Part 801

Syn. -- To dispart; rend; tear; shatter; batter; violate; infringe; demolish; destroy; burst; dislocate.

Break (brk), v. i. 1. To come apart or divide into two or more pieces, usually with suddenness and violence; to part; to burst asunder.

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

Else the bottle break, and the wine runneth out. Math. ix. 17.

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

The day begins to break, and night is fled. Shak.

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

4. To burst forth violently, as a storm.

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

5. To open up; to be scattered; to be dissipated; as, the clouds are breaking.

At length the darkness begins to break. Macaulay.

6. To become weakened in constitution or faculties; to lose health or strength.

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

7. To be crushed, or overwhelmed with sorrow or grief; as, my heart is breaking.

8. To fall in business; to become bankrupt.

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

9. To make an abrupt or sudden change; to change the gait; as, to break into a run or gallop.

10. 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.

11. To fall out; to terminate friendship.

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

With prepositions or adverbs: -

To break away, to disengage one's self abruptly; to come or go away against resistance.

Fear me not, man; I will not break away. Shak.

To break down. (a) To come down by breaking; as, the coach broke down. (b) To fail in any undertaking.

He had broken down almost at the outset. Thackeray.

-- To break forth, to issue; to come out suddenly, as sound, light, etc. "Then shall thy light break forth as the morning." Isa. lviii. 8;

often with into in expressing or giving vent to one's feelings. "Break forth into singing, ye mountains." Isa. xliv. 23.

To break from, to go away from abruptly.