break

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Archived revision by 70.162.10.166 (talk) as of 08:51, 28 August 2012.
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See also: Break

English

English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Etymology

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Middle English (deprecated template usage) breken, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Old English (deprecated template usage) brecan, from Template:proto, from Template:proto.

Cognates

Cognates of Germanic origin include Scots (deprecated template usage) brek, West Frisian (deprecated template usage) brekke, Dutch (deprecated template usage) breken, French (deprecated template usage) broyer, German (deprecated template usage) brechen, Old Saxon (deprecated template usage) brekan, Gothic (deprecated template usage) 𐌱𐍂𐌹𐌺𐌰𐌽 (brikan), (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Norwegian (deprecated template usage) brek.

Also cognate with Latin (deprecated template usage) frangō (verb), from whence English (deprecated template usage) fracture and other terms – (deprecated template usage) fragile, (deprecated template usage) frail, (deprecated template usage) fraction, and (deprecated template usage) fragment.

Pronunciation

Verb

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

  1. Template:ergative 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.
    She broke the vase.
    1. Template:ergative To crack or fracture (bone) under a physical strain.
      His ribs broke under the weight of the rocks piled on his chest.
      She broke his neck.
      He slipped on the ice and broke his leg.
  2. Template: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. Template:transitive To cause (a person) to lose his or her spirit or will; to crush the spirits of; to ruin (a person) emotionally.
    Her child's death broke Angela.
    Interrogators have used many forms of torture to break prisoners of war.
  4. To cause an animal to lose its will, to tame.
    You have to break an elephant before you can use it as an animal of burden.
  5. To cause (a habit) to no longer exist.
    I've got to break this habit I have of biting my nails.
  6. To ruin financially.
    The recession broke some small businesses.
  7. Template:transitive To do that which is forbidden by (a rule, promise, etc.).
    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
  8. Template:intransitive To pass the most dangerous part of the illness; to go down, temperaturewise.
    Susan's fever broke at about 3 AM, and the doctor said the worst was over.
  9. Template:transitive To design or use a powerful (yet legal) strategy that unbalances the game in a player's favor.
    Letting white have three extra queens would break chess.
  10. Template:ergative 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. (deprecated template usage) Lua error in Module:parameters at line 376: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "specifically" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. 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.
  11. Template:transitive To cause (a barrier) to no longer bar.
    break a seal
    1. (deprecated template usage) Lua error in Module:parameters at line 376: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "specifically" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. To cause the shell of (an egg) to crack, so that the inside (yolk) is accessible.
    2. (deprecated template usage) Lua error in Module:parameters at line 376: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "specifically" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. To open (a safe) without using the correct key, combination, or the like.
  12. Template:intransitive To collapse into surf, after arriving in shallow water.
    A wave breaking.
  13. Template:intransitive To end.
    The forecast says the hot weather will break by midweek
  14. Template:intransitive To interrupt or cease one's work or occupation temporarily.
    Let's break for lunch.
  15. Template:transitive To interrupt (a fall) by inserting something so that the falling object not hit something else beneath.
    He survived the jump out the window because the bushes below broke his fall.
  16. Template:transitive 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, ...
  17. Template:intransitive To arrive.
    Morning has broken.
  18. Template:intransitive To become audible suddenly.
    • c. 1843 George Lippard, The Battle-Day of Germantown, reprinted in Washington and His Generals "1776", page 45 [1]:
      Like the crash of thunderbolts […] , the sound of musquetry broke over the lawn, […] .
  19. Template: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.
  20. Template:copulative To suddenly become.
    Things began breaking bad for him when his parents died.
    The arrest was standard, when suddenly the suspect broke bad.
  21. Template:intransitive Of a voice, to alter in type: in men generally to go up, in women sometimes to go down; to crack.
    His voice breaks when he gets emotional.
  22. Template: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.
  23. Template:sports:
    1. Template:ambitransitive To win a game (against one's opponent) as receiver.
      He needs to break serve to win the match.
    2. Template:intransitive To make the first shot; to scatter the balls from the initial neat arrangement.
      Is it your or my turn to break?
    3. Template:backgammon To remove one of the two men on (a point).
  24. Template:transitive 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 978-0-316-52940-2, 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 978-1-57965-314-9, 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.
  25. Template: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.
  26. Template:intransitive To demulsify.
    • Lua error in Module:quote at line 2951: Parameter 1 is required.
    • Lua error in Module:quote at line 2951: Parameter 1 is required.
  27. Template:intransitive To counter-attack

Quotations

  • For quotations using this term, see [[Citations:break#Lua error in Module:parameters at line 376: Parameter 1 should be a valid language code; the value "{{{1}}}" is not valid. See WT:LOL.|Citations:break]].

Usage notes

The sense relating to a spell of weather is most likely to be used after a period of persistent good or bad weather; it is rarely used to signify the end of short-lived conditions.

In colloquial use, the past participle is sometimes 'broke' instead of 'broken,' as in the expression "if it ain't broke, don't fix it."

Synonyms

Antonyms

Derived terms

Terms derived from break (verb)

Template:rel-mid3

Template:rel-mid3

See also

Translations

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

Noun

break (plural breaks)

  1. An instance of breaking something into two 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. Template: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.
  4. A rest or pause, usually from work; a breaktime.
    Let’s take a five-minute break.
  5. A temporary split (with a romantic partner).
    I think we need a break.
  6. An interval or intermission between two parts of a performance, for example a theatre show, broadcast, or sports game.
  7. A significant change in circumstance, attitude, perception, or focus of attention: big break, lucky break, bad break.
  8. Template:British a change; the end of a spell of persistent good or bad weather
  9. The beginning (of the morning).
    daybreak
    at the break of day
  10. An act of escaping.
    make a break for it
    make a break for the door
    It was a clean break.
    prison break
  11. Template: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.
  12. Template:sports:
    1. Template:tennis A game won by the receiving player(s).
    2. Template:billiards The first shot in a game of billiards
    3. Template:snooker The number of points scored by one player in one visit to the table
    4. Template:soccer The counter-attack

Usage notes

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

Synonyms

  • (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

Derived terms

Terms derived from break (noun)

Template:rel-mid3

Template:rel-mid3

Translations

Statistics

Anagrams

French

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] English (deprecated template usage) break.

Noun

break m (plural breaks)

  1. break (pause, holiday)
    C’est l’heure de faire un break.
Synonyms

Etymology 2

(deprecated template usage) [etyl] English (deprecated template usage) shooting brake

Noun

break m or f (plural breaks)

  1. estate car, station wagon

Italian

Etymology

(deprecated template usage) [etyl] English

Noun

break m Template:inv

  1. break (intermission or brief suspension of activity)

Interjection

break!

  1. break! (boxing)
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