break

• enPR: brāk, IPA^(key): /bɹeɪk/, [bɹʷeɪ̯k]

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪk
• Homophone: brake

From Middle English breken, from Old English brecan (“to break”), from Proto-Germanic *brekaną (“to break”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰreg- (“to break”). The word is a doublet of bray.

break (third-person singular simple present breaks, present participle breaking, simple past broke or (archaic) brake, past participle broken or (colloquial) broke)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To separate into two or more pieces, to fracture or crack, by a process that cannot easily be reversed for reassembly.

   If the vase falls to the floor, it might break.

   In order to tend to the accident victim, he will break the window of the car.

   • 2012 May 8, Yotam Ottolenghi; Sami Tamimi, Ottolenghi: The Cookbook‎, Random House, →ISBN, page 79:

     First, marinate the tofu. In a bowl, whisk the kecap manis, chilli sauce, and sesame oil together. Cut the tofu into strips about 1cm thick, mix gently (so it doesn't break) with the marinade and leave in the fridge for half an hour.

   1. (transitive, intransitive) To crack or fracture (bone) under a physical strain.

      His ribs broke under the weight of the rocks piled on his chest.

      She broke her neck.

      He slipped on the ice and broke his leg.

2. (transitive) To divide (something, often money) into smaller units.

   Can you break a hundred-dollar bill for me?

   The wholesaler broke the container loads into palettes and boxes for local retailers.

3. (transitive) To cause (a person or animal) to lose spirit or will; to crush the spirits of.

   Her child's death broke Angela.

   Interrogators have used many forms of torture to break prisoners of war.

   The interrogator hoped to break her to get her testimony against her accomplices.

   • 1611, King James Version, Job 9:16–17:

     If I had called, and he had answered me; yet would I not believe that he had hearkened unto my voice. For he breaketh me with a tempest, and multiplieth my wounds without cause.

   • 1613, William Shakespeare and John Fletcher, Henry VIII, Act IV, Sc. 2:

     An old man, broken with the storms of state,

     Is come to lay his weary bones among ye;

     Give him a little earth for charity

   1. To turn an animal into a beast of burden.
      • 2002 Template:Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron

        Colonel: See, gentlemen? Any horse could be broken.

      You have to break an elephant before you can use it as an animal of burden.

4. (intransitive) To be crushed, or overwhelmed with sorrow or grief.

   My heart is breaking.

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

   I've got to break this habit I have of biting my nails.

   to break silence; to break one's sleep; to break one's journey

   I had won four games in a row, but now you've broken my streak of luck.

   • (Can we date this quote?) Shakespeare

     Go, release them, Ariel; / My charms I'll break, their senses I'll restore.

6. (transitive) To ruin financially.

   The recession broke some small businesses.

   • (Can we date this quote?) Dryden

     With arts like these rich Matho, when he speaks, / Attracts all fees, and little lawyers breaks.

7. (transitive) To violate, to not adhere to.

   When you go to Vancouver, promise me you won't break the law.

   He broke his vows by cheating on his wife.

   break one's word

   Time travel would break the laws of physics.

   • (Can we date this quote?) Milton

     Out, out, hyena! these are thy wonted arts […] / To break all faith, all vows, deceive, betray.

8. (intransitive, of a fever) To pass the most dangerous part of the illness; to go down, in terms of temperature.

   Susan's fever broke at about 3 AM, and the doctor said the worst was over.

9. (intransitive, of a spell of settled weather) To end.

   The forecast says the hot weather will break by midweek.

10. (intransitive, of a storm) To begin; to end.

    We ran to find shelter before the storm broke.

    Around midday the storm broke, and the afternoon was calm and sunny.

11. (intransitive, of morning, dawn, day etc.) To arrive.

    Morning has broken.

    The day broke crisp and clear.

    • (Can we date this quote?) Shakespeare

      The day begins to break, and night is fled.

12. (transitive, gaming slang) To render (a game) unchallenging by altering its rules or exploiting loopholes or weaknesses in them in a way that gives a player an unfair advantage.

    Changing the rules to let white have three extra queens would break chess.

    I broke the RPG by training every member of my party to cast fireballs as well as use swords.

13. (transitive, intransitive) To stop, or to cause to stop, functioning properly or altogether.

    On the hottest day of the year the refrigerator broke.

    Did you two break the trolley by racing with it?

    1. (specifically, in programming) To cause (some feature of a program or piece of software) to stop functioning properly; to cause a regression.

       Adding 64-bit support broke backward compatibility with earlier versions.

14. (transitive) To cause (a barrier) to no longer bar.

    break a seal

    1. (specifically) To cause the shell of (an egg) to crack, so that the inside (yolk) is accessible.
    2. (specifically) To open (a safe) without using the correct key, combination, or the like.
15. (transitive) To destroy the arrangement of; to throw into disorder; to pierce.

    The cavalry were not able to break the British squares.

16. (intransitive, of a wave of water) To collapse into surf, after arriving in shallow water.
    

    A wave breaking.
17. (intransitive) To burst forth; to make its way; to come into view.
    • (Can we date this quote?) Shakespeare

      The clouds are still above; and, while I speak, / A second deluge o'er our head may break.

    • (Can we date this quote?) Wordsworth

      And from the turf a fountain broke, / And gurgled at our feet.

18. (intransitive) To interrupt or cease one's work or occupation temporarily.

    Let's break for lunch.

19. (transitive) To interrupt (a fall) by inserting something so that the falling object does not (immediately) hit something else beneath.

    He survived the jump out the window because the bushes below broke his fall.

20. (transitive, ergative) To disclose or make known an item of news, etc.

    The newsman wanted to break a big story, something that would make him famous.

    I don't know how to break this to you, but your cat is not coming back.

    In the latest breaking news...

    When news of their divorce broke, ...

21. (intransitive, of a sound) To become audible suddenly.
    • c. 1843, George Lippard, The Battle-Day of Germantown, reprinted in Washington and His Generals "1776", page 45 :

      Like the crash of thunderbolts […] , the sound of musquetry broke over the lawn, […] .

22. (transitive) To change a steady state abruptly.

    His coughing broke the silence.

    His turning on the lights broke the enchantment.

    With the mood broken, what we had been doing seemed pretty silly.

23. (copulative, informal) To suddenly become.

    Things began breaking bad for him when his parents died.

    The arrest was standard, when suddenly the suspect broke ugly.

24. (intransitive) Of a male voice, to become deeper at puberty.
25. (intransitive) Of a voice, to alter in type due to emotion or strain: in men generally to go up, in women sometimes to go down; to crack.

    His voice breaks when he gets emotional.

26. (transitive) To surpass or do better than (a specific number), to do better than (a record), setting a new record.

    He broke the men's 100-meter record.

    I can't believe she broke 3 under par!

    The policeman broke sixty on a residential street in his hurry to catch the thief.

27. (sports and games):
    1. (transitive, tennis) To win a game (against one's opponent) as receiver.

       He needs to break serve to win the match.

       • 2012 June 28, Jamie Jackson, “Wimbledon 2012: Lukas Rosol shocked by miracle win over Rafael Nadal”, in the Guardian‎:

         Yet when play restarted the Czech was a train that kept on running over Nadal. After breaking Nadal in the opening game of the final set, he went 2-0 up and later took the count to 4-2 with yet another emphatic ace – one of his 22 throughout.

    2. (intransitive, billiards, snooker, pool) To make the first shot; to scatter the balls from the initial neat arrangement.

       Is it your or my turn to break?

    3. (transitive, backgammon) To remove one of the two men on (a point).
28. (transitive, military, most often in the passive tense) To demote, to reduce the military rank of.
    • 1953 February 9, “Books: First Rulers of Asia”, in Time:

      And he played no favorites: when his son-in-law sacked a city he had been told to spare, Genghis broke him to private.

    • 1968, William Manchester, The Arms of Krupp, Back Bay (2003), →ISBN, page 215:

      One morning after the budget had failed to balance Finanzminister von Scholz picked up Der Reichsanzeiger and found he had been broken to sergeant.

    • 2006, Peter Collier, Medal of Honor: Portraits of Valor Beyond the Call of Duty, Second Edition, Artisan Books, →ISBN, page 42:

      Not long after this event, Clausen became involved in another disciplinary situation and was broken to private—the only one to win the Medal of Honor in Vietnam.

29. (transitive) To end (a connection), to disconnect.

    The referee ordered the boxers to break the clinch.

    The referee broke the boxers' clinch.

    I couldn't hear a thing he was saying, so I broke the connection and called him back.

30. (intransitive, of an emulsion) To demulsify.
    • 2004, J. L. Atwood, Jonathan W. Steed, Encyclopedia of supramolecular chemistry‎, volume 2, page 1466:

      Conversely, as the emulsion breaks and the system returns to the original state, energy is released.

    • 2006, Johan Sjöblom, Emulsions and emulsion stability‎, volume 22, page 400:

      When the droplets hit a solid wall the emulsion breaks instantly forming a bitumen on the wall and thus a layer up to 1 cm thick can be sprayed in one operation without requiring drying in between.

31. (intransitive, sports) To counter-attack
    • 2010 December 28, Kevin Darlin, “West Brom 1 - 3 Blackburn”, in BBC‎:

      The Baggies almost hit back instantly when Graham Dorrans broke from midfield and pulled the trigger from 15 yards but Paul Robinson did superbly to tip the Scot's drive around the post.

32. (transitive, obsolete) To lay open, as a purpose; to disclose, divulge, or communicate.
    • (Can we date this quote?) Shakespeare

      Katharine, break thy mind to me.

33. (intransitive) To become weakened in constitution or faculties; to lose health or strength.
    • (Can we date this quote?) Jonathan Swift

      See how the dean begins to break; / Poor gentleman he droops apace.

34. (intransitive, obsolete) To fail in business; to become bankrupt.
    • (Can we date this quote?) Francis Bacon

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

35. (transitive) To destroy the strength, firmness, or consistency of.

    to break flax

36. (transitive) To destroy the official character and standing of; to cashier; to dismiss.
    • (Can we date this quote?) Jonathan Swift

      I see a great officer broken.

37. (intransitive) To make an abrupt or sudden change; to change the gait.

    to break into a run or gallop

38. (intransitive, archaic) To fall out; to terminate friendship.
    • (Can we date this quote?) Collier

      To break upon the score of danger or expense is to be mean and narrow-spirited.

• For quotations of use of this term, see Citations:break.

• (ergative: separate into two or more pieces): burst, bust, shatter, shear, smash, split
• (ergative: crack (bone)): crack, fracture
• (transitive: turn an animal into a beast of burden): break in subject, tame
• (transitive: do that which is forbidden by): contravene, go against, violate
• (intransitive: stop functioning): break down, bust, fail, go down (of a computer or computer network)

• (transitive: cause to end up in two or more pieces): assemble, fix, join, mend, put together, repair
• (tennis, intransitive: break serve): hold

• bork
• breaking
• broke
• broken

break (plural breaks)

1. An instance of breaking something into two or more pieces.

   The femur has a clean break and so should heal easily.

2. A physical space that opens up in something or between two things.

   The sun came out in a break in the clouds.

   He waited minutes for a break in the traffic to cross the highway.

3. A rest or pause, usually from work.

   Let’s take a five-minute break.

4. (Britain) a time for students to talk or play.
5. A short holiday.

   a weekend break on the Isle of Wight

6. A temporary split with a romantic partner.

   I think we need a break.

7. An interval or intermission between two parts of a performance, for example a theatre show, broadcast, or sports game.
   • 2010 December 29, Chris Whyatt, “Chelsea 1 - 0 Bolton”, in BBC‎:

     But they marginally improved after the break as Didier Drogba hit the post.

8. A significant change in circumstance, attitude, perception, or focus of attention.

   big break

   lucky break, bad break

9. The beginning (of the morning).

   daybreak

   at the break of day

10. An act of escaping.

    make a break for it, for the door

    It was a clean break.

    prison break

11. (computing) The separation between lines or paragraphs of a written text.
12. (Britain, weather) A change, particularly the end of a spell of persistent good or bad weather.
13. (sports and games):
    1. (tennis) A game won by the receiving player(s).
    2. (billiards, snooker, pool) The first shot in a game of billiards
    3. (snooker) The number of points scored by one player in one visit to the table
    4. (soccer) The counter-attack
       • 2010 December 28, Owen Phillips, “Sunderland 0 - 2 Blackpool”, in BBC‎:

         Blackpool were not without their opportunities - thanks to their willingness to commit and leave men forward even when under severe pressure - and they looked very capable of scoring on the break.

    5. (surfing) A place where waves break (that is, where waves pitch or spill forward creating white water).

       The final break in the Greenmount area is Kirra Point.

14. (dated) A large four-wheeled carriage, having a straight body and calash top, with the driver's seat in front and the footman's behind.
15. (equitation) A sharp bit or snaffle.
    • Gascoigne

      Pampered jades […] which need nor break nor bit.

16. (music) A short section of music, often between verses, in which some performers stop while others continue.

    The fiddle break was amazing; it was a pity the singer came back in on the wrong note.

17. (music) The point in the musical scale at which a woodwind instrument is designed to overblow, that is, to move from its lower to its upper register.

    Crossing the break smoothly is one of the first lessons the young clarinettist needs to master.

18. (geography) usu. plural An area along a river that features steep banks, bluffs, or gorges (e.g., Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument, US).

• music The instruments that are named are the ones that carry on playing, for example a fiddle break implies that the fiddle is the most prominent instrument playing during the break.

• (instance of breaking something into two pieces): split
• (physical space that opens up in something or between two things): breach, gap, space
• (rest or pause, usually from work): time out
• (time for playing outside): recess (US)

Clipping of breakdown (the percussion break of songs chosen by a DJ for use in hip-hop music) and see also breakdancing.

break (plural breaks)

1. (music) A section of extended repetition of the percussion break to a song, created by a hip-hop DJ as rhythmic dance music.

• break at OneLook Dictionary Search
• 2001. The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music: North America. Garland Publishing. Ellen Koskoff (Ed.). Pgs. 694-695.

• Abrek, Baker, Brake, baker, barke, brake

• IPA^(key): /bʁɛk/

Borrowed from English break.

break m (plural breaks)

1. break (pause, holiday)

   Synonym: pause

   C’est l’heure de faire un break. ― It's time to take a break.

2. (tennis) break (of serve)

un break

From earlier break de chasse, from English shooting brake.

break m (plural breaks)

1. (automotive) estate car, station wagon

   Antonym: berline

• “break” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Borrowed from English break.

break m (invariable)

1. break (intermission or brief suspension of activity)

break

1. break! (boxing)

break m (plural breaks)

1. break (pause)
2. (tennis) break