v, Raven..watching while the deer is broke. 1875Buckland Log-bk. 155 Like hounds breaking up a fox.
†c. To comb (wool) roughly, being the first process in carding. Obs. or arch.
1511–12Act 3 Hen. VIII, vi. §1 Every Clothier..which shall..delyver to eny persone eny Wolle to breke, kembe, carde, or spynne. 1514Act 6 Hen. VIII, ix. §1 The Breaker or Kember to deliver again..the same Wooll so broken and kembed.
†d. To wreck (a ship). Obs.
1382Wyclif 1 Kings xxii. 48 Thei ben broken in Aziongober [1611 Bible The shippes were broken at Ezion Geber]. 1535Stewart Cron. Scot. II. 529 Ane schip..wes brokin on ane sand. 1547–64Bauldwin Mor. Philos. (Palfr.) xi. 167 When the ship is broken, [they] may swim and escape. 1611Bible Jonah i. 4 The ship was like to be broken.
e. To destroy the completeness of; to take away a part from; to divide, part (a set of things). Spec. to change (a banknote or the like). to break with: to divide and share with. Cf. to break bulk, 43.
1741Richardson Pamela xvii. (L.) You should have given them [4 guineas] back again to your master: and yet I have broken them. 1808Jamieson Scot. Dict., To Break a Bottle: to open a full bottle; especially when it is meant only to take out part of its contents. 1821Clare Vill. Minstr. I. 67 My last-earn'd sixpence will I break with thee. 1844Dickens Mart. Chuz. xliii. 494 It was the same note; he hadn't broken it. 1880W. H. Patterson Gloss. Antrim & Down 12 Can you break that pound note for me? a1888Mod. The shopkeeper would not break the set. 1959N. Mailer Advts. for Myself (1961) 81 He stretched himself out,..thinking..of the thrill of breaking a five-dollar bill.
† f. To dissolve (parliament), disband (a regiment). Obs.; cf. break up, 57 d.
1685Lond. Gaz. No. 1997/2 The Regiments he brought into the Emperors Service are broken. 1715Burnet Own Time II. 209 The Earl of Danby's prosecution was the point on which the parliament was broken. 1763Brit. Mag. IV. 106 Lord Robert Sutton's regiment..having refused to be broke. 1788Priestley Lect. Hist. v. xl. 291 The Grand Seignior can neither touch the public treasure, [nor] break the Janizaries.
†g. intr. (for refl.) Obs.
1601Shakes. All's Well iv. iv. 11 The Army breaking, My husband hies him home.
h. In Music: To break a chord, a note, q.v.
i. In leather manufacture, to scrape a skin smooth and clean on the flesh side.
1842Penny Mag. XI. 215/2 The lamb-skins having been steeped in water, ‘broken’ on the flesh side, and drained. 1845Dodd Brit. Manuf. V. 187 The goat-skins are..soaked in water.. to soften them, and then undergo the process of ‘breaking’.
j. Phonology. To cause breaking (breaking vbl. n. 1 e) of (a vowel). Also intr.
1845J. M. Kemble in Proc. Philol. Soc. II. 135 Not satisfied with transforming i into ë, before h, l, m, it [sc. Anglo-Saxon] broke the vowel into ëo. 1871F. A. March Compar. Gram. Anglo-Saxon i. 11 Before a consonant combination beginning with l, r, h, it [sc. a] breaks to ea. Ibid. 20 l, r, h, oftenest before a consonant, break foregoing a to ea. 1959A. Campbell Old Eng. Gram. v. 56 æ was broken, and appears as ea..before r followed by a consonant.
k. to break the wicket (Cricket): to dislodge a bail or the bails in stumping or running out a batsman.
1875F. Gale in Baily's Mag. Sept. 274 He took her [sc. the ball] close to the bails and just broke the wicket. 1901Strand Mag. June 616/1 The ball was thrown in from the field, the bowler took it, and broke the wicket, so as to run the batsman out.
l. (See quot. 1889.) orig. U.S.
1889Cent. Dict. s.v., To break a gun, to open it by the action. 1956M. Procter Pub Crawler 125 With the casual ease of long practise he ‘broke’ the gun and ejected the six rounds.
3. In phrases: to break bread: see bread, 2 c. to break a lance with: to enter the lists against, enter into competition with. to break blows, words with: to exchange blows, words with. † to break a straw with: to fall out with (humorous).
971Blickl. Hom. 37 Brec þinne hlaf þearfendum mannum. 1589Greene Menaph. (Arb.) 85 Breaking a few quarter blowes with such countrey glances as they coulde. 1590Shakes. Com. Err. iii. i. 75 A man may breake a word with you sir, and words are but winde. 1591― 1 Hen. VI, iii. ii. 51 Breake a Launce, and runne a-Tilt at Death. 1603Florio Montaigne iii. viii. (1632) 520, I shall breake a straw or fall at ods with him that keepes himselfe so aloft. 1862Thornbury Turner I. 263 In 1800 Turner entered classical ground to break a lance with Claude.
4. trans. and intr. To burst. Of an abscess or boil: To burst the surface, so that the contents escape. Sometimes also of a vein, blood-vessel, etc.
1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. vii. xxi. (1495) 239 Yf the postume of the eere be broke it is knowe by rennynge of quytter. 1533Elyot Cast. Helth (1541) 38 A boyle or impostume comen forthe and broken. 1557North Gueuara's Diall. Pr. (1582) 452 b, They brake the vaines of their hands and feete, and offered the bloud thereof. 1576Lambarde Peramb. Kent (1826) 408 As the evill humor..(gathered to a boyle, or head) will easily breake. 1592Shakes. Ven. & Ad. 460 The berry breaks before it staineth. 1602― Ham. iv. iv. 28 This is the imposthume of much wealth and peace, That inward breaks. 1652Culpepper Eng. Physic. 17 Laid warm on a Boil [it] will ripen and break it. 1711Lond. Gaz. No. 4894/2 Most of their Bombs break before they fall. 1802R. Reece Med. Guide (1850) 306 Boils..after they break..require only to be kept clean.
5. Said in reference to the rupture of a surface:
a. To part or lay open the surface of (anything), as of land (by ploughing, etc.). Also to break up, 57 f: and see to break ground, 44.
1499Promp. Parv. 49 Breken claddis, occo. 1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 23 Our soyle or lande is our hertes, whiche we..breke with the plough of abstynence. 1552Huloet, Break land with a plough, obfringo. 1697Dryden Virg. Eclog. viii. 97 Verse breaks the Ground, and penetrates the Brake. 1813Byron Giaour i, No breath of air to break the wave. 1847Longfellow Ev. i. ii. 114 The merry lads..breaking the glebe round about.
b. To crack or rupture (the skin); to graze, bruise, wound, as in phrase to break one's head. to break Priscian's head: to violate the rules of grammar.
c1305Jud. Iscariot 50 in E.E.P. (1862) 108 Children..he wolde smyte, And breke here armes and here heued. c1489Caxton Sonnes of Aymon x. 256 Atte the fallyng that he made, he brake alle his browes. 1590Shakes. Com. Err. ii. i. 78 Backe slaue, or I will breake thy pate a-crosse. 1592― Rom. & Jul. i. iii. 38 Euen the day before she broke her brow. 1711Budgell Spect. No. 161 ⁋3 A Ring of Cudgel-Players..breaking one another's Heads. 1785R. Cumberland Observer No. 22 §6 Observe how this..orator breaks poor Priscian's head for the good of his country. 1883Daily Tel. 10 July 5/4 Does Shakespeare never break Priscian's head?
c. intr. Of the surface of water: to present a broken appearance, caused by water-bloom (see quots. and breaking vbl. n. 2 c). dial.
1873G. C. Davies Mountain, Meadow, and Mere 16 The Ellesmere water..breaks. Every summer..the water becomes full of some matter held in suspension... The other meres do not break to such an extent. 1887T. Darlington Folk-Speech of S. Cheshire 128 Bar-mere's bin breekin' this afternoon.
6. intr. To crack without complete separation. Formerly said of a bell; hence possibly, from the similarity of the sound emitted, of a boy's voice on reaching the age of puberty.
1486Bk. St. Albans D iij, That thay [the bells on a hawk's neck] be hoole and not brokyn and specialli in the sowndyng place. 1667Pepys Diary 21 Aug., This morning come two of Captain Cooke's boys, whose voices are broke; and are gone from the Chapel. 1706A. Bedford Temple Mus. ix. 172 Lads, when their Voices did Break, or Alter. 1880in Grove Dict. Mus. I. 703/2 His voice began to break.
II. With regard chiefly to the state or condition produced: to break so as to disable, destroy cohesion, solidity, or firmness, crush, shatter.
7. a. trans. To crush, shatter (e.g. a bone). to break the leg or arm: i.e. the bones of the limb.
a1000Ags. Gosp. John xix. 32 [Hi] bræcon ærest ðæs sceancan þe mid him ahangen wæs. a1300Cursor M. 21145 A wicked iuu..him brac his harn panne. 1382Wyclif Ex. ix. 25 Eche treo of the cuntree it [the hail] breke togidere. c1460Towneley Myst. 142, I shuld with this steylle brand Byrkyn alle his bonys. 1599Hakluyt Voy. II. ii. 331 [19] The elephant..with the poise of his body breaketh him. 1759tr. Duhamel's Husb. i. xv. (1762) 100 When the distemper'd grain is broke. 1836Marryat Midsh. Easy xxxiii, Break my leg!—break my leave, you mean?
b. to break on the wheel: to bind a criminal to a wheel, or similar frame, and break his limbs, or beat him to death; so † to break on the torture: to put to the torture, dislocate on the rack, etc. to break one's back or neck: to dislocate the bones of the back or neck; also fig. to overpower, render nugatory, crush. to break the neck of a journey, a piece of business, etc.: to get through the most serious part of it. to break the back of a ship: to break the keel and keelson, dislocate the framework of the centre, so that the two ends tend to fall apart.
a1300Cursor M. 22202 Ouer hogh to lepe his hals to brek. c1400Gamelyn 712, I ne hadde broke his nekke, tho I his rigge brak. 1579Fenton Guicciard. vii. (1599) 289 To break the necke of the wicked purposes and plots of the French. 1586Warner Alb. Eng. ii. x. 47 Her good-man..kindly bad her breake her necke, olde Jade. 1598R. Grenewey Tacitus' Ann. xi. vii. (1622) 148 Being broken on the torture, he confessed nothing. 1610Shakes. Temp. iii. ii. 26, I had rather cracke my sinewes, breake my backe, Then you should such dishonor vndergoe. 1634Massinger Very Wom. v. iv, Rack him first, and after break him Upon the wheel. 1690Luttrell Brief Rel. (1857) II. 147 A Dutch man of war..run upon the sands and broke her back. 1735Pope Prol. Sat. 308 Who breaks a butterfly upon a wheel? 1864Times 24 Dec., The..delusion that a single campaign would ‘break the neck of the rebellion’. 1878Morley Diderot I. 201 A country where youths were broken on the wheel for levity in face of an ecclesiastical procession.
c. to break the heart: to kill, crush, or overwhelm with sorrow. Also intr. (for refl.)
c1386Chaucer Knt.'s T. 96 Hym thoughte þat his herte wolde breke. 1593Drayton Eclog. x. 93 Thou with thine Age, my Heart with sorrow broke. 1605Shakes. Macb. iv. iii. 210 The griefe that do's not speake, Whispers the o'refraught heart, and bids it breake. 1713Addison Cato iii. iii. 31 Thy disdain Has broke my heart. 1832Tennyson Œnone 31 My heart is breaking and my eyes are dim. 1848Macaulay Hist. Eng. II. 253 The great calamity which..had almost broken his heart.
d. Cricket. to break one's duck('s egg): to score one's first run in an innings, thus avoiding a ‘duck’ (duck n.1 7).
1867G. H. Selkirk Guide to Cr. Ground ii. 26 If he makes one run he has ‘broken his duck's egg’. 1900W. A. Bettesworth Walkers of Southgate 19 Parr broke his duck, but could get no further, being bowled by Atkinson for one run. 1912A. Brazil New Girl at St. Chad's vii. 112 Her first ball, being a wide, served to increase the confidence Honor had felt in breaking her duck.
8.
†a. To dissolve (anything hard or coherent).
1579Langham Gard. Health (1633) 81 The herbe boyled or drunke raw with Wine breaketh the stone. a1648Digby Closet Open. (1677) 87 Set them [honey and water] over so gentle a fire as you might endure to break it in the water with your hand.
b. intr. To dissolve, relax. As said of a frost there may be some admixture of the notion of a break of continuity (branch V). Also of weather: to change suddenly, esp. after a long settled period. Cf. sense 57 h.
1530Palsgr. 754/2 It thaweth, as the weather dothe, whan the frost breaketh. 1570–87Holinshed Scot. Chron. (1806) I. 273 The frost breake and the snowe melted. 1607Topsell Four-f. Beasts 291 His Cough breaketh more and more. 1681Dryden Abs. & Achit. 287 Or if they shou'd, their Interest soon would break. 1767Watson in Phil. Trans. LVII. 444 On the next day..the frost broke. 1887Yeats Lett. (1954) i. 51 The weather breaking might send me off any time, as my uncle stops here only so long as it is fine. 1930W. S. Maugham Cakes & Ale viii. 91 The weather broke suddenly.
c. Of prices of commodities, stocks, etc.: to fall suddenly or sharply. orig. U.S.
1870W. W. Fowler Ten Yrs. in Wall St. 435 Gold had broken to 87, and then..ran up to 194. 1899Daily News 15 May 2/6 Under the influence of Mr. Flower's death, what are known as Flower stocks broke in overwhelming volume. 1929Times 30 Oct. 14/1 Prices broke far below the previous low levels of the year.
9. a. trans. To demolish, smash, destroy, ruin; to defeat, foil, frustrate (things material or immaterial); esp. to defeat the object of (a strike) by engaging other workers.
a1300Cursor M. 12018 Thoru envie and wreth and tene [He] brack þe lackes al bi-dene. 1513More Edw. V (1641) 13 Each laboureth to breake that the other maketh. 1535Coverdale Ps. lxxxviii [ix]. 10 Thou breakest the proude, like one that is wounded. 1678N. Wanley Wonders v. i. §103. 468/2 Ferdinand the third..broke the Great power of the Swedes. 1719De Foe Crusoe xiv, The number of them broke all my measures. 1871Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) IV. xvii. 47 Their moral force was utterly broken. 1905[implied in strike-breaker s.v. strike n. 20]. 1914Round Table Mar. 367 The farmers contributed the bulk of the power that..broke the strike.
b. To nullify or set aside (a will) by legal methods.
1891Melbourne Argus 12 Dec. 11/8 [New York.] Under the law [she] would be entitled to one-half of the estate, should the will be broken.
c. To better (a record, a score, etc.). Also in Financial and Stock Exchange jargon, = breach v. 1 b. (See record n. 5 d.)
1886[see record n. 13 a]. 1909Webster s.v., He broke the record for the high jump. 1955F. Brown Angels & Spaceships 171 Up to that hole he [sc. a golfer] had an excellent chance to break a hundred. [1959Economist 21 Feb. 705/2 There is now a firm conviction that the [Dow-Jones industrial] average will break through 650 this year. ]1964G. W. Cooke Stock Markets xxv. 339 Both averages continued the rise in October 1962, and the industrial broke its previous high in September 1963. The rail average broke above its 1959 and 1961 highs. 1981Times 25 Apr. 19/5 The index failed to break the 600 level. 1984Financial Times 28 Feb. iv. p. vi/2 The Tokyo Stock Exchanges got off to a good start this year with the Dow Jones index breaking the historical yen 10,000 mark for the first time in early January.
d. To win against (an opponent's service) in lawn tennis or a similar game. Also intr. or with through.
1959Times 2 July 3/1 Mackay saved his next game, broke to 8–7 in an uproar, and served out heroically for the set. Ibid. 4 July 3/7 He broke service in the first game. 1961Ibid. 4 July 4/1 True, Wilson..did break for 2–4 and then move to 3–4. 1964Observer 1 Nov. 19/1 Sangster broke service in the ninth game and went on to win 6–4. Ibid., Sangster broke through Bungert's service in the fifth game.
e. To disprove (an alibi).
1932D. L. Sayers Have his Carcase xxv. 338 I'll break that alibi if I die for it. 1961‘N. Blake’ Worm of Death ix. 128 He had just seen an apparently broken alibi rendered intact again by a few words. 1984Daily Tel. 22 June 12/3 Parry, however, had had an alibi which Mr Wilkes is confident that he has broken.
10. trans. To shiver or dash in pieces a wave, billow, or moving mass of water, as a rock or other obstacle does; also intr. said of waves, etc. when they dash against an obstacle, or topple over and become surf or ‘broken water’ in the shallows. (But in the ‘breaking’ of waves, the sea, etc., various other senses are often combined: see the quots.)
c1375Barbour Bruce iii. 699 Wawys wyd [that] brekand war. 1593Shakes. Lucr. 1440 Their [the waves] ranks began To break upon the galled shore. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. iii. 406 About him, and above, the Billows broke. a1744Pope (J.) That tumult in the Icarian sea, dashing and breaking among its crowd of islands. 1795Southey Joan of Arc viii. 306 Some huge promontory whose broad base Breaks the rough wave; the shiver'd surge rolls back. 1842Tennyson, Break, break, break On thy cold gray stones O Sea! 1860Merc. Mar. Mag. VII. 259 In heavy..weather Point Pinos breaks the swell.
11. a. To ruin financially, make bankrupt (a person or bank). to break the bank: formerly also in the sense ‘to become bankrupt’.
(To break the bank, in Gambling means to clear out the amount of money which the proprietor of the gaming table has before him: see bank n.3 4.)
1612–15Bp. Hall Contempl. O.T. xix. vii, The holiest man may be deep in arrearages, and break the bank. 1644–7R. Stapylton Juvenal 123 Meer expence in paper breaks you all. a1674Clarendon Hist. Reb. (1703) II. vii. 330 The necessities of the Army still pressed us..to break the Merchants here. 1705Tate Warriour's Welc. x. 7 Britain's Gen'ral came..and broke the Bank of Fame. 1850Thackeray Pendennis lvi. (1884) 548 He had seen his friend..break the bank three nights running at Paris.
b. intr. (for refl.) To become bankrupt, to ‘fail’ (commercially). Now less usual.
1596Shakes. Merch. V. iii. i. 120 Hee cannot choose but breake. 1661–2Pepys Diary 19 Jan., Our merchants here in London do daily break. 1678Butler Hud. iii. iii. 248 By which some Glorious Feats atchieve, As Citizens, by breaking, thrive. 1793Ld. Spencer in Ld. Auckland's Corr. (1862) III. 82 Hutchinson is going to break, and to show the world that honesty is the best policy. 1856Emerson Eng. Traits v. 89 In trade, the Englishman believes that nobody breaks who ought not to break. 1879H. George Progr. & Pov. v. i. (1881) 250 A bank breaks..and on every side workmen are discharged.
12. a. trans. To crush the strength of, wear out, exhaust; to weary, impair, in health or strength.
1483Caxton Gold Leg. 224/1 He was broken with the hete of the sonne and wyth labour. 1583Babington Commandm. Ep. Ded., Your servants, that breake both bodie and braines in your affaires. 1666Pepys Diary (1879) VI. 78 Whom I have not seen since he was sicke..he is mightily broke. 1715Burnet Own Time II. 340 Lord Essex told me he was much broken in his thoughts. 1725Pope Odyss. xii. 143 O worn by toils, oh broke in fight. 1857Ruskin Pol. Econ. Art 16 None had been broken by toil.
†b. So to break one's brain, mind, wind (cf. broken-winded). Obs.
c1340Hampole Prose Treat. 37 He sall mowe breke his heuede and his body and he sall neuer be þe nerre. 1530Palsgr. 464/1, I breake my brayne to do hym good. 1547Boorde Brev. Health §321 Breaking a mans mynde about many matters the which he can nat comprehende. 1596Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, ii. ii. 13 If I trauel but foure foot..further a foote I shall breake my winde. 1597Morley Introd. Mus. 77, I shall neuer leaue breaking my braines til I finde it. 1647Ward Simp. Cobler 22 It would breake his [the Devil's] wind and wits to attend such a Province. 1690W. Walker Idiom. Anglo-Lat. 70 He breakes his brains with studying.
c. intr. To fail in health, decay, give way. See also to break up, 57 i.
1713Swift Cadenus & V. Wks. 1755 III. ii. 15 I'm sorry Mopsa breaks so fast. 1804G. Rose Diaries (1860) II. 194 The Archbishop..is breaking fast. 1876Trevelyan Life & Lett. Macaulay II. vii. 2 His health was breaking fast.
13. To crush in spirit or temper; to discourage; to overcome, prevail upon (obs.).
[1513Douglas æneis viii. vii. 33 Aurora wyth hyr teris so the brak, For tyl enarme hir child.] 1618Bolton Florus ii. xvii. 144 Cato..brake the hearts of the Celtiberians..by certaine encounters. 1667Milton P.L. v. 887 That Golden Scepter Is now an Iron Rod to bruise and breake Thy disobedience. a1674Clarendon Hist. Reb. (1704) III. xv. 458 By breaking their Fortunes and Estates, he had not at all broken their Spirits. 1752Hume Ess. & Treat. (1777) I. 192 A person..easily broken by affliction. 1855Macaulay Hist. Eng. IV. 96 The slaughter of Aghrim had broken the spirit of the army.
14. a. To reduce to obedience or discipline, tame, train (horses or other animals, also human beings); to subject or habituate to. Now also to break in 53 a.
1474Caxton Chesse 32 His hors wel broken. 1519W. Horman Vulg. 254 It is better to breke a mannys owne people in warr than to hyre straungers. 1542Udall Erasm. Apoph. 80 a, The same children he broke and taught how to awayte on their parentes. 1596Shakes. Tam. Shr. ii. i. 148 Why then thou canst not break her to the Lute? 1605Bacon Adv. Learn. ii. xiii. §7 (1873) 156 Cicero himself being broken unto it by great experience. 1668Pepys Diary 14 Dec., About breaking of my horses to the coach. 1688R. Holme Armoury ii. 149/2 To Break or Back a Colt is the first riding of him. 1766Goldsm. Vic. W. x, They had never been broken to the rein. 1824Miss Mitford Village Ser. i. (1863) 113 Whose dog hath he broken?
b. to break from. Cf. also break of, 33 b.
1530Palsgr. 464/2, I breake a yonge beest from his wylde condyscions.
III. To violate.
15. To violate, do violence to; to fail to observe or keep; to transgress. (The opposite of to keep sacred or intact.) Said esp. in reference to
a. a law, commandment, rule, requirement; a thing sanctified by law or ordinance, as the Sabbath, the king's peace, a sanctuary. † to break time (in Music): to fail to keep time.
a1000Cædmon's Daniel 299 (Gr.) Yldra usse..ðin bibodu bræcon. 1023Chart. Canute in Cod. Dipl. IV. 24 Gif æniᵹ is ðæt ᵹewilnað to brekenne..ðas ure ᵹefæstnunge. c1175Lamb. Hom. 79 He..brec cristes heste. c1200Trin. Coll. Hom. 179 Þat..brecð grið þar he hit healde sholde. a1300Cursor M. 11992 Hu iesus brickes vr halidai. Ibid. 13808 Þou carl, qui brekes þou vr lau? c1375Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. II. 95 He brac þe Sabot. 1377Langl. P. Pl. B. ii. 82 Unboxome and bolde to breke þe ten hestes. 1591Spenser Virgil's Gnat lix, Cruell Orpheus..Seeking to kisse her, brok'st the gods decree. 1593Shakes. Rich. II, v. v. 43 Keepe time: How sowre sweet Musicke is, When Time is broke, and no Proportion kept? 1668Marvell Corr. ci. Wks. 1872–5 II. 255 We had broke no privelege of the Lords. 1678Butler Hud. iii. iii. 592 He Ingag'd the Constable to seize All those that would not break the Peace. 1771Junius Lett. liv. 284 The laws have..been shamefully broken. 1850Thackeray Pendennis lxi. (1884) 603 As refined as Mrs. Bull, who breaks the King's English.
b. a contract or covenant of any kind; a treaty, indenture, league, truce, peace, or the like.
911O.E. Chron. (Parker MS.) Her bræc se here on Norð hymbrum þone frið. 1340Ayenb. 16 Prede brek uerst uelaȝrede and ordre. c1440Promp. Parv. 50 Breke conuenant, fidifrago. 1513Douglas æneis xii. v. Advt., Quhou Iuturna..Breikis the peax, and hasty batale sent. 1552Huloet, Breake truce, fœdus frangere. 1763Brit. Mag. IV. 372 Which made me break my indentures, and run away. 1791Burke App. Whigs Wks. VI. 150 The contract is thereby broke. 1873Burton Hist. Scot. V. lvii. 153 The English were the first to break the peace.
c. an oath, promise, pledge, vow, one's word, (one's) faith.
a1000Beowulf 4132 Þonne bioð brocene, að-sweord eorla. c1205Lay. 705 Brutus him swar an æð, breken þat he hit nælde. c1340Cursor M. 10674 Hir vou to breke. 1496–7Act 12 Hen. VII, xii. Pream., In breking his seid promys. 1552Huloet, Breake fayth, othe, or promyse. 1593Shakes. 2 Hen. VI, v. i. 91 False King, why hast thou broken faith with me? ― Rich. II, iv. i. 214 God pardon all Oathes that are broke to mee. 1664Butler Hud. ii. ii. 138 Some, to the Glory of the Lord, Perjur'd themselves and broke their word. 1752Johnson Rambl. No. 201 ⁋9 A promise is never to be broken. 1848Macaulay Hist. Eng. II. 79 The king would gladly have broken his word. Ibid. (1857) II. 471 That men who are in the habit of breaking faith should be distrusted when they mean to keep it is part of their just and natural punishment.
d. † to break spousehood (ME.), break wedlock, break matrimony (16th c.): to break the marriage vow, commit adultery. to break a marriage: to dissolve or annul it, obtain a divorce.
c1175Lamb. Hom. 143 Þe sunfulle Men þet spushad brekeð. 1530Tindale Gen. Prol., David, though he brake wedlock. 1535Coverdale Matt. xix. 18 Thou shalt not breake wedlocke. ― Luke xvi. 18 Who so euer putteth awaye his wife and marieth another breaketh matrimony. 1844Ld. Brougham Brit. Const. xiv. (1862) 212 His desire to break his first marriage from his wish to espouse Anne Boleyn.
†e. to break day: to fail to keep an appointed time (for payment, etc.). Obs.
c1300Beket 769 Com to morwe..that thu thane dai ne breke. c1386Chaucer Can. Yeom. Prol. & T. 487 That in no wise he breke wol his day. c1590Marlowe Jew of M. i. ii. 340 If we break our day, we break the league. c1610Rowlands Terrible Batt. 8 Sirrha, your day is broke, ile keepe your pawne. 1642Rogers Naaman To Rdr., Breaking daies, promises, yea oaths and vowes.
f. to break ship: to fail to rejoin a ship on the expiration of leave.
1905‘Q’ Shining Ferry iii. xviii, I brought across a sailor-looking chap... Thinks I, ‘You've broken ship, my friend.’ 1907Daily Chron. 3 Apr. 1/7 The serious offence of ‘breaking ship’. 1909Ibid. 28 June 8/7 In the afternoon he broke ship, but was undiscovered.
IV. To make a way through, or lay open by breaking; to penetrate; to open up.
16. a. To burst (a barrier) so as to force a way through it. Also to break open: see 17 b.
a1000Byrhtnoth 277 Eadweard bræc ðone bordweall. a1200Moral Ode 92 in E.E.P. (1862) 27 Ne brecð neuer⁓euft crist helle dure. c1325E.E. Allit. P. B. 1239 He brek þe bareres as bylyue. 1384Chaucer Moder of God 86 And broken been the yates eek of helle. 1607Shakes. Cor. i. i. 210 They..sigh'd forth Prouerbes That Hunger broke stone wals. 1766Gibbon Decl. & F. I. xvi. 419 The doors were instantly broke open. 1860Smiles Self-help i. 10 Admiral Hobson..broke the boom at Vigo, in 1702.
b. To solve (a code or cipher); to decipher.
1928P. Buranelli et al. Cryptogram Bk. p. ii, We were amazed at the ease with which anyone could break a coded message. 1931N. & Q. 30 May 379/2 Their centre in New York receives messages by the thousand in a code that has not yet been broken. 1956C. Simak Time & Again xxxv. 168 No one else could break the language in which his notes were written.
17. a. To enter (a house, an enclosed place, etc.) by breaking part of its circuit; to enter by force or violence. Cf. to break open, or into, 42; and to break up, 57 j. (See housebreaker.) In modern use, only in phr. to break and enter: see breaking vbl. n. 1 c.
851O.E. Chron. [The Danes] bræcon Contwara burᵹ and Lundenburᵹ. a1123Ibid. an. 1102 Þeofas..breokan þa minstre of Burh. c1305Jud. Iscariot 73 in E.E.P. (1862) 109 Iudas brac þe ȝard anon. 1393Langl. P. Pl. C. xxi. 383 [Þou] by-glosedest hem and bygyledest hem and my gardyn breke. 1483Cath. Angl. 42 To Breke garth, desepire. 1495Act 11 Hen. VII, lix. Pream., Evyll disposed persones..intendyng..to have broken the hous of your seid Subget. 1533–4Durham Depositions (Surtees) 49 The said Dicson did break the churche of West Awkelande. c1677Marvell Growth Popery 29 Clauses most severe..one for breaking all Houses whatsoever on suspicion of any such Pamphlet. 1745Wesley Wks. (1872) XII. 69 Shall George Whitfield be charged with felony, because John Wesley broke a house? 1768Blackstone Comm. III. 209 Every unwarrantable entry on another's soil the law entitles a trespass by breaking his close. 1797Tomlins Jacob's Law-Dict. I. Bb3/3 To break and enter a shop..is not burglary, but only larceny. 1817[see enter v. 10 d]. 1959A. Sillitoe Loneliness Long-Dist. Runner 11 There's a shop to break and enter. 1961J. Maclaren-Ross Doomsday Bk. i. iv. 56 He broke-and-entered through a back window.
b. to break open: to open or enter by breaking. Cf. also to break up, 57 j.
1590Shakes. Com. Err. iii. i. 73 Go fetch me something, Ile break ope the gate. 1593― Lucr. 446 She, much amazed, breaks ope her lock'd-up eyes. 1621Quarles Esther (1638) 89 Break ope the leaves, those leaves so full of dread. 1623Meade in Ellis Orig. Lett. i. 289 III. 150 The king siezes upon all the Merchants Letters from Spain, breaks them open. 1652Proc. Parliament No. 109 Advt., His stable being broke open, was stoln one Brown bay gelding. 1753W. Douglass Brit. Settlem. N. Amer. 287 They broke open his house and carried him from his naked Bed. 1853Arab. Nts. (Rtldg.) 266 The very robbers who had broken open and pillaged his house.
18. To make or produce (a hole, opening, passage, way, etc.) by breaking.
c1320Seuyn Sag. (W.) 1261 An hole thai bregen. 1633P. Fletcher Purple Isl. xi. xii, A renting sigh way for her sorrow brake. 1698in Select. Harl. Misc. (1793) 387 Morgan set his soldiers to break avenues for their marching out. 1705Hearne Coll. 5 Oct. (1885) I. 52 Dalton being forc'd to break way. 1835I. Taylor Spir. Despot. ii. 70 Their predecessors who have broke a path upon this field of noble and expansive good will. 1865Tylor Early Hist. Man. ii. 20 A way for thought is already broken.
19. To escape from (an enclosed place) by breaking part of the enclosure, as in to break prison or break jail; also to break bounds.
c1300Beket 48 Gilbert and his felawes siththe..Prisoun breke. 1482Caxton Chron. Eng. cclvii. 336 The prysoners of Newgate brake theyr prison. c1593Spenser Sonn. lxxiii, My hart..Breaking his prison, forth to you doth fly. 1674J. B[rian] Harv.-Home viii. 52 Who is himself; and breaks the jayl, must die. 1790Burke Fr. Rev. 8 Am I to congratulate an highwayman..who has broke prison, upon the recovery of his natural rights? 1813Byron Giaour 534 The faithless slave that broke her bower. 1816Jane Austen Emma III. vii. 116 You had..broken bounds yesterday, and run away from your own management. 1856[see bound n.1 4]. 1857Buckle Civilis. I. xii. 670 A hatred and jealousy which broke all bounds. Mod. Scholars gated for a week for breaking bounds.
20. a. to break covert or break cover: to start forth from a hiding-place; also absol. to break; cf. 37, 39.
1602Return fr. Parnass. ii. v. (Arb.) 31, [I] stood to intercept from the thicket: the buck broke gallantly. 1859Jephson Brittany ix. 149 The wolf, a cub, broke cover in fine style. 1859Tennyson Enid 183 They break covert at our feet.
b. to break water or break soil: said of a stag.
1486Bk. St. Albans E vij b, Then brekyth he water ther to take yow tent. 1575Turberv. Venerie 241 When he goeth quite through a ryver or water, we say he breaketh soyle. 1607Topsell Four-f. Beasts 91 They love the lakes and strong streams, breaking the floods to come by fresh pasture.
21. a. To penetrate (as light breaks the darkness, sound the air). Cf. 41.
1599Shakes. Hen. V, iii. iii. 40 Whiles the mad Mothers, with their howles confus'd, Doe breake the Cloudes. 1676Dryden Virg. Georg. iv. 666 All her fellow Nymphs the Mountains tear With loud Laments, and break the yielding Air. 1795Southey Joan of Arc iv. 44 To-morrow's sun, Breaking the darkness of the sepulchre. 1813Byron Giaour 1145 What beam shall break my night? 1839Thirlwall Greece III. 265 Only one ray of hope broke the gloom of her prospects. 1871Swinburne Songs bef. Sunrise, Eve of Rev. 49 The night is broken eastward; is it day?
b. intr. Said of the darkness (rare).
1594Shakes. Rich. III, v. iii. 86 Flakie darkenesse breakes within the East.
22. a. † to break one's mind (heart): to deliver or reveal what is in one's mind (obs.). to break news, break a matter, break a secret: to make it known, disclose, divulge it; now implying caution and delicacy.
c1450Lonelich Grail xxxvi. 274 Al ȝowre herte thanne to me breke. 1474Sir J. Paston Lett. 747 III. 118 To whom she brake hyr harte and tolde hyr yt she sholde have hadde Mastr Paston. 1525Ld. Berners Froiss. II. lxii. [lxv.] 212 A squyer of Bretayne, to whome he had broken his mynde. 1528Gardiner in Pocock Rec. Ref. I. 101 His holiness demanded whether the king's highness had at any time broken this matter to the queen. 1683Penn. Archives I. 83, I broke y⊇ bussiness to Pr. Aldrix. 1712Steele Spect. No. 455 ⁋3 She began to break her Mind very freely..to me. 1712Arbuthnot John Bull 102 With a design to break the matter gently to his partners. 1759Dilworth Pope 64 After a short acquaintance..he broke his mind to him upon that subject. a1779G. Colman in G. Colman (Jun.) Posth. Lett. (1820) 339 Here it may be resolved..that she shall break the secret of their marriage to the old Earl. 1840Hood Up Rhine 1 Now, however, I have some news to break.
†b. Hence, intr. to break with (rarely to a person), of or concerning (a thing). Obs.
1463Paston Lett. 473 II. 134 He kept not his owyn councell but brak to every man of it. 1529More Comf. agst. Trib. ii. Wks. 1188/1 Wyth hym she secretely brake, and offered hym ten ducates for hys labour. 1591Shakes. Two Gent. iii. i. 59, I am to breake with thee of some affaires. 1599― Much Ado i. i. 328 Then after to her father will I breake. 1612Drayton Poly-olb. Song xii. 200 With him to breake Of some intended act. 1614Raleigh Hist. World v. vi. §8 To this effect Scipio brake with the Consul.
c. To publish or reveal (an item of news); to make available for publication. (Cf. sense 39 b.) Journalists' colloq.
1906G. W. Peck Bad Boy with Circus 21 (Weingarten). 1935M. M. Atwater Murder in Midsummer xxviii. 262 Are you breaking the story in the morning papers? 1961‘B. Wells’ Day Earth caught Fire vii. 108 But she didn't break the story.
23. trans. to break a jest: to utter, crack a joke. So to break a sigh, break a smile, etc.
1589Pappe w. Hatchet B, Your Knaueship brake your fast on the Bishops, by breaking your iests on them. 1599Shakes. Much Ado ii. i 152 Hee'l but breake a comparison or two on me. 1655Fuller Ch. Hist. v. III. 119 On the Scaffold (a place not to break jests, but to break off all jesting) he could not hold. 1709Swift Adv. Relig. Wks. 1755 II. i. 107 He is..in continual apprehension that some pert man of pleasure should break an unmannerly jest. a1774Goldsm. Double Transform. 57 Jack..often broke A sigh in suffocating smoke. 1795Southey Joan of Arc. x. 151 Welcoming his gallant son, He brake a sullen smile. 1833Fraser's Mag. VIII. 54 The landlord and waiter..were not suffered to do any thing, save to break their jokes on the members.
24. To open, commence, begin. In certain obs. phrases, as to break parle, break trade. Also at Billiards: to break the balls: to make a stroke from the formal position in which the balls are placed at the beginning of a game, or after a foul stroke. In Billiards (Snooker, Pool, etc.): now also intr. and with off. (But cf. 31.)
1588Shakes. Tit. A. v. iii. 19 Romes Emperour and Nephewe breake the parle. 1788A. Falconbridge Afr. Slave Tr. 12 After permission has been obtained for breaking trade..the captains go ashore. 1850Bohn Handbk. Games 565 Breaking the balls is to take them all off the table, place the red on its spot, and..begin again from the baulk. 1893Funk's Stand. Dict. I. 234/2 Break..i[ntr]...Games. To make the first play, as in pool. 1949J. Davis How I play Snooker 170 (heading) Breaking off. 1957R. Holt Teach yourself Billiards & Snooker 8 The winner of the toss or ‘stringing’ thus has choice of balls, and of ‘breaking’ (commencing the game) or asking his opponent to ‘break’. 1965J. Pulman Tackle Snooker this Way xi. 56 After winning the toss in the professional game we never think of allowing our opponent to ‘break off’.
V. To make a rupture of union or continuity by breaking.
* of union.
25. a. trans. To break a bond, or anything that confines or fastens; to disrupt; hence to dissolve, loosen. Also fig. often with asunder.
a1225St. Marher. 18 Alre kingene king brec nu mine bondes. 1382Wyclif Judges xvi. 9 She criede to him, Philistien upon thee, Sampson, The which brak the boondis. 1535Coverdale Ps. ii. 3 Let us breake their bondes a sunder. 1578Timme Calvin on Gen. 241 The ambition of Nimrod, brake the bonds of this modesty. 1717Pope Eloisa 173 Death, only death, can break the lasting chain. 1837Newman Par. Serm. (ed. 3) I. xv. 226 Distrust..breaks the very bonds of human society. 1855Macaulay Hist. Eng. IV. 95 The spell which bound his followers to him was not altogether broken.
b. intr. (for refl.) See also 1 b for literal use.
c. Naut. trans. To free and shake out (a flag or sail which has been furled); also with out.
1889Times 6 Aug. 8/3 The Royal Standard was broken on board the Victoria and Albert, and immediately H.M.S. Valorous..began to fire a salute. 1899Daily News 9 Oct. 6/2 The Columbia broke out her spinnaker. 1901N. & Q. 9th Ser. VII. 176/2 When a standard is ‘broken’ it is unfurled after being hoisted. 1928Daily Tel. 20 Mar. 13/7 The Afghan standard was broken from the Majestic's mainmast. 1945C. S. Forester Commodore 36 A black ball was soaring up the mast, and as it reached the block a twist of the seaman's wrist broke it out.
26. a. trans. To make a rupture in (the ranks of the enemy). (Also in one's own ranks, by quitting them, or fleeing.)
c1205Lay. 27506 Þene sceld-trume breken: Þe Bruttes þer heolden. 1375Barbour Bruce xii. 217 And luk ȝhe na vay brek aray. c1400Destr. Troy 6679 Mony batels he broke, buernes he slough. c1460Fortescue Abs. & Lim. Mon. (1714) 46 Nor yet to may breke a mighty Flote gatheryd of Purpose. c1532Ld. Berners Huon (1883) 344 He drew his swerde..& brake the thyckest presse. 1636Massinger Bashf. Lover ii. iii, He dies that breaks his ranks Till all be our's. 1769Falconer Dict. Marine (1789) A a iij, It cannot easily break the enemy's line. 1803Munro in Owen Wellesley's Disp. 790 After breaking their infantry, your cavalry..was not sufficiently strong to pursue any distance. 1842Tennyson Two Voices 155 The foeman's line is broke.
b. absol. Said of a band of fighting men: to break their ranks, fall into disorder; also of the ranks.
1598Barret Theor. Warres i. i. 4 To perform execution if the enemie break or flie. 1781T. Jefferson in Sparks Corr. Amer. Rev. (1853) III. 308 They broke twice, and ran like sheep. 1824Macaulay Ivry 43 Their ranks are breaking like thin clouds before a Biscay gale. 1878R. B. Smith Carthage 221 The 4,000 Roman cavalry..broke and fled.
c. intr. (for refl.) Said of clouds, mists, etc.: to divide, disperse.
1826Disraeli Viv. Grey viii. iv. 485 The storm cannot last long thus..I am sure the clouds are breaking. 1875Green Short Hist. viii. §1. 448 Cromwell saw the mists break over the hills of Dunbar.
d. intr. Bridge. Of the outstanding cards in a suit: to be distributed (evenly: i.e. favourably from the declarer's point of view; etc.) between opponents.
1952Bridge Mag. Apr. 36/2 If the spades break no worse than four–two and the trumps three–one, establishment of the spade suit should be easy. 1959Listener 8 Jan. 84/1 The trumps broke badly and the contract was down. Ibid. 19 Nov. 904/2 The diamonds failed to break. 1981H. W. Kelsey Bridge ii. 29 The 4–1 trump split was a bit of a blow, but the slam would still be safe enough if either the spades or the diamonds broke evenly. 1983V. Mollo Winning Bridge i. 5 As the trumps didn't break kindly either, he had to concede defeat.
** of continuance or continuity.
†27. trans. To cut short, stop, bring to a sudden end. to break the siege: to raise the siege. Obs.; but see to break off, 54 a.
1330R. Brunne Chron. 111 (Mätz.) Our tale wille we no breke, bot telle forth the certeyn. c1386Chaucer Melib. ⁋77 Wel ny alle atones bigonne they to rise for to breken his tale. 1387Trevisa Higden Rolls Ser. II. 415 Penthesilea..brak þe sege of þe Grees. 1534More Answ. Poysoned Bk. 1058/2 A better then we both shall breake the strife betwene vs. a1553Udall Royster D. iv. iv, Will ye my tale break? 1709Strype Ann. Ref. I. xlvii. 510 To use means to break the match.
28. a. To interrupt the continuance of (an action); to stop for the time, suspend.
c1400Rom. Rose 6224 Love..brake his tale in the spekyng As though he had hym tolde lesyng. 1580Baret Alv. B 1200 The workes be broken and remaine vnperfite for a time. 1712Addison Spect. No. 321 ⁋11, I would not break the Thread of these Speculations. 1848Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 513 He was the first country gentleman..to break that long prescription.
b. to break one's fall, break one's journey, break the force of a blow.
1848Macaulay Hist. Eng. II. 117 His fall, though thus broken, was still a fall. 1858Sears Athan. iii. ii. 265 An awful plunge downward with nothing to break the fall. 1880Standard 14 Dec., Count Hatzfeldt..breaks his journey at this capital to-day.
29. To interrupt the continuance of (a state); to disturb: esp.a. to break one's sleep or rest;
b. to break silence, break stillness. (See silence.)
1597Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, iv. v. 69 For this, the foolish ouer⁓carefull Fathers Haue broke their sleepes with thoughts. 1623Bingham Xenophon 139 You shall put to death a man, that hath broken many a sleepe for you. 1706Estcourt Fair Examp. i. i. 9, I hope your ill Luck did not break your Rest last Night. 1710Steele Tatler No. 222 ⁋3 Keeping them awake, or breaking their Sleep when they are fallen into it. 1768Sterne Sent. Journ. (1778) I. 176, I was not disposed to break silence. 1853Robertson Serm. Ser. iii. xi. 138 There are but three things which can break that peace. 1853Kingsley Hypatia xi. 126 Not a sound..broke the utter stillness of the glen.
c. to break one's fast: to put an end to fasting by eating; esp. to eat after the night's fast, take the first meal of the day; to breakfast.
c1400Beryn Prol. 71 Ete & be merry, why breke yee nowt yeur fast? 1523Fitzherb. Husb. §149 Be vppe betyme & breake thy faste before day. 1586Cogan Haven Health ccxiii, These old men brake their fast commonly with honey. 1620Venner Via Recta viii. 171, I aduise them, not to be altogether fasting till dinner, but to breake their fast. 1653Walton Angler i. 2 My purpose is to be at Hodsden..before I break my fast. 1665Evelyn Mem. (1857) I. 375, I brake fast this morning with the King. 1808Scott Marm. i. xxxi, And knight and squire had broke their fast.
30. a. To interrupt the uniformity of any quality; to qualify, allay.
1839Thirlwall Greece I. 183 An uniform tenor of life, broken only by the exertions necessary to satisfy the simplest animal wants. 1877A. B. Edwards Up Nile vii. 177 Not a tree, not a hut..broke the green monotony of the plain. 1885Spectator 18 July 950/2 He..breaks for a few hours the terrible sameness of a dull..sordid life.
b. Of colours: To modify a colour by mixing it with some other colour. Also break down 51 e, and broken colours (see broken).
1753Chambers Cycl. Supp. s.v. Broken, A colour is said to be broken, when it is taken down or degraded by the mixture of some colour.
31. To alter abruptly the direction of (a line). to break a ball (at Cricket): to make it change its direction on touching the ground. to break joint: said of stones or bricks in a building, when the lines of junction are not continuous. to break sheer: see sheer.
1616Surfl. & Markh. Country Farm 101 He [the ox] breaketh not vp his taile, but suffereth it to draw all along after him. 1660H. Bloome Archit. B, This Pillar is broken perfectly. 1753Chambers Cycl. Supp. s.v., The ray of incidence..is, as it were, broken and bent into another direction. 1793Smeaton Edystone L. §42 Breaking joint one course upon the other. 1884Lillywhite's Cricket Comp. 29 Cooper..has the faculty of breaking a ball two or three feet. 1884W. G. Grace in Pall Mall G. 3 Oct. 2/1 He says that a fast bowler can ‘break’ both ways, but admits that this cannot be done with precision.
32. a. intr. To deviate or start off abruptly from a line or previous course; to project; to fall off. Also with away, off; see 54 c.
1677Moxon Mech. Exerc. (1703) 36 Examine..whether the Worm.. do not break into Angles. Ibid. 279 Let the Keystone break without the Arch. 1687Lond. Gaz. No. 2297/8 Stray'd or stolen..a black Mare..breaks high in the forehead. 1873Tristram Moab vii. 125 The plain..breaking away abruptly in limestone precipices to a great depth. 1879B. Taylor Stud. Germ. Lit. 240 The narrative continually breaks into dialogue.
b. In Cricket. A ball bowled is said to break when it changes its course after it has pitched: the bowler causes this by his delivery. It is said to break back when it breaks in from the off, to break in, when it breaks from the leg side.
1847W. Denison Cricketer's Companion p. xix, The tendency of his bowling is to make the ball break back from the ‘off’, to the ‘leg’. 1866‘Capt. Crawley’ Cricket 36 A..ball breaking in from the leg-side. 1882Daily Tel. 17 May, Clean bowled by a trimmer from Barnes, the ball apparently breaking back.
c. Of flowers: To burst into a diversity of colours under cultivation.
1835Lindley Introd. Bot. (1848) II. 249 We have known the dahlias from a poor single dull-coloured flower break into superior forms and brilliant colours. 1846J. W. Loudon Ladies Comp. Flower Gard. 303 All seedling Tulips, when they first flower, are..of a dull uniform colour; and to make them break, that is, to produce the brilliant and distinct colours which constitute the beauty of a florist's flower, a variety of expedients are resorted to.
VI. To sever or remove by breaking.
33. a. trans. To separate by breaking a connexion. (See break away, off, out.)
a1200Trin. Coll. Hom. 93 Brokene boȝes. a1300Cursor M. 15024 Bifor þair king þe childer kest Branches þai brak o bogh. a1340Hampole Pr. Consc. 2078 For þe dede his mynde away þan brekes. 1382Wyclif Deut. xxiii. 25 Thou shalt breek eeris, and with the hoond brisse. 1611Bible Gen. xxvii. 40 Thou shalt breake his yoke from off thy necke. Mod. Great boughs broken from the trees.
b. to break (any one) of a practice or habit: to cause him to discontinue it. Perh. orig. belonging to 14 b.
1612Bacon Greatness of Kingd., Ess. (Arb.) 482 Neither must they be too much broken of it [danger], if they shall be preserued in vigor. 1701W. Wotton Hist. Rome v. 74 He..Broke them of their warm Bathes. 1748J. Mason Elocut. 11 A thick mumbling Way of speaking; which he broke himself of by declaiming with pebbles in his mouth. 1816Life W. Havergal (1882) 15 His only fault is in preaching too fast, but he is trying to break himself of this. 1865M. Arnold Eug. de Guérin, Ess. Crit. (1875) 165 When she wants to break a village girl of disobedience to her mother.
34. a. intr. To sever a connexion abruptly; to cease from relation with, quarrel with. See also to break off, 54 f.
1591Shakes. Two Gent. ii. v. 19 Speed. Shall he marry her? Launce. No, neither. Sp. What, are they broken? 1607― Cor. iv. vi. 48 It cannot be The Volces dare breake with vs. 1687R. Lestrange Answ. Diss. 39 They Brake, upon This Point. 1734tr. Rollin's Anc. Hist. xx. §1 (1827) IX. 2 The Romans break with Perseus. 1859Masson Milton I. 616 Charles broke with his Third Parliament in March 1628–9. 1872Freeman Gen. Sketch xv. §14. 324 Ready to break with the past altogether.
b. In boxing or wrestling, to separate from one's opponent after a clinch; esp. as an order from the referee. Also with away (see sense 50 d).
1932Wodehouse Hot Water vi. 114 Next thing you know they're rolling on the floor, and me acting as referee and telling them to break. 1966‘J. Hackston’ Father clears Out 199 Tom, who was also referee, told them to break, and both girls still kept hanging on.
35. to break an officer; to cashier, deprive him of his commission, degrade him from his rank.
1695Lond. Gaz. No. 3135/3 Three other Colonels are broke. 1717De Foe Hist. Ch. Scot. iii. 73 Whether he was not broke for Cowardise I am not certain. 1787Nelson in Nicolas Disp. (1845) I. 243 That no Officer could serve under him, and that sooner or later he must be broke. 1840R. Dana Bef. Mast xvii. 46 From the time that he was ‘broken’, he had had a dog's berth on board the vessel. 1867Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Break, to deprive of commission, warrant, or rating, by court-martial.
VII. Intransitive senses implying movement accompanied by the breaking of ties or barriers; to burst.
36. intr. To escape or depart by breaking ties or barriers (physical or immaterial); to depart by a forcible or sudden effort, to escape from restraint. Often with loose, free: see also to break away, 50 c.
a1000Phœnix 67 Wæter wynsumu..of ðære moldan tyrf brimcealdu brecað. a1000Andreas 513 (Gr.) We brecað ofer bæþweᵹ. 1423Jas. I. Kingis Q. cxv, [Thay] breken louse, and walken at thaire large? 1535Coverdale Dan. ii. 1 Had Nabuchodonosor a dreame..and his slepe brake from him. 1628Digby Voy. Medit. (1868) 65 My boate broke from my sterne with a man in her. 1711Steele Spect. No. 262 ⁋4 When I broke loose from that great Body of Writers. 1810Scott Lady of L. ii. xxxiv, Then Roderick from the Douglas broke. 1846Ruskin Mod. Paint. I. ii. i. vii. §3. 74 The great historical painters..who had broken so boldly..from the trammels of this notion. 1877R. H. Hutton Ess. VII. Pref., Illusions from which..men have had the courage to break free. 1878Morley Crit. Misc. Ser. i. 220 A world that had broken loose from its moorings.
37. To come out or emerge by breaking barriers; to burst forth, rush out with sudden violence. Const. upon. See also to break forth, 52; out, 55.
a. of words, laughter, sounds, etc.
1330R. Brunne Chron. 55 (Mätz.) Bituex þam and þe messengers broþefulle wordes brak. 1596Spenser F.Q. ii. iii. 24 Twixt the perles and rubins [i.e. teeth and lips] softly brake A siluer sound. 1709Pope Ess. Crit. 628 But rattling nonsense in full vollies breaks. 1833H. Martineau Fr. Wines and Pol. i. 12 Cries of grief and despair broke from them at every step. 1837Lytton Athens I. 477 Loud broke the trumpets The standards..were raised on high. 1876Green Short Hist. i. §4. 38 Verses of his own English tongue broke from time to time from the master's lips.
b. of an attacking party.
c1400Destr. Troy 13014 A busshement of bold men breke hym vpon. 1598R. Grenewey Tacitus' Ann. i. xiv. (1622) 27 Vntill the enemy, with hope to breake vpon them, should draw neere. 1614Raleigh Hist. World v. i. §10. 573 They brake back furiously upon their own footmen.
c. of natural phenomena, as a storm, light, etc.
1693Dryden Ovid's Met. i. l. 483 in Examen Poeticum 31 A second Deluge, o're our heads may break. 1875Dawson Dawn of Life i. 3 First bright streaks of light that break on..night and death. 1961L. van der Post Heart of Hunter i. i. 37 The country where the rains had broken. 1965Listener 3 June 828/1 The monsoon, heaviest in the world in that area, had broken.
d. Of fish: To rise to the bait.
1885Harper's Mag. Jan. 216/1, I tried to fool them with sham colored feathers; but no, sir, they [the fish] never broke.
e. Athletics. To get off the mark prematurely at the start of a race. Also with away.
1897Encycl. Sport I. 55/2 While the runner has his hands on the ground he cannot ‘break away’ from the mark, and if a runner ‘breaks away’ he is, under the A.A.A. rules, put back a yard. 1959Observer 26 July 24/6 H. Smit..broke twice in the 100 yards and should by international rules have been disqualified.
38. a. A person is also said to break into arms, rebellion, weeping, a laugh, etc.
1588Shakes. Tit. A. iii. i. 216 Do not breake into these deepe extreames. 1670Cotton Espernon i. ii. 46 To which..he was further necessitated by the King of Navarre's breaking into Arms. 1866Kingsley Herew. xii. 170 She broke into wild weeping. 1871A. R. Hope My Schoolb. Fr. (1875) 110 We broke into a titter. 1872Black Adv. Phaeton iv. 42 The pony broke into a brisk trot. 1876Green Short Hist. vi. §2 (1882) 275 In Kent..the discontent broke into open revolt.
b. To make a dash; to set off at a run. So to break back: to set off running in a reverse direction. U.S., Austral., and N.Z.
1834Crockett Narr. Life ii. 11 He gathered about a two year old hickory, and broke after me. Ibid. xiv. 96 When my lead dog..raised his yell, all the rest broke to him. 1835A. B. Longstreet Georgia Scenes 125 The way she [sc. a horse] now broke for Springfield ‘is nothing to nobody’. 1889A. Reischek Story of Wonderful Dog vi. 34 If the sheep broke he ordered a second dog to assist. 1907S. E. White Arizona Nights v. 98 The cattle would attempt to ‘break’ past the end and up the valley. 1933E. Jones Autobiogr. Early Settler xii. 59 If a mob [of sheep]..broke back,..the rest of us would have to wait while the shepherd on whose beat the sheep had broken back, went for them. 1946F. Davison Dusty ix. 96 With the dogs so far forward, the rearmost sheep..had a chance to break back.
c. Of a horse, esp. in trotting or pacing: to change gait; to lose a level stride. orig. U.S.
1839Spirit of Times 13 July 222/3 While Awful was ahead, and his backers were counting the spoils in advance, he broke! 1852C. A. Bristed Upper Ten Th. 26 Suddenly the pacer stops short and capers. He is used up and has ‘broken’. 1908Springfield Weekly Republican 8 Oct. 2 A trotter in a race breaks, that is, loses his level stride and reverts to an impossible kind of gallop which is not permitted by the rules. 1969Sydney Morning Herald 24 May 27/3 Yogi Hall, who started 10–9 on favourite in the Trotters' Handicap, was barred because he broke badly during the running.
39. a. To issue forth, come forth suddenly into notice, come as a surprise. Const. from, upon, into.
1711Steele Spect. No. 41 ⁋5 He thought fit to break from his Concealment. 1712Pope Messiah, See heav'n..break upon thee in a flood of day. 1750Johnson Rambl. No. 79 ⁋7 The anxieties that break into his face. 1830H. Rogers Ess. I. i. 9 There is no author who so often breaks upon his readers with turns of thought, for which they are totally unprepared. 1853Kane Grinnell Exp. xv. (1856) 107 Here..the Greenland shore broke upon us. 1884W. C. Smith Kildrostan 43 Only the lap of the rippling wave Broke on the hush of their solitude.
b. Of an item of news: to become public or available for publication. Journalists' colloq.
1934F. Baldwin Innoc. Bystander (1935) ix. 188 The papers have left me alone for a long time... I was sick with worry when..Merry acted the fool. But nothing broke. 1936E. Ambler Dark Frontier x. 163 You'll give us an exclusive when the story does break, I hope. 1938E. Waugh Scoop ii. i. 111 A big story is going to break.
c. To happen, occur. slang (orig. U.S.).
1914Sat. Even. Post 15 Aug. 8/1 They say my homer was lucky..but, believe me, it was time things broke for me. They been breakin' for him all his life. 1934Webster s.v., Things are breaking right for me. 1936J. Curtis Gilt Kid xi. 118 Everything'll break good.
40. Of buds, flowers, roots, etc.: To sprout out, come forth, burst into flower or leaf, expand.
c1325Rel. Ant. I. 124 When blosmes breketh on brere. 1868Darwin Anim. & Pl. II. xiii. 31 In..carrot-beds a few plants often ‘break’—that is, flower too soon. 1882Garden 18 Mar. 187/1 Vigorous young [vine] rods..will require dexterous handling to get them to break evenly.
41. a. To burst out of darkness, begin to shine; as the day, morning, daylight. Const. on, upon. Many varieties of this expression appear, often mixed with other uses of break, as ‘the darkness is breaking’; cf. ‘the clouds are breaking’ in 26 c.
1535Coverdale Isa. xxi. 12 The watchman answered: The daye breaketh on. 1599Shakes. Hen. V, iv. i. 88 Brother Iohn Bates, is not that the Morning which breakes yonder? 1611Bible Gen. xxxii. 26 Let me goe, for the day breaketh [Coverd. breaketh on]. 1647J. Hall Poems 92 The day Breakes clearer on them. 1772–84Cook Voy. (1790) V. 1688 Till day began to break upon them. 1829I. Taylor Enthus. x. 259 When..the first beams of sound philosophy broke over the nations. 1836Kingsley Lett. (1878) I. 33 Ere the sun had broken on the earth. 1871Morley Voltaire (1886) 23 The darkness seems breaking.
†b. trans. To cause to break. Obs.
1509Hawes Past. Pleas. i. xiv, Golden Phebus..With cloudes redde began to break the daye.
42. a. intr. (and with indirect pass.) To enter by breaking barriers; to make a forcible or violent entrance into a place; to make an irruption. (Formerly expressed by break trans.: see 17.)
1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. v. xxxv. (1495) 147 That colde ayre breke not sodaynly in to the herte. c1400Destr. Troy 11937 Þai..Brekyn into bildynges, britnet the pepull. 1628Hobbes Thucyd. (1822) 55 The Lacedemonians afterwards brake into Attica. 1677Moxon Mech. Exerc. (1703) 158 Carpenters with their Ripping Chissel do often Break in to Brick-walls; that is, they cut holes. 1883Law Rep. Queen's B. XI. 590 The prosecutor's house was feloniously broken into and entered.
b. To get into, or make a sudden appearance in, some occupation, activity, etc. colloq. (orig. U.S.).
1899Chicago Daily News 10 May 6/1 Nichols will be anxious to break into the game pretty soon. 1907Collier's 5 Oct. 11/2 Mr. F. C. Wheeler..decided recently for the first time in his life to break into print. 1939J. Dell Nobody ordered Wolves i. 7 Phillip was one of the countless thousands whose consuming ambition was to ‘break’ into the motion picture industry.
VIII. Phrases and combinations.
* Phrases.
43. to break bulk (cf. 2 e): ‘to open the hold and take out goods thence’ (Capt. Smith's Seaman's Gram. 1692); to destroy the completeness of a cargo by taking out a portion, to begin to unload.
1575in Hist. Glasgow (1881) 117 Breking bowk [of a cargo]. 1587St. Paper Office Domest. Corr., To bring them [ships] into this realme without breaking bulke. 1622Malynes Anc. Law-Merch. 195 All Merchants ships being laden, haue alwaies..beene permitted to breake bulke below, or at Tilburie-Hope. 1668Marvell Corr. xcviii. Wks. 1872–5 II. 257 An impeachment..against Sir W. Penn, for breaking bulke in the East India prizes. 1709Steele Tatler No. 106 ⁋2 Whether he would break Bulk, and sell his Goods by Retail. 1792Burke Negro Code Wks. 1842 II. 424 The faithful execution of his part of the trust at the island where he shall break bulk. 1833Marryat P. Simple v, He was breaking Casks out of the hold. 1883Times 24 Mar. 6 The whole [cargo of tea] can be sampled and sold the moment the steamer breaks bulk.
44. to break (the) ground (cf. 5 a):
a. To dig through the surface of ground, especially when covered with turf; to plough up ground for the first time, or after it has lain long in pasture. See also to break up, 57 f.
1712Prideaux Direct. Ch. Wardens (ed. 4) 76 The Fee for breaking the soil [for a grave] belongs to them. Mod. (U.S.) It takes three farm-horses of good weight to break prairie-land.
b. Of an army: To begin digging trenches.
1678Lond. Gaz. No. 1320/3 We hear the French are breaking ground, as if they intended a formal Siege. 1810Wellington in Gurw. Disp. VI. 200 The enemy broke ground before Ciudad Rodrigo on the night before last.
c. fig. To commence operations, take the first steps, do pioneer work.
1709Lond. Gaz. No. 4555/3 Last Night we broke Ground. 1830De Quincey Bentley Wks. VI. 56 One of those who first broke ground as a pioneer in the great field of Natural Philosophy. 1834Blackw. Mag. XXXV. 792 They have broken no ground from which they have not been driven. 1840Carlyle Heroes i, Could I thus, as it were, not exhaust my subject, but so much as break ground upon it.
d. Naut. ‘Break-ground. Beginning to weigh, or to lift the anchor from the bottom.’ Smyth Sailor's Word-bk.
1752Beawes Lex Mercat. 116 If..the ship breaks ground, and arrives at her port.
e. Boxing. (See quot. 1897.)
1889E. B. Michell Boxing iii, in W. H. Pollock et al. Fencing, etc. 154 The proper style of breaking ground or shifting, or slipping, is by movements to the right. 1897Encycl. Sport I. 139/1 Break ground, to take up a fresh position to the right or left.
45. to break the ice [cf. quot. 1710]: to prepare the way, take the preliminary steps, make a beginning; sometimes, in modern use, with a reference to the coldness or stiffness of first intercourse with strangers. See also ice n. 2 b.
1602Warner Alb. Eng. xi. lxii. 273 Caboto whose Cosmographie and selfe-proofe brake the Ice To most our late Discouerers. 1610J. Guillim Heraldry To Rdr., I have broken the Ice, and made way to some after-commers. 1611Cotgr., Acheminer, to commence, breake the ice. 1683D. A. Art Converse 15 The Ice being thus broken, another will utter her mind on the same matter. 1710Steele Tatler No. 7 ⁋6 The Ice being broke, the Sound is again open for the Ships. 1775Sheridan Duenna ii. ii, So! the ice is broke, and a..civil beginning too! 1853H. Rogers Ecl. Faith 28, I availed myself of a pause in the conversation to break the ice in relation to the topic which lay nearest my heart.
46. to break square, or break squares [of uncertain origin: cf. 2 e]: to interrupt or violate the regular order; commonly in the proverbial phrase, it breaks no square, i.e. does no harm, makes no mischief, does not matter.
1576Foxe A. & M. 986 The missyng of a few yeares in this matter, breaketh no great square in our story. 1594T. B. La Primaud. Fr. Acad. II. 116 There are but fewe that breake not square oftener in eating & drinking too much then to litle. 1633Herbert Temple, Discharge vii, Man and the present fit! if he provide [i.e. look into the future], He breaks the square. 1640Fuller Joseph's Coat vii. (1867) 179 Would so small a matter have broken any squares? 1671Dryden Even. Love iii. i, 'Tis no matter; this shall break no Squares betwixt us. 1760Sterne Tr. Shandy (1802) II. v. 152 This fault in Trim broke no squares with them.
47. to break wind: to void wind from the stomach or bowels. [But cf. brake v.5 to void from the stomach.]
[1540Lyndesay Satire 7624, I lay braikand like ane brok. Ibid. 4367 Sche blubbirt, bokkit, and braikit still.] 1552Huloet Belke, or bolke, or breake wynde vpwarde. 1606Holland Sueton. 171 He would give folke leave to breake winde downward and let it goe even with a crack at the very bourd. 1636Healey tr. Theophrast. Char. 45 He lying along, belcheth or breaketh wind. 1795J. Wolcott (P. Pindar) Lousiad Wks. 1812 I. 269 Had the Thunderer but broke wind.
48. to break even:
a. intr. In Faro (see quot.). U.S.
1909Cent. Dict. Suppl. s.v., To break even, in faro, to bet that each card will win or lose an even number of times on the deal.
b. To emerge from a transaction, enterprise, etc., with balancing gains and losses. orig. U.S.
1914S. Lewis Our Mr. Wrenn 33 To go bumming around like you do and never have to worry about how the firm's going to break even. 1920Flight XII. 508/2 What must we earn to ‘break even’? 1950J. Dempsey Champ. Fighting ii. 12 He and I broke even in our three four-rounds bouts. 1958Listener 2 Oct. 498/1 Today a novel needs to sell 5,000 copies for a publisher to break even.
** Combined with adverbs:
49. break across. ‘In tilting, when the tilter by unsteadiness or awkwardness suffered his spear to be..broken across the body of his adversary, instead of by the push of the point’ (Nares). Cf. Shakes. A.Y.L. iii. iv. 44.
1580Sidney (N.) One said he brake across, full well might it so be.
To break asunder: see 25.
50. break away.
a. trans. [from 33.] To sever or remove by breaking.
1420E.E. Wills (1882) 45 A branche of þe couercle [is] y-broke away. 1781Cowper Expost. 501 The lamp that with awaking beams, Dispell'd thy gloom and broke away thy dreams. 1855Costello Stor. Screen 77 Those who..broke away the bars which kept him prisoner.
b. intr. (for refl. of a.)
1860Tyndall Glac. i. §11. 70 The snow..broke away from the foot and fell into the chasm.
c. intr. [from 36.] To start away with abruptness and force; to go off abruptly; to escape by breaking from restraint. Also fig.
1535Coverdale Jer. li. 6 The souldyers brake awaye, and fled out of the cite by night. 1590Shakes. Com. Err. iv. iv. 1 Feare me not man, I will not breake away. c1610Middleton etc. Widow i. i. in Dodsley (1780) XII. 234 When thieves are taken, and break away twice or thrice one after another. 1852Tupper Proverb. Philos. 317 A dappled hart hath flung aside the boughs and broke away. 1872Black Adv. Phaeton xii. 164 If people break away from the ordinary methods..they must take their chance.
d. Boxing. (See quot.)
1897Encycl. Sport I. 139/1 Break away, to get away from an opponent. 1904A. J. Newton Boxing viii. 67 So clinched, they remain..on the lookout for an opportunity to break away in the most favourable manner. 1923[see clinch v.1 2 e].
To break back (Cricket): see 32 b.
51. break down.
a. trans. [from II.] To break (anything) so that its parts fall to the ground; to demolish, destroy, level with the ground. Also of things fig.
1382Wyclif Isa. v. 5, I shal breke down his wal. 1611Bible ibid., Breake downe the wall thereof. 1742Wesley Wks. (1872) I. 353 They..brake down part of the house. 1876J. H. Newman Hist. Sk. I. i. i. 9 They would be powerful to break down; helpless to build up. 1878Morley Diderot II. 29 He will not, however, on that account break down the permanent safeguards.
b. [from 7.] To break into small pieces; to crush; to decompose.
1859Jephson Brittany iv. 42 With delicious light French roll broken down into it. 1883Athenæum 29 Dec. 871/1 The molecule of arabic acid, C89H142O74, is broken down.
c. [from 12–13.] To crush or prostrate in strength, health, courage, etc.
1853Arab. Nts. (Rtldg.) 274 So much was he already broken down by affliction, sorrow and terror. 1873Morley Rousseau I. 28 The character of Jean Jacques was absolutely broken down. 1885Manch. Exam. 6 Sept. 5/4 He has been consistently anxious to break down the power in Egypt of the Turkish pashas.
d. intr. (for refl.) To fall broken or in ruins; to collapse, give way, fail utterly, prove of no avail; to give way, as the back sinews of a horse's leg (whence the technical use in 1831, 1864). Also of an engine, a machine, vehicle, or the like: to cease to function, esp. through the fracture or dislocation of a part.
1831Youatt Horse xvi. (1872) 373 A slight injury..is called a sprain of the back sinews or tendons; and when it is more serious, the horse is said to have broken down. 1837United Service Jrnl. May 112 One of her engines ‘broke-down’, as it is technically called. 1856Sir B. Brodie Psychol. Inq. I. iii. 93 The mind may break down all at once under some sudden affliction. 1864Ld. Palmerston in Daily Tel. 26 Aug., It often happens that a very good-looking horse breaks down. 1865Trollope Belton Est. xxix. 345 The task before her was..so difficult that she almost broke down in performing it. 1875Jowett Plato (ed. 2) III. 204 If this definition of justice breaks down. 1880McCarthy Own Times III. xl. 223 His health almost suddenly broke down. 1904Kipling Traffics & Discov. 314 They knew my car had broken down. 1958Times 9 Sept. 4/6 Congestion that might be caused when a vehicle breaks down.
e. [from 30.] To tone down, qualify.
1867Timbs & Gullick Painting 303 Breaking down the warm lights with colours of the opposite quality. 1882Standard 9 Oct. 2/7 He had used ‘white’ sugar for ‘breaking down’ some gin. 1882Printing Times & Lithogr. 15 Feb. 35 Another class of tones is formed by breaking down orange with its complementary colour blue.
f. trans. To divide (logs) into timber (see quot. 1922).
1878Technol. Dict. (ed. 3) II. 84/1 To break down timber,..débiter le bois..en planches, etc. 1883M. P. Bale Saw-Mills iii. 35 The band-sawing machine can..be used for breaking down heavy logs. 1922R. C. Bryant Lumber 451 Break down, v. 1. To reduce large logs to a size which can be sawed on the main log saws in a sawmill. 2. To cut a log into cants. (Pacific Coast Forests.) 1927J. F. Stewart Man. Forest Engineering & Extraction xiii. 171 The logs..are broken down to suitable sizes by this saw.
g. To analyse or classify (figures, statistics, etc.). orig. U.S.
1934Webster, Break down,..to separate (an account or a budget) into its component parts or subdivisions. 1941Amer. Speech XVI. 45 A vast amount of raw material has been broken down for classification. 1948Hansard Commons CDXLVIII. 1663 The programme account..is not broken down as between the Home, Light, and Third Programmes.
h. To stop (something objectionable); to ‘give over’; esp. in break it down: stop it, ‘come off it’. Austral. and N.Z. colloq.
1941Coast to Coast 1941 127 Ah, break it down, feller. Everybody knew you had her on the town. 1943N.Z.E.F. Times 15 Mar. 6/5 Break down the swearing. 1944L. Glassop We were Rats i. v. 35 ‘Break it down,’ I said, ‘nothing would interest me less.’ 1949J. R. Cole It was so Late 13 ‘Break it down!’ Wood shouted from the telephone. ‘I can't hear a thing.’
52. break forth.
a. intr. [from 37.] To make a rush forward.
1552Huloet, Breake forth or out, prorumpo. 1611Bible Exod. xix. 22 Lest the Lord breake forth vpon them. 1646Buck Rich. III, ii. 61 Forth breakes King Richard towards the Earle.
b. Of flame, light, passion, war, disease, etc.: To burst out, break out.
1535Coverdale Isa. lix. 8 Then shal thy light break forth as y⊇ mornynge. 1561Norton & Sackv. Gorboduc iii. i, The fire..breakes forth with double flame. 1596Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, iii. i. 27 Diseased Nature oftentimes breakes forth In strange eruptions. 1597Drayton Mortimer. 11 A little sparke..Breakes forth in flame. 1611Bible Ex. ix. 10 A boyle breaking forth with blaines. 1626Bacon Sylva §384 Many Diseases..break forth at particular times. 1660Stanley Hist. Philos. (1701) 85/2 In the second year..broke forth a War. 1712Steele Spect. No. 302 ⁋5 In Emilia..it [religion] does not break forth into irregular Fits and Sallies of Devotion. 1848Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 645 It was not only against the prisoners that his fury broke forth. 1871Freeman Norm. Conq. IV. xviii. 224 He breaks forth into full light in the course of the next year. 1875Bryce Holy Rom. Emp. vi. (ed. 5) 85 These were the feelings that..broke forth in the shout of Henry.
c. [from 36.] To break loose from restraint.
1605Shakes. Lear i. iv. 222 Breaking forth In ranke and not to be endur'd riots. a1639W. Whately Prototypes ii. xxix. (1640) 135 You young men that have too much broken forth.
†d. [from 40.] To spring or sprout out vigorously. Obs.
1674Grew Anat. Trunks vi. §4 The Trunk-Roots break forth all along it.
e. [from 38] To burst into utterance; to exclaim with sudden outburst.
1526Tindale Gal. iv. 27 Breake forth and crye thou that travelest not. 1611Bible Isaiah xiv. 7 They breake foorth into singing. 1725Pope Odyss. xvi. 482 The Prince breaks forth; proclaim What tydings, friends? 1882Sun 14 May 6/5 The anti-lacrossers cheered and broke forth with [a ditty].
53. break in.
a. trans. = 14.
1785Burke Sp. Nab. Arcot's Debts Wks. 1842 I. 326 Suppose his highness not to be well broken in to things of this kind. 1840Macaulay Clive 3 Savages..who had not broken in a single animal to labour. 1850Mrs. Stowe Uncle Tom xix. 198, I broke a fellow in, once. 1856F. Paget Owlet of Owlst 97 She must be well broke in to the smell of tobacco.
b. intr. [from 42.] To force one's way in, enter forcibly or abruptly; to make an irruption.
1552Huloet, Breake in, irrumpo. 1614Raleigh Hist. World iv. v. §6. 514 Ptolemy's army brake in without resistance. 1615G. Sandys Trav. Ded., The wild beasts..hauing broken in vpon them. 1711Addison Spect. No. 131 ⁋8 When an unexpected Guest breaks in upon him. 1749Fielding Tom Jones xv. v, I am afraid..I break in upon you abruptly. 1884Mehalah iv. 50 Lest he should be broken in on from the cellar.
c. To infringe upon or interfere with; to interrupt or disturb suddenly or unexpectedly.
1657Burton's Diary (1828) II. 79 Bring in a Bill, which is as effectual. Otherwise business will break in upon you. 1748Chesterfield Letters II. 81 Some little passion or humour always breaks in upon their best resolutions. 1765Blackstone Comm. I. 70 Whenever a standing rule of law..hath been wantonly broke in upon by statutes or new resolutions. 1806G. Rose Diaries (1860) I. 251, I would..break in upon these [arrangements] to call in Clarges Street. 1820W. Irving Sketch-bk. (1859) 5 Those sudden storms which will sometimes break in upon the serenity of a summer voyage. 1882Shorthouse J. Inglesant II. 378 The booming of cannon broke in upon the singing of the psalms.
d. To interpose abruptly in a conversation.
a1719Addison (J.) The doctor..with a deep voice and a magisterial air breaks in upon conversation, and drives down all before him. 1807A. M. Porter Hungar. Bro. 78 ‘You remember the circumstances’, added the marshal, seeing Charles about to interrupt him, ‘but I'll not be broken in on’. 1828Scott F.M. Perth I. 18 Feeling the certainty of being right..the father broke in. 1875Jowett Plato (ed. 2) III. 9 In the discussion..Glaucon breaks in with a slight jest.
e. [from 39.] To burst or flash upon.
1713Berkeley Hylas and P. iii. ad fin., A new light breaks in upon my understanding. 1742–3Observ. Methodists 14 Fresh Emanations of Divine Light break in upon..my Soul. 1836J. Gilbert Chr. Atonem. ii. (1852) 42 Had these lights but broken in upon an earlier period. 1865Dickens Mut. Fr. xii, Not the faintest flash of the real state of the case broke in upon her mind.
f. (See quot.).
1823P. Nicholson Pract. Builder 220 To Break in—To cut or break a hole in brick-work, with the ripping-chisel for inserting timber, etc.
g. In paper-manufacture, to subject (rags) to a process of washing and pulping.
1865Chambers's Encycl. VII. 243 They are thoroughly washed and partly pulped; or, as it is technically called, broken in.
h. To bring (virgin land) into cultivation. Also breaking-in vbl. n. Austral. and N.Z. (orig. dial.: see E.D.D. and Sc. Nat. Dict.)
1891R. Wallace Rural Econ. Austral. & N.Z. i. 24 The single-furrow plough is employed to break in the land. Ibid. vi. 109 Such results are only expected for a few years after breaking in until the wood ashes left after burning the bush are exhausted. 1939E. E. Vaile Pioneering Pumice v. 99, I was breaking in some country about two and a half miles from the homestead. 1950N.Z. Jrnl. Agric. Feb. 141/1 In many parts of the North Island, farm country still offers a stubborn resistance to breaking-in.
54. break off.
a. trans. [from 27.] To discontinue (anything) abruptly; to put a forcible, abrupt, or definite end to.
c1340Hampole Prose Treat. 29 Þou sall..breke of þat. 1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 151 Vouchsafe..to interrupte and breke of the swete quietnes of contemplacyon. 1597Morley Introd. Mus. 117 Now wil I breake off my intended walke. 1611Bible Dan. iv. 27 Breake off thy sinnes by righteousnesse. 1649Milton Eikon. 2 The first parlament he broke off at his coming to the Crown. 1712Hughes Spect. No. 554 ⁋7, I might break off the account of him here. 1712Addison Spect. No. 295 ⁋4 We find several Matches broken off upon this very Head. 1855Macaulay Hist. Eng. III. 255 The conferences were soon broken off.
b. intr. To leave off or stop abruptly.
c1340Hampole Prose Treat. 29 When þou hase bene besye vwtwarde..þou sall breke offe and come agayne to þi prayers. 1588Shakes. L.L.L. v. ii. 262 Not one word more my maides, breake off, breake off. 1589Puttenham Eng. Poesie iii. xii. (Arb.) 178 When we begin to speake a thing, and breake of in the middle way. 1641J. Jackson True Evang. T. ii. 122 We must not here breake off; let us continue on the story. 1727De Foe Syst. Magic i. ii. (1840) 42 Upon this their consultation broke off. 1841Macaulay in Trevelyan Life (1876) II. ix. 111 He may break off in the middle of a story.
c. = 32.
1725De Foe Voy. round World (1840) 129 She found the shore break off a little, and soon after a little more. 1833Regul. Instr. Cavalry i. 30 The front rank break off to the left.
d. trans. [from 33.] To sever or detach completely by breaking.
1530Palsgr. 465/1, I breake of a pece or porcyon of a thyng from the hole. 1611Bible Ex. xxxii. 2 Breake off the golden earerings which are in the eares of your wiues. 1710Steele Tatler No. 15 ⁋1 To the End of that Stamen of Being in themselves which was broke off by Sickness. 1759B. Martin Nat. Hist. Eng. I. Cornw. 4 Part of one of them has been broke off.
e. intr. To detach oneself abruptly from.
1606Shakes. Ant. & Cl. i. ii. 132, I must from this enchanting Queene breake off. 1862Stanley Jew. Ch. (1877) I. x. 198 A Jewish sect..which professes to have broken off from Israel at this time.
f. [from 34.] To sever connexion or relation (with), to separate.
1647W. Browne Polex. ii. 73 To breake off instantly with the enemies of his greatnesse and religion. 1667Pepys Diary 27 July, The King and my Lady Castlemaine are quite broke off, and she is gone away. 1709Steele Tatler No. 36 ⁋1 False Lovers, and their shallow Pretences for breaking off. 1827Scott Surg. Dau. II. 158 Her ungrateful lover was now occupied with the means, not indeed of breaking off with her entirely, but, etc.
g. trans. To draw off sharply, withdraw completely from.
1607Topsell Four-f. Beasts 107 Then must the retreat be sounded, and..the Dogs be broken off. 1700J. Law Counc. Trade (1751) 155 At whose pains..ought the people of this kingdom be broken off from this habit of idleness.
h. [from 28 b.] To intercept and repel.
1791Smeaton Edystone L. §338 A sloping Bank..to break off the fury of the sea.
†i. intr. [from 24.] To start, begin. Obs.
1591Lyly Sappho ii. iii. 177 Then shall wee have sweet musique. But come, I will not breake off.
j. Naut. (See quot.)
1867Smyth Sailor's Word-bk. s.v. She breaks off from her course: applied only when the wind will not allow of keeping the course; applies only to ‘close-hauled’ or ‘on the wind’. Broken off, fallen off, in azimuth, from the course.
to break on: see 41.
55. break out.
a. trans. [from 33.] To force out by breaking.
1611Bible Ps. lviii. 6 Breake out the great teeth of the young lyons. Mod. To break the glass out of a window, the teeth out of a rake, etc.
b. intr. [from 37.] To burst or spring out from restraint, confinement, or concealment. Said of persons and things material, also of fire, light, etc.
a1000Beowulf 5085 Geseah þa..stream ut þonan brecan of beorᵹe. c1205Lay. 30854 Þat he [the pick] brac ut biforen under his breaste. c1340Hampole Pr. Consc. 4465 Bot at þe last þai sal breke out And destroy many landes obout. 1382Wyclif Isa. lviii. 8 Thanne shal breken out as morutid thi liȝt. Ibid. xxxv. 6. 1576 Lambarde Peramb. Kent (1826) 261 Those very welles or springs..whereof the one breaketh out of the ground about Stallesfield. 1647Sectary Dissected 17 What an ambush of Banditi is here broken out against the poor Statutes? 1679W. Longueville in Hatton Corr. (1878) 183 Sunday last a fire or two broke out in y⊇ citty. 1763Wesley Jrnl. 21 Aug., The sun broke out several times, and shone hot in my face. 1885Manch. Exam. 6 July 5/1 A fire broke out and spread with great rapidity.
c. Said of a morbid eruption on the skin; also of an epidemic disease.
1535Coverdale Levit. xiii. 12 Whan the leprosy breaketh out in the szkynne. 1640Fuller Abel Rediv. (1867) II. 143 There brake out a grievous pestilence in that city. 1661Lovell Hist. Anim. & Min. 327 The measells, which are little swellings, red, breaking out in the skinn. 1711Addison Spect. No. 16 ⁋2 Those Blotches and Tumours which break out in the Body. 1842Tennyson Walking to Mail 71 The same old sore breaks out from age to age. 1851Dixon W. Penn xxxi. (1872) 298 The yellow fever broke out in Philadelphia.
d. A person, or his body, is also said to break out (in or into boils, etc.).
c1300Beket 2421 His flesch bigan to breken out: and rotede and foule stonk. 1552Huloet, Breake oute, or braste oute, as a mannes face doth with heate. 1651Hobbes Leviath. (1839) 309 The bodies of children..breaking out into biles and scabs. 1690Lond. Gaz. No. 2596/4 He is a short..Man, his Lips broke out. 1769Goldsm. Rom. Hist. (1786) II. 144 His face was all broke out into ulcers. 1819L. Hunt Indicator No. 7 (1822) I. 56 He used to break out in enormous biles and blisters.
e. Said of exclamations, feelings, passions, traits; of discord, riot, war, rebellion, etc.
1580Baret Alv. B 1201 Laughter breaketh out soudainlie. 1598Drayton Heroic. Ep. ii. 35 My Heart must breake within, or Woes breake out. 1649Milton Eikon. iv. (1851) 360 Besides this, the Rebellion in Ireland was now broke out. 1715Burnet Own Time II. 406 His speech was suppressed for some days, but it broke out at last. 1845S. Austin Ranke's Hist. Ref. I. 429 The natural antagonism between them soon broke out. 1847L. Hunt Men, Women, & Bks. II. xi. 274 Traits of him still break out. 1848Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 163 Formidable riots broke out in many places. 1850W. Irving Goldsm. xxix. 284 His goodness of heart, which broke out on every occasion.
f. Persons or other agents are also said to break out into or in some manifestation of feeling or some action. (N.Z. examples refer to a drinking bout.) See also E.D.D.
1480Caxton Descr. Brit. 19 A metrer breketh out in this maner in praysing of this cite. 1599Shakes. Much Ado i. i. 24 Did he breake out into teares? 1655Fuller Ch. Hist. ix. 83 Thomas Piercy..brake out into open Rebellion against the Queen. 1711Addison Spect. No. 45 ⁋6 She broke out into a loud Soliloquy. 1795Southey Joan of Arc viii. 316 The exultant French Break out in loud rejoicing. 1875Jowett Plato (ed. 2) I. 185 Ctesippus again breaks out, and again has to be pacified by Socrates. a1888Mod. He's not a confirmed dipsomaniac, but only breaks out now and again. 1898J. Bell In Shadow of Bush xvii. 101 Davie..had thought it best on the one occasion in which Dan had broken out, to give him a wide berth. 1904N.Z. Illustr. Mag. IX. 429 Bill did ‘break out’.
g. trans. To open up (a receptacle or the like) and remove its contents; to get (articles) out of a place of storage; hence, to prepare (food or drink) for consumption. colloq. (chiefly U.S.).
[1832Marryat P. Simple (1834) v, He was breaking Casks out of the hold.] 1840R. H. Dana Bef. Mast xiv, There is always a good deal to be done in the hold: goods to be broken out. 1849N. Kingsley Diary (1914) 22 Broke out our chests to-day, found all our things in good order. Ibid. 73 They broke out the baggage room to-day to get iron for various purposes. 1877Fraser's Mag. XV. 221 Afterwards the fish are broken out and washed, and then packed in wooden hogshead casks. 1962K. Orvis Damned & Destroyed vi. 47, I went home and broke out a fresh bottle of Scotch. 1968C. Burke Elephant across Border vi. 236 ‘Break out some more coffee.’ Lori made more coffee.
h. intr. Of a goldfield: to come into operation. Also transf. Austral. and N.Z.
1862E. Hodder Memories of N.Z. Life 180 The Mammoth Caverns, which have been discovered since the diggings broke out. 1873Trollope Austral. & N.Z. II. xxiii. 380 When Gold ‘broke out’, as the phrase goes, on the western side of the Middle Island. 1894C. J. O'Regan Voices of Wave & Tree 14 When the Coast broke out, we roughed it thro' the bush. 1901‘M. Franklin’ My Brilliant Career ii. 11 Ere the diggings had broken out on Bruggabrong, our nearest neighbour..was seventeen miles distant.
56. break through. [f. branch VII. Through is here originally a preposition, and the analysis is to break through-a-fence, not to break-through a fence, but the prep. tends to attach itself to the vb. as in L. perfringĕre, and is sometimes used absol. as an adverb.]
a. trans. To penetrate (a barrier of any kind) by breaking it; to force one's way through.
c1400Destr. Troy 5827 He hit hym so hetturly..Þat he breke þurgh the burd to the bare throte. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. iv. 528 Hypanis, profound, Breaks through th' opposing Rocks. 1711Steele Spect. No. 53 ⁋8 A Satyr peeping over the silken Fence, and threatening to break through it.
fig.1597Hooker Eccl. Pol. v. xlix. §6 Neither are they able to break through those errors wherein they are settled. 1798Ferriar Illustr. Sterne ii. 24 Wit, like beauty, can break through the most unpromising disguise. 1847L. Hunt Men, Women, & Bks. II. xi. 262 Those conventional hypocrisies of which most people are ashamed, even when they would be far more ashamed to break through them.
b. To burst through restraints of, transgress.
1712Budgell Spect. No. 401 ⁋7, I purpose to break through all Rules. 1749Fielding Tom Jones i. iii, A custom he never broke through on any account. 1808T. Jefferson Writ. (1830) IV. 129, I was unwilling it should be broke through by others.
c. To project abruptly through.
1860Tyndall Glac. i. §11. 80 Two rocks break through the snow.
d. absol.
1526Tindale Matt. vi. 19 Where theves breake through and steale. 1659Burton's Diary (1828) IV. 273 The Chair broke through and rose without a question. 1690Locke Educ. §70 After Corruption had once broke thro'.
57. break up.
a. trans. [from 1.] To break into many parts; to disintegrate.
1752Beawes Lex Mercat. 52 If a ship be broken up or taken to pieces..and afterwards..be rebuilt..she is now another, and not the same ship. 1864Derby Mercury 7 Dec., The steel pieces were broken up, and the iron ones were beaten up into bars. 1875Jowett Plato (ed. 2) IV. 7 He cannot understand how an absolute unity..can be broken up into a number of individuals. 1876J. H. Newman Hist. Sk. I. i. ii. 54 Heraclius succeeded in..breaking up the Persian power.
b. To rend or tear: see 2 a.
c. To cut up, carve: see 2 b.
d. [from 2 f.] To dissolve, disband, put an end to, give up; as in to break a regiment, gang, parliament (obs.); to break up a house, household, housekeeping, school, an assembly. Colloq. phr. break it up: (a) imp. disperse; stop (a fight); (b) U.S. (see quot. 1946).
1483Act 1 Rich. III, ii, Many worshipful Men..were compelled by Necessity to break up their Housholds. c1500Song in Rel. Ant. I. 117 To brek upe the scole. 1647Ward Simp. Cobler 12 Glad to heare the Devill is breaking up house in England, and removing somewhether else. 1721Lond. Gaz. No. 5977/2 They..broke up their Assembly. 1833Marryat P. Simple xxix, My uncle..had..broken up his housekeeping. 1875Jowett Plato (ed. 2) I. 70 We fairly gave way and broke up the company. 1936S. Kingsley Dead End ii. 113 Break it up!.. Come on, break it up!..go on home! Go on, break it up! 1946Mezzrow & Wolfe Really the Blues 371 Break it up, bring the house down. 1947‘N. Blake’ Minute for Murder vii. 149 A policeman..forced his way..through the crowd, shouting ‘..Stand aside! Break it up!’ 1959Encounter Aug. 28/2 If someone had stepped in and said, ‘break it up’,..all would have gone well.
e. absol. and intr. from preceding. spec. of a school.
1535Coverdale Isa. xxxvii. 36 So Sennacherib the kinge of the Assirians brake vp, and dwelt at Niniue. 1536Wriothesley Chron. (1875) I. 52 The twentith daie of Julie, the Convocation brooke upp at Poules. 1606G. W[oodcocke] Ivstine 14 b Euery one bethinking how he might priuly breake vp, and steale home to resist the Enemy. 1612Drayton Poly-olb. v. 77 Then vp the Session brake. 1707C. Mordaunt Let. 5 May in E. Hamilton Mordaunts (1965) iv. 74 Wee break up the Saturday after next and I desiare if you be in town to send for me. 1740Richardson Pamela II. 364 When you break up next, my Dear, said he, if you're a good Girl, you shall make your new Aunt a Visit. a1855C. Brontë in Cornh. Mag. (1860) Apr. 495, I wrote..to the friends of my pupils, notifying the day when we break up. 1882Boy's Own P. IV. 283 A few days later the school broke up for the summer holidays.
f. trans. [from 5.] To open up (ground) with the spade or plough.
1557Tusser 100 Points Husb. lxi, In January, husbandes will breake vp their lay. 1611Bible Jer. iv. 3 Breake vp your fallow ground. a1771Smollett Humph. Cl. (1815) 192 The roads having been broke up by the heavy rains in the spring, were..rough. 1787Winter Syst. Husb. 129 The beginning of October is the best season for breaking-up old pasture-lands.
†g. intr. [from 5 b.] = break out, 55 d. Obs.
1561Hollybush Hom. Apoth. 1 a, [It] maketh the skin stronge, harde, and also cleane, that it break vp no more.
h. [from 8 b.] Of frost, (formerly) of an epidemic: To give way, cease. Of any kind of weather: to change.
1544Late Exped. Scot. (1798) 10 And for asmoch as the myst yet contynued, and dyd not breake..we concluded, if the wether did not breake vp, to haue encamped our selues vpon the same ground. a1586Sidney Arcadia (1912) ii. ix. 202 The weather breaking up, they were brought to the maine lande of Pontus. 1626Bacon Sylva §383 In Barbary, the Plagues break up in the Summer Moneths. 1801Nelson in Nicolas Disp. (1845) IV. 355 Before the frost broke up at Cronstadt.
i. [from 12 c.] To fail in physical organization.
†j. trans. [from 16, 17.] To burst open (a barrier), make forcibly way into (a house), open forcibly (a letter, box, etc.).
1523Ld. Berners Froiss. I. cccxxii. 501 With great axes they brake vp the dore. 1552Huloet, Breake vp a wryt or letter, resigno. 1578Timme Calvin on Gen. 199 The Lord brake up the floodgates of the waters. 1646Burd. Issach. in Phenix (1708) II. 309 If any should offer violence to break up the Doors. 1682Bunyan Holy War 278 When we had broken it [the letter] up and had read the contents thereof. 1700Blackmore Job 108 He in the dark Breaks houses up, on which he set his mark. 1712Prideaux Direct. Ch.-Wardens (ed. 4) 87 If any Person doth in the Night-time break up the Church. 1827Carlyle Germ. Rom. III. 223 Fixlein..broke up the presentation as his own.
†k. absol. [from prec.] Obs.
1528Tindale Doctr. Treat. (1848) 203 Let the judges..not break up into the consciences of men. 1535Coverdale Matt. vi. 20 Where theues nether breake vp nor yet steale.
l. To begin or commence operations upon.
1688Lond. Gaz. No. 2344/4 There was 500 Acres of Fresh Grass..broak up on May Day. 1711Addison Spect. No. 60 ⁋4 As a Mine not broken up.
†m. intr. [from 39.] To transpire. Obs.
1584J. Carmichael Let. in Wodrow Soc. Misc. 418 The murder of the Prince of Orange first brack up and came by speciall post.
† n. [from 40]. To burst (into flower). Obs.
c1450Henryson Mor. Fab. 45 The blossomes blyth brack vp on banke and bra.
o. trans. To disconcert, upset, disturb; to excite; spec. (orig. U.S.) to convulse with laughter. Also intr. colloq.
1825J. Constable Let. 23 Oct. (1964) II. 404 She says, her sister is going to be married—& that she fears it will break her up. 1860O. W. Holmes Prof. Breakf.-t. i. 11 This episode broke me up, as the jockeys say, out of my square conversational trot; but I settled down to it again. 1895‘Mark Twain’ in N. Amer. Rev. Jan. 61 Well, humour is the great thing, the saving thing,..so, when M. Bourget said that bright thing about our grandfathers, I broke all up. 1895Harper's Mag. Sept. 545/2 A most pathetic stream of arguments and blasphemy, which broke Joan all up, and made her laugh as she had not laughed since she played in the Domremy pastures. 1902L. Bell Hope Loring 240 What language you use!.. If you knew how it breaks me up when you use slang! 1959H. Gardner So What Else is New? 2 The remark broke up the other people in the elevator, but the diminutive culprit continued to stare defiance. 1967New Yorker 21 Jan. 52 The number broke the place up, and Marsala invited me back to play that night. 1968Listener 4 Jan. 27/3 The camera had only to turn to Tommy Cooper for the audience to break up with laughter.
☛Phrase-key of break v. (in addition to the adverbial combinations):—b one's back, 7 b; b ball, 31; b balls, 24; b bank, 11; b in billiards, 24; b blows with, 3; boils b, 4; b bonds, 25; b bounds, 19; b brain, 12 b; b bread, 3; buds b, 40; b bulk, 43; b cloth, 2 a; b cover, covert, 20; b in cricket, 31; day b, 41; b day, 15 e; b deer, 2 b; b fall, 28 b; b fast, 29 c; fish b, 37 d; flowers b, 32 c, 40; b fowl, fox, 2 b; b free, 36; frost b, 8 b; b ground, 44; b of habit, 33; b one's head, 5 b; b one's heart, 7 c, 22; b horse, 14; b house, 17; b ice, 45; b into, 38, 42; b jail, 19; b jest, 23; b joint, 31; b journey, 28 b; b a lance with, 3; b law, 15; b loose, 36; b marriage, matrimony, 15 d; b matter, 22; b one's mind, 12 b, 22; morning b, 41; b one's neck, 7 b; b news, 22; b oath, 15 c; b officer, 35; b on, 39, 41; b open, 17 b; b parle, 24; b parliament, 2 f; b peace, 15; b in pieces, 1; b of practice, 33; b Priscian's head, 5 b; b prison, 19; b promise, 15 c; b ranks, 26; b regiment, 2 f; b rest, 29; b sheer, 31; b ship, 2 d; b siege, 27; b sigh, 23; b silence, sleep, 29; b small, 1; b smile, 23; b soil, 20 b; b spirit, 13; b spousehood, 15 d; b square(s, 46; b stillness, 29; b a straw with, 3; b on torture, 7 b; b trade, 24; b upon, 39, 41; b vein, 4; voice b, 6; b water, 20 b; waves b. 10; b on wheel, 7 b; b wind, 12 b, 47; b with, 2 e, 22 b, 34; b wool, 2 c; b one's word, 15 c; b words with, 3.
▸ to break up. intr. Of an individual: to end a romantic relationship with another. Also (of a couple): to cease to be in a relationship; to separate.
Chiefly with reference to non-marital relationships.
1912S. Pshibishevsky For Happiness in Poet Lore Spring 101 Didn't you write to me that you broke up with her? 1945Austin (Texas) Amer. 7 Nov. 10 (cartoon caption) Did you have to pick this minute to break up with him? Now we have to pay for the sodas! 1972G. Lukas et al. Amer. Graffiti (film script) 79, I guess we broke up... I..told her to get out. 1992M. E. Walsh Moving to Nowhere v. 65, I was always with my mom and dad until they broke up. 2005N. Hornby Long Way Down 22 You were at the end of the line with your music,..plus you broke up with your girl.
▪ II. break, n.1|breɪk|
Also 4 brek, 5–6 breke, 5–7 breake.
[f. break v.]
1. a. An act of breaking; breakage, fracture.
a1300Cursor M. 6344 Wit-vten ani brek or brist. Ibid. 8044 Wit-vten brek of ani bogh. c1440Promp. Parv. 49 Breke, or brekynge, ruptura, fractura. 1870Standard 12 Dec., The great operation had been stopped by the break of a bridge of boats.
b. With adverbs, expressing the action of the corresponding verbal combinations (break v. 48–57); as break-away, break-in, break-out, (also Austral. and N.Z. slang, a drinking bout), break-down, break-up, etc.; break-back, a sudden backward movement (see also sense 5, and break-back a. 2).
1885Times 4 June 10/3 After several *breaks away the 12 competitors were despatched to an excellent start.
1920Blackw. Mag. Feb. 196/2 This ‘*break-back’ of his had certainly been a brilliant achievement. 1960E. S. & W. J. Higham High Speed Rugby xvii. 239 If the scrum-half tries a blindside run, the flank will follow him round just far enough to make a break-back impossible.
1856Kane Arc. Expl. II. vii. 83 My joy at this first *break-in upon its drudgery. 1903Daily Chron. 10 Feb. 6/4 There was a further break-in of the river bank. 1944Times 22 July 4/4 A successful break-in by the British..is never exploited by pursuit.
1820Scott Abbot xxvi, They would be sure to make a *break-out if the officers meddled with the auld Popish witch-wife. 1870Standard 12 Dec., On the break-out of the war. 1888‘R. Boldrewood’ Robbery under Arms I. xi. 128 He saw him once in one of his break-outs, and heard him boast of something he'd done. 1908W. H. Koebel Anchorage 49 A break-out doesn't seem to oil your tongue to run any more'n usual. 1947Ann. Reg. 1946 24 The Russian break-out from the Baranovo bridgehead. 1958Economist 29 Nov. 764/1 Nothing is more important than a British breakout from the rigid positions of the cold war.
2. break of day or morn: the first appearance of light, the dawn. So break of June: the beginning or opening days of June.
1584Lodge Alarum, Forb. & Prisc. 21 b, The careful Marriner..sought for his Loade starre, and at breake of morning..found it out. 1597Drayton Mortimer. 107 The misty breake yet proues a goodly day. 1647W. Browne Polex ii. 205 At the fifth dayes break, those that were in the top of the maine Mast began to cry, Land 1708Lond. Gaz. No. 4471/3 Lieutenant-General Dedem was..order'd to march Yesterday at break a-Day. 1755Young Centaur vi. (1757) IV. 252, I see the break of their moral day. 1812J. Wilson Isle of Palms iii. 749 Now dim, now dazzling like the break of morn. 1820Keats Isabella iv. 26 A whole long month of May in this sad plight Made their cheeks paler by the break of June.
3. † An irruption, a breaking in. Obs.
c1565R. Lindsay Chron. Scot. (1728) 57 The Englishmen had wasted so much on the borders, without any occasion or break of him to England.
†4.
a. A breaking forth, a burst (of sound). Obs.
1750R. Pultock Life P. Wilkins xxxiii. (1883) 90/1 The order of their flight was admirable, and the break of the trumpets so great..that I wondered how they could bear it.
b. An act of breaking out or away (see break v. 49 c and 55 b); a rush or dash; an escape; freq. with to make. orig. U.S.
1833Sk. & Eccentr. D. Crockett 82 Just before I got there, the old bear made a break and got loose. 1846J. J. Hooper Adv. Simon Suggs (1851) xii. 143, I maid a brake on a bee line for Urwinton. 1888T. Roosevelt in Cent. Mag. May 49 Our three men..understood perfectly that the slightest attempt at a break would result in their being shot down. 1910[see jail n. 2]. 1929‘G. Daviot’ Man in Queue vi. 65 The man had gone to ground instead of making a break for it.
c. Hort. A bud or shoot that sprouts from a plant-stem. Also attrib., as break bud (see quot. 1954).
1933Jrnl. R. Hort. Soc. LVIII. 99 There are varieties too that on natural break buds are not good. Ibid., Secure the plants well at the top break. 1954A. G. L. Hellyer Encycl. Garden Work 30/2 A break is a branch or fork. Ibid. 31/1. If a rooted chrysanthemum cutting is left to its own devices, it will after a time, produce an abortive flower bud at the top of the stem, which will prevent further lengthening of this particular stem and force it to produce side shoots or breaks. In consequence, this abortive flower bud is often known as the ‘break bud’. 1959Listener 22 Oct. 706/1 From these [shoots], new breaks will appear which will produce the blooms for next season.
5. Cricket. A ‘twist’ or deviation of the ball from its previous direction on touching the ground. break-back: the breaking in of a ball from the off side (i.e. with a right-handed bowler).
1851Pycroft Cricket Field vii. 137 Look hard for the twist, or a ‘break’ will be fatal. 1855F. Lillywhite's Guide to Cricketers 21 Without a ‘break-back’, the thing is impossible with any but an over-pitched ball. 1866Jerks in from Short Leg 74 The break-back removing a bail destroys in a moment the vision of triumph. 1881Standard 18 June 3/1 Steel beat him with the break, and Hone stumped him well. 1881Macm. Mag. XLIII. 288/2 By virtue of a good pitch and a break back. 1884I. Bligh in Lillywhite's Cricket Ann. 7 Considerable command over the ball in respect of pitch and break. 1886Daily News 22 July 5/1 Mr. Tylecote..was bowled by an unplayable break-back of Mr. Spofforth's.
6. a. Billiards. A consecutive series of successful strokes; the number of points thus scored. b. Similarly in Croquet.
1865Times 10 Apr., Mr. Russell vastly improved in his play, making some very excellent breaks. 1874J. Heath Croquet Player 55 Do not let the balls you are playing on in your break get too close together. 1883Land & Water 10 Feb. 99 It is evidently possible, given the necessary nerve and skill, for breaks of 500 and upwards to be made on the billiard tables of the present make.
7. a. A broken place, gap, or opening: of more general application than breach.
a1300Cursor M. 14012 Þar sco fand ani breck or sare, Wit hir smerl sco smerd þare. 1539Act 31 Hen. VIII, v, It shalbe lawfull..to make dere leapes and breakes in the said hedges. 1688J. Clayton in Phil. Trans. XVII. 987 At the breakes of some banks, I have found veins of Clay. 1691T. H[ale] Acc. New Invent. 97 Where these Holes or Breaks are met with. 1836Macgillivray tr. Humboldt's Trav. ii. 39 The Peak of Teyde..appeared in a break above the clouds. 1879Seguin Black For. xiv. 236 He might wander..without finding a break in the mountain wall.
†b. An opening, a bay. Obs.
1557Paynel Barclay's Jugurth 80 For about the extreme partes of Affrike be ij brekes of the sea [L. sinus] nere together.
8. An interruption of continuity:
a. in anything material; spec. in geological strata, a fault; also in the deck of a ship (see quot. 1850).
1725De Foe Voy. round World (1840) 264 The hollow channel in the middle where there was a kind of fall or break in it. 1747Hooson Miner's Dict. Y viij b, Signs of some Break, Chun, or Vein. 1791Smeaton Edystone L. §209 Probably with several breaks, as is usual in the arrangement of the Strata of the earth. 1832Marryat N. Forster xxxii, Captain Drawlock walked to the break of the gangways. 1840R. Dana Bef. Mast xiii. 32 Foster went as far as the break of the deck, and there waited for him. c1850Rudim. Navig. (Weale) 101 Break, the sudden termination or rise in the decks of some merchant ships, where the aft and sometimes the forepart of the deck is kept up to give more height between decks.
b. in a course of action or time. spec. of a trotter or pacer, the act of breaking away from a level stride (cf. break v. 38 c) (orig. U.S.).
1689Sherlock Death iii. §4 (1731) 114 It makes a Break in our Lives. 1830Lyell Princ. Geol. I. 134 This remarkable break in the regular sequence of physical events. 1839Spirit of Times 13 July 222/3 It was as bad a break as we ever saw. a1867H. Woodruff Trotting Horse of Amer. (1868) i. 41 The penalty of a break was such that the rider..would be afraid to push his horse up to the top of his speed. 1878M. E. Herbert Hübner's Ramble i. xii. 184 The run is 5,000 miles without a break. 1878Morley Diderot I. 252 He would pass a whole month without a day's break, working ten hours a day at the revision of proof-sheets. 1903A. D. McFaul Ike Glidden xxii. 200 When rounding into the home stretch his horse broke, and suddenly went to a wild swerving break that carried him to the complete outside of the track. 1968Wanganui Chron. 15 Nov. 6/3 Stylish Major, the beaten favourite on Tuesday after going into a break trying to match the early pace.
c. in a discourse or composition; in the rhythm of a verse; also in printed matter. Occas. attrib., as in break-line.
1627Capt. Smith Seaman's Gram. A iiij b, You finde the word in the Margent in that breake [paragraph] against it. 1710Swift Tatler No. 230 ⁋6 The Breaks at the End of almost every Sentence. 1779Johnson Dryden, L.P. (1816) IX. 393 The Alexandrine..invariably requires a break at the sixth syllable. 1885Law Rep. Queen's B. XIV. 727 There is no break in the section, and the words ‘in any highway’, govern all that follows.
d. Marks [– – –] employed in print or writing to indicate abrupt pauses.
1733Swift On Poetry Wks. 1755 IV. i. 186 In modern wit all printed trash is Set off with num'rous breaks – – – and dashes —. 1862T. Trollope Marietta I. x. 183 An unlimited supply of question stops, marks of admiration, italics and breaks.
e. A short interval between lessons, usu. in the middle of morning or afternoon school. Also transf. Cf. coffee-break, tea-break.
1861H. Spencer Educ. ii. 65 Short breaks during school-hours, excursions into the country,..in these and many like traits, the change may be discerned. 1913C. Mackenzie Sinister Street I. i. vi. 94 Well, see you to-morrow in the break, young Fane. 1921S. Thompson Rough Crossing ii. §1, At ‘break’ Elizabeth met Lilian again. 1933D. C. Peel Life's Enchanted Cup xi. 133 In many workrooms no morning break was permitted...We finally decided that..the girls should be allowed a ten minutes' break at 11 o'clock.
f. On the Stock Exchange, a sudden decline in prices. U.S. (Cf. break v. 8 c.)
1870J. K. Medbery Men & Myst. Wall St. 203 To endure an occasional ‘break’ in stocks. 1931Economist 23 May 1110/2 The trend continued downwards, with particularly sharp breaks among high-priced stocks.
g. slang. A collection taken in aid of a prisoner awaiting trial or recently discharged.
1879Macmillan's Mag. Oct. 502/1 The mob got me up a break (collection). 1896A. Morrison Child of Jago xxv. 252 Get up a ‘break’ or subscription to pay for his defence.
h. The angle between the brim and crown of a hat.
1881in Ogilvie.
i. A mistake, blunder; esp. in phr. a bad break: a serious mistake. colloq. (orig. U.S.).
1884E. W. Nye Baled Hay 200 Possibly science may be wrong. We have known science to make bad little breaks. 1887F. Francis Saddle & Mocassin 146 You've made one or two bad breaks since you've been in town. 1902G. H. Lorimer Lett. Merchant 311 When a clerk makes a fool break, I don't want to beg his pardon for calling his attention to it. 1905Kipling Actions & Reactions (1909) 26 We're..moving in worlds not realised, and we shall make some bad breaks. 1931Wodehouse If I were You vii. 82 He'd always be worrying..for fear he was going to make a break of some kind.
j. A freak or abnormal development from the parent stock.
1921Conquest Sept. 491/3 These ‘mutations’, ‘sports’ or ‘breaks’, as they are variously called. 1933Jrnl. R. Hort. Soc. LVIII. 388 We are always looking out for natural breaks or variations.
k. Broadcasting. (See quot. 1941); spec. in phr. natural break (see quot. 1962).
1941B.B.C. Gloss. Broadc. Terms 5 Break, interruption, either momentary or prolonged, in the transmission of a programme. 1959Manch. Guardian 11 Aug. 4/5 The only reason grandpappy hasn't been on television is that he never could learn to wait for the natural breaks. 1962Rep. Comm. Broadc. 1960 72 Fourth among the main specific duties laid upon the [Independent Television] Authority is the obligation to ensure that advertisements do not occur except at the beginning or end of programmes, or in natural breaks in them... What was meant by the term was a break which would have occurred even had there been no advertisement: for example, in the interval between the acts of a play, or at half-time in football matches.
9. Music.
a. The point of separation between the different registers of a voice.
b. ‘In an organ stop: The sudden alteration of the proper scale-series of pipes by returning to those of an octave lower in pitch’ (Stainer and Barrett).
1881C. A. Edwards Organs 153 As a rule on modern organs the breaks are made on the C sharp keys. 1883Curwen Standard Course 105/2 Passages running across the ‘break’ can be sung with an even quality of voice. Ibid. 107/1 The break between the upper and lower thick registers is easily noticed in male voices.
c. In jazz, a short solo or improvised phrase; a passage of a few bars during which an instrumentalist plays unaccompanied. orig. U.S.
1926A. Niles in W. C. Handy Blues 8 The notes..which follow this rest, fill in the following break, and themselves are called ‘the break’, or ‘the jazz’. 1927Melody Maker Apr. 377/1 Now try a two-bar break composed of Type A and Type B. 1958P. Oliver in P. Gammond Decca Bk. of Jazz i. 21 Of each line of four bars, he may sing only two or three, allowing room for an instrumental or vocal ‘break’.
10. a. Something abruptly breaking the line, or level; an irregularity, roughness, knot, etc. spec. rough, irregular country; broken country (local U.S.).
1756Burke Subl. & B. Wks. I. 241 The fine variation is lost in wrinkles, sudden breaks, and right lines. 1771Sir J. Reynolds Disc. iv. (1876) 362 A portrait-painter..leaves out all the minute breaks..in the face. 1787Best Angling (ed. 2) 168 Break, a knot in the joint of a rod. 1820J. C. Gilleland Ohio & Miss. Pilot 171 Some of the breaks rise in deep circular glens called coves. 1902Webster Suppl., Break.., a line of cliffs, and associated spurs and small valleys, at the edge of a mesa. (Western U.S.) 1903S. Clapin Dict. Amer. 74 Break, a rough, irregular piece of ground. (Neb.) 1918S. S. Visher Geogr. S. Dakota 117 Badlands or ‘breaks’ afforded protection from winter storms.
b. Archit. (see quots.)
1685Evelyn Diary (1827) III. 178 Windows and Columns at the break and entrance of free-stone. 1807Hutton Course Math. II. 88 The breaks of the windows themselves are 8 feet 6 inches high, and 1 foot 3 inches deep. 1823P. Nicholson Pract. Build. 441 Any portion of the exterior side of a building which protrudes itself towards the spectator, is denominated a projection or break.
c. A broken or disturbed portion on the surface of water. U.S.
1852Trans. Mich. Agric. Soc. III. 231 They will make a break in the water near the shore with their tail. 1897‘Mark Twain’ Following Equator ix. 109 With..the ‘break’ spreading away from its head, and the wake following behind its tail.
11. A number of chests of tea, a lot or consignment.
1864Times 4 Nov. Breaks of Canton scented orange pekoe. 1883Ibid. 24 Mar. 6 In a break of 600 chests you will find an absolute uniformity of weight, both of package and contents and of quality.
12. A portion of ground broken up for cultivation; a tract distinct in surface or appearance.
1674Ray S. & E. Count. Wds. 60 Break, land plowed the first year after it hath lain fallow in the sheep walks. Norf. 1767A. Young Farmer's Lett. People 11, I have..seen Breaks of wheat of five quarters per acre. 1794Statist. Acc. Scot. XI. 152 Such farms as are divided into 3 inclosures, or, as they are commonly called, breaks. 1878Black Green Past. II. 14 Young rabbits..scurried through the dry heather to the sandy breaks. 1883Nature XXVII. 446 The ‘break’ or oasis, believed..to exist in the interior of Greenland.
13. dial. A large number or quantity.
1808Jamieson Break, a considerable number of people, a crowd; as a break of folk, Fife. 1880W. Cornwall Gloss. (E. D. S.), Brake, a large quantity: particularly applied to flowers, as a ‘brake of honeysuckle’. 1884G. C. Davies Norfolk Broads xxxii. 247 The sky was cloudless, & the stars remarkably brilliant..Alluding to the ‘break’ of stars above us, the man said that it foretold rough stormy weather.
14. In type-founding, a surplus piece of metal remaining on the shank of a newly cast type.
1683Moxon Mech. Exerc., Printing 370 Break,..the Mettle that is contiguous to the Shank of a New Cast Letter: This Break is formed in the Mouth-piece of the Letter-mould, and is called a Break, because it is always broke from the Shank of a Letter. 1843Holtzapffel Turning I. 324 The breaks, or the runners, of the types are first broken off. a1877Knight Dict. Mech.
15. The quantity of hemp which is prepared or sold in one year. U.S.
1796Mass. Mercury 29 Apr. (Cent. Dict.), Best St. Petersburg clean Hemp of the break of the year 1796. 1907Daily Chron. 7 Mar. 6/6 A ‘break’ of hemp, which in America means the quantity sold in a year.
16. A portion of a crop of turnips, etc., set aside for sheep to feed on.
1805R. W. Dickson Pract. Agric. II. 672 Removing them [sc. sheep] to fresh portions or breaks every eight or ten days. 1886C. Scott Sheep-farming 48 A certain breadth or portion of the turnips, called a ‘break’, the extent of which is regulated by the number of sheep to be put on. 1933L. G. D. Acland in Press (N.Z.) 23 Sept. 13/7 Break, a temporary division made in a paddock so that stock shall feed off the turnips, etc., in sections. 1950N.Z. Jrnl. Agric. May 461/1 Breaks of winter forage crops such as turnips or chou moellier.
17. a. Electr. and Telegraphy. An apparatus for interrupting or changing the direction of an electric current; a commutator.
1854Tomlinson's Cycl. Useful Arts I. 580/1 The other pole..communicates..with the little wheel, called the break, the circumference of which is partly of metal and partly of wood or ivory, so as to interrupt and renew..the metallic connexion. a1877Knight Dict. Mech.
b. Electr. The action of breaking contact in an electric circuit; the position in which contact is broken (in phr. at break). See also make n.2 9.
1875F. Guthrie Magn. & Electr. 206 The automatic make and break. Fig. 181 shows the ‘hammer break’. 1876Nature XIV. 62/2 The increase of excitability was manifested towards make, and scarcely at all towards break.
18. colloq. A chance, an opportunity; a piece of good luck; freq. with defining word, as an even break: an equal or fair chance. orig. U.S.
1911H. Quick Yellowstone N. v. 126 It's allus an even break whether they'll stan' and freeze in their tracks, or chase after some bunch of..natives. 1911Mulford Bar-20 Days xxiii. 231 Now he wanted an ‘even break’, where once he would have called all his wits into play to avoid it. 1918― Man fr. Bar-20 xiii. 128 If th' stakes are high an' the breaks anywhere near equal, I'll risk my last dollar or my last breath. 1926J. Black You can't Win xxi. 331, I could ‘take’ the spot if I got a fair break on the luck. 1928Daily Express 11 July 12 The chances in the ‘quarter-mile’ seem to give the Americans only an even break for a first place. 1930Publishers' Weekly 8 Feb. 705/2 These buyers and their stores get what are known as ‘the breaks’. 1938G. Greene Brighton Rock ii. i. 62 A break like that's too good. Ibid. 72 We had a lucky break. 1948L. A. G. Strong Trevannion 196 Give the boy a break, they thought indulgently.
19. Boxing. The act of separating after the contestants have been in a clinch.
1928Daily Express 2 Aug. 13/5 Lewis was disqualified for hitting on the break.
20. attrib. break-lathe, a lathe having a portion of its bed open or removable so as to admit work of larger diameter; break-line Typogr., the last line of a paragraph.
1883Encycl. Brit. XV. 154/1 Break lathes..were made by Mr. (now Sir Joseph) Whitworth as long ago as 1840.
1683Moxon Mech. Exerc., Printing 226 Nor do good Compositers account it good Workmanship to begin a Page with a Break-line. 1808C. Stower Printer's Gram. 163 Part of a word, or a complete word in a break line, if it contain no more than three or four letters, is improper. 1824J. Johnson Typogr. II. 90 To take a comprehensive view of the copy,..to notice..the number of break lines. 1967Hart's Rules for Compositors (ed. 37) 56 Break-lines should consist of more than five letters, except in narrow measures.
▸ Music (orig. Brit.). In pl. = breakbeat n. 2.
1996A. Freeland (title of album) Coastal breaks. 2002Herald Sun (Melbourne) (Nexis) 9 May 61 Sydney's Kid Kenobi guests at Lounge's breaks night. 2006List ((Glasgow & Edinb. Events Guide)) 14 Dec.–4 Jan. 57/2 A leftfield soundtrack of house..and breaks.
▸ Lawn Tennis. An act of breaking an opponent's serve; a game won as receiver. More fully break of serve (also service). Cf. break v. 9d, service break n. at service n.1 Additions.
1952Times 3 July 4/1 After an early break of service he reached 3–1 and very nearly 4–1, when Flam saved the game gloriously, winning five points running. 1971W. Grimsley Tennis ii. vii. 76 He got the matching break in the seventh game, making the score 3-4, and held to tie it at 4-4. 1987N.Y. Times (Nexis) 30 June d29 Pernfors, who said he plays his best tennis when he is behind, forced a fifth set, in which both players traded breaks and looked vulnerable. 2002Birmingham Post (Electronic ed.) 20 June Only two points were then lost on serve until Voinea again made some unforced errors that gifted Rusedski a second break of serve and with it the first set 6–3.
▸ orig. Brit. A holiday, esp. one of a short duration. Cf. city break at city n. Additions.
1958Times 8 Nov. 9/6 (advt.) Doctors say that at a break at midwinter is the best preventive for nervous fatigue—and the accompanying colds—you can have. 1982Financial Times 16 Jan. 7 The Board is producing a ‘let's go North West’ programme featuring two, three and five day bargain breaks during off-peak periods. 1991J. Barnes Talking it Over viii. 105 We had a wonderful weekend break. Headed off down the motorway from Calais. 2003State (Columbia, S. Carolina) (Nexis) 9 June d1 Vacations can be expensive and a chore. They don't have to be. But a great, cheap break does require a little bit of work.
▪ III. break, n.2
Also brake.
[Derivation not quite certain: app. f. break v., in the sense ‘to break a horse’; but it is said in Knight's Amer. Mech. Dict. to be a general name for the fore-part or frame of a carriage, so that it may possibly be an application of brake n.5]
1. A large carriage-frame (having two or four wheels) with no body, used for breaking in young horses.
1831Loudon Cycl. Agric. (ed. 2) 1002 The training of coach-horses commences with..driving in a break or four-wheeled frame. 1865Derby Mercury 1 Mar., A horse-breaker's drag, or break, with two horses harnessed to it.
2. A large wagonette.
1856C. M. Yonge Daisy Chain i. xxvi. 285 Norman's fate conveyed him to the exalted seat beside the driver of the break. 1874M. A. Barker N. Zealand iv. 23 In their comfortable and large break with four horses. 1882Proc. Berw. Nat. Club IX. iii. 451 A brake and four conveying a large party. 1884Princess Alice Mem. 72 Louis drove me and his two brothers in a break. 1885Manch. Exam. 23 Apr. 5/2 The large brakes which convey pleasure-seekers.
▪ IV. break
var. spelling of brake n.2, n.3, n.5, n.7, v.1 |
