Break

Definition:

  • (v. i.) To fall in business; to become bankrupt.
  • (v. t.) To strain apart; to sever by fracture; to divide with violence; as, to break a rope or chain; to break a seal; to break an axle; to break rocks or coal; to break a lock.
  • (v. t.) To lay open as by breaking; to divide; as, to break a package of goods.
  • (v. t.) To lay open, as a purpose; to disclose, divulge, or communicate.
  • (v. t.) To infringe or violate, as an obligation, law, or promise.
  • (v. t.) To interrupt; to destroy the continuity of; to dissolve or terminate; as, to break silence; to break one's sleep; to break one's journey.
  • (v. t.) To destroy the completeness of; to remove a part from; as, to break a set.
  • (v. t.) To destroy the arrangement of; to throw into disorder; to pierce; as, the cavalry were not able to break the British squares.
  • (v. t.) To shatter to pieces; to reduce to fragments.
  • (v. t.) To exchange for other money or currency of smaller denomination; as, to break a five dollar bill.
  • (v. t.) To destroy the strength, firmness, or consistency of; as, to break flax.
  • (v. t.) To weaken or impair, as health, spirit, or mind.
  • (v. t.) To diminish the force of; to lessen the shock of, as a fall or blow.
  • (v. t.) To impart, as news or information; to broach; -- with to, and often with a modified word implying some reserve; as, to break the news gently to the widow; to break a purpose cautiously to a friend.
  • (v. t.) To tame; to reduce to subjection; to make tractable; to discipline; as, to break a horse to the harness or saddle.
  • (v. t.) To destroy the financial credit of; to make bankrupt; to ruin.
  • (v. t.) To destroy the official character and standing of; to cashier; to dismiss.
  • (v. i.) To come apart or divide into two or more pieces, usually with suddenness and violence; to part; to burst asunder.
  • (v. i.) To open spontaneously, or by pressure from within, as a bubble, a tumor, a seed vessel, a bag.
  • (v. i.) To burst forth; to make its way; to come to view; to appear; to dawn.
  • (v. i.) To burst forth violently, as a storm.
  • (v. i.) To open up; to be scattered; to be dissipated; as, the clouds are breaking.
  • (v. i.) To become weakened in constitution or faculties; to lose health or strength.
  • (v. i.) To be crushed, or overwhelmed with sorrow or grief; as, my heart is breaking.
  • (v. i.) To make an abrupt or sudden change; to change the gait; as, to break into a run or gallop.
  • (v. i.) To fail in musical quality; as, a singer's voice breaks when it is strained beyond its compass and a tone or note is not completed, but degenerates into an unmusical sound instead. Also, to change in tone, as a boy's voice at puberty.
  • (v. i.) To fall out; to terminate friendship.
  • (v. t.) An opening made by fracture or disruption.
  • (v. t.) An interruption of continuity; change of direction; as, a break in a wall; a break in the deck of a ship.
  • (v. t.) A projection or recess from the face of a building.
  • (v. t.) An opening or displacement in the circuit, interrupting the electrical current.
  • (v. t.) An interruption; a pause; as, a break in friendship; a break in the conversation.
  • (v. t.) An interruption in continuity in writing or printing, as where there is an omission, an unfilled line, etc.
  • (v. t.) The first appearing, as of light in the morning; the dawn; as, the break of day; the break of dawn.
  • (v. t.) A large four-wheeled carriage, having a straight body and calash top, with the driver's seat in front and the footman's behind.
  • (v. t.) A device for checking motion, or for measuring friction. See Brake, n. 9 & 10.
  • (n.) See Commutator.

Compare break with other words:

break vs. brike

break vs. rip

break vs. reak

break vs. freak

break vs. creak

break vs. bream

bleak vs. break

beak vs. break

break vs. wreak

bread vs. break

break vs. telugu

break vs. breakable

break vs. snapped

break vs. scuttle

break vs. hurt

break vs. pluck

break vs. keep

break vs. cut

break vs. totear

break vs. frangent

break vs. gnide

break vs. frush

break vs. splint

break vs. divide

break vs. throw

ancillary vs. break

break vs. cleave

break vs. undo

break vs. commit

break vs. content

break vs. slang

break vs. damage

beat vs. break

break vs. crash

break vs. vacation

break vs. demolish

break vs. tore

break vs. interregnum

break vs. forsake

break vs. crumble

break vs. craps

break vs. set

break vs. surpass

break vs. lapse

break vs. hogwash

administrator vs. break

break vs. fault

break vs. respite

break vs. crush

break vs. ossifragous

break vs. spalt

break vs. chalcedony

break vs. brittleness

break vs. safebreaker

break vs. crumbly

break vs. buster

break vs. rift

break vs. interlude

break vs. defecate

break vs. pop

break vs. destroy

break vs. main

break vs. glassy

break vs. discontinuity

break vs. discontinuous

break vs. dismast

break vs. roller

break vs. flimsy

break vs. tattered

break vs. brit

break vs. breather

break vs. rupture

break vs. brittle

break vs. puncture

break vs. pierce

break vs. sunder

break vs. recess

break vs. breakwater

break vs. unbreakable

attacca vs. break

break vs. overlap

break vs. disintegrate

break vs. tintinnabulation

break vs. chunk

bowled vs. break

break vs. gentle

break vs. renege

break vs. stave

break vs. snap

break vs. crisp

break vs. elide

break vs. salvo

break vs. nicker

break vs. flexible

break vs. lance

break vs. hiatus

break vs. broach

bilge vs. break

break vs. fragment

break vs. reave

break vs. bugger

brake vs. break

break vs. chip

break vs. hatch

break vs. tea

break vs. splinter

break vs. lunch

break vs. continuous

break vs. ram

break vs. thrust

break vs. stay

break vs. bridge

break vs. spelt

break vs. daybreak

break vs. heartbreak

breach vs. break

break vs. gap

break vs. snaffle

bit vs. break

break vs. calash

break vs. carriage

billiards vs. break

break vs. player

break vs. wave

beginning vs. break

break vs. game

break vs. intermission

break vs. interval

break vs. breaktime

break vs. pause

break vs. rest

break vs. space

break vs. broke

break vs. broken

break vs. breaking

break vs. outbreak

break vs. breaker

break vs. breakage

break vs. hold

break vs. repair

break vs. mend

break vs. join

assemble vs. break

break vs. violate

break vs. fail

break vs. contravene

break vs. tame

break vs. subject

break vs. smash

break vs. split

break vs. shatter

break vs. shear

break vs. bust

break vs. burst

break vs. emulsion

break vs. disconnect

break vs. end

break vs. rank

break vs. point

break vs. remove

break vs. shot

break vs. first

break vs. record

break vs. receiver

abrupt vs. break

better vs. break

break vs. steady

break vs. state

break vs. sound

break vs. news

break vs. change

break vs. fall

break vs. disclose

break vs. temporarily

break vs. occupation

break vs. cease

break vs. work

break vs. shallow

break vs. surf

break vs. interrupt

break vs. safe

bar vs. break

break vs. regression

barrier vs. break

break vs. program

break vs. feature

altogether vs. break

break vs. properly

break vs. function

break vs. stop

break vs. powerful

break vs. legal

break vs. will

break vs. design

break vs. habit

break vs. spirit

break vs. strain

break vs. reassembly

break vs. physical

break vs. crack

break vs. fracture

break vs. piece

break vs. separate

break vs. tear

break vs. kill

break vs. rage

break vs. bullshit

bone vs. break

break vs. fix