English English Dictionary

To burst forth; to make its way; to come to view; to appear; to dawn.

To open spontaneously, or by pressure from within, as a bubble, a tumor, a seed vessel, a bag.

To come apart or divide into two or more pieces, usually with suddenness and violence; to part; to burst asunder.

To destroy the official character and standing of; to cashier; to dismiss.

To destroy the financial credit of; to make bankrupt; to ruin.

To tame; to reduce to subjection; to make tractable; to discipline; as, to break a horse to the harness or saddle.

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.

A key or other device for breaking an electrical circuit.

Disruption; a separation and dispersion of the parts or members; as, a break-up of an assembly or dinner party; a break-up of the government.

Capable of being broken.

The act of breaking; a break; a breaking; also, articles broken.

An allowance or compensation for things broken accidentally, as in transportation or use.

See Dengue.

The act or result of breaking down, as of a carriage; downfall.

A noisy, rapid, shuffling dance engaged in competitively by a number of persons or pairs in succession, as among the colored people of the Southern United States, and so called, perhaps, because the exercise is continued until most of those who take part in it break down.

Any rude, noisy dance performed by shuffling the feet, usually by one person at a time.

A small water cask.

A wave breaking into foam against the shore, or against a sand bank, or a rock or reef near the surface.

Specifically: A machine for breaking rocks, or for breaking coal at the mines; also, the building in which such a machine is placed.

One who, or that which, breaks.