broke

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: brōk, IPA^(key): /bɹəʊk/
• (General American) enPR: brōk, IPA^(key): /bɹoʊk/

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• Rhymes: -əʊk

Ablauted form of break.

broke

1. simple past tense of break
2. (archaic, nonstandard or poetic) past participle of break
   • 1853, Welsey, John, The Works of the Rev. John Wesley, Volume 7‎, page 261:

     Accordingly, he came with a mob the next day; and after they had broke all the windows...

   • 1973, “Photograph”, in Ringo, performed by Ringo Starr:

     I can't get used to living here / While my heart is broke, my tears I cry for you

   • 1999 October 3, J. Stewart Burns, "Mars University", Futurama, season 2, episode 2, Fox Broadcasting Company

     Guenther: I guess the hat must have broke my fall.

broke (not generally comparable, comparative broker or more broke, superlative brokest or most broke)

1. (informal) Financially ruined, bankrupt.
   • 1665 July 6, Samuel Pepys, Vol. VI, p. 150:

     It seems some of his Creditors have taken notice of it, and he was like to be broke yesterday in his absence.

2. (informal) Without any money, penniless.

   dead broke; flat broke

3. (informal) Broken.

   If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

4. Emotionally shattered, humbled or crushed.
5. (nautical) Demoted, deprived of a commission.

   He was broke and rendered unfit to serve His Majesty at sea.

• (without money): See Thesaurus:impoverished

• broker than the Ten Commandments
• if it ain't broke, don't fix it
• nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people
• stone broke
• stony broke

From Middle English broce, from Old English gebroc (“fragment”), from brecan (“to break”). Compare broken, past participle of break.[1] Compare also Scots brock (“a scrap of meat or bread”).[2]

broke (plural brokes)

1. (papermaking) Paper or board that is discarded and repulped during the manufacturing process.
   • 1880, James Dunbar, The Practical Papermaker: A Complete Guide to the Manufacture of Paper‎, page 12:

     If the broke accumulates, a larger proportion can be used in making coloured papers, otherwise the above quantity is sufiicient.

   • 1914, The World's Paper Trade Review, Volume 62, page 204:

     Presumably, most of the brokes and waste were used up in this manner, and during the manufacture of the coarse stuff little or no attention was paid to either cleanliness or colour.

   • 2014 September 25, Judge Diane Wood, NCR Corp. v. George A. Whiting Paper Co.:

     These mills purchase broke from other paper mills through middlemen and use it to make paper.

2. (obsolete) A fragment, remains, a piece broken off.
   • 1855, January Searle, Poems, page 4:

     Why dost though linger, then, / To hear the flatteries of these men of rags? / These bankrupt beggar-men, / Whose riches are the broke meat in their bags?

Back-formation from broker.

broke (third-person singular simple present brokes, present participle broking, simple past and past participle broked)

1. To act as a broker; to transact business for another.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Broome to this entry?)

   • 1992, Philippe Moore, The 1992 guide to European equity markets:

     […] because the Spanish equity market was substantially over-broked even at the height of its bull market, with over 50 brokers servicing the market.

2. (obsolete) To act as procurer in love matters; to pimp.
   • 1655 [1572], Richard Fanshawe, The Lusiad, translation of original by Luís de Camões, Canto IX, stanza 44:

     But we do want a certain necessary / Woman, to broke between them CUPID said;

   • c. 1604–1605, William Shakespeare, “All’s VVell, that Ends VVell”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act III, scene v]:

     And brokes with all that can in such a suit / Corrupt the tender honour of a maid.

Clipping of broke off.

broke (comparative more broke, superlative most broke)

1. (slang) Broke off, rich, wealthy

• Borek, Kober, berko, borek