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8 definitions found
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Break \Break\ (br[=a]k), v. t. [imp. {broke} (br[=o]k), (Obs.
{Brake}); p. p. {Broken} (br[=o]"k'n), (Obs. {Broke}); p. pr.
& vb. n. {Breaking}.] [OE. breken, AS. brecan; akin to OS.
brekan, D. breken, OHG. brehhan, G. brechen, Icel. braka to
creak, Sw. braka, br[aum]kka to crack, Dan. br[ae]kke to
break, Goth. brikan to break, L. frangere. Cf. {Bray} to
pound, {Breach}, {Fragile}.]
1. To strain apart; to sever by fracture; to divide with
violence; as, to break a rope or chain; to break a seal;
to break an axle; to break rocks or coal; to break a lock.
--Shak.
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2. To lay open as by breaking; to divide; as, to break a
package of goods.
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3. To lay open, as a purpose; to disclose, divulge, or
communicate.
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Katharine, break thy mind to me. --Shak.
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4. To infringe or violate, as an obligation, law, or promise.
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Out, out, hyena! these are thy wonted arts . . .
To break all faith, all vows, deceive, betray.
--Milton
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5. To interrupt; to destroy the continuity of; to dissolve or
terminate; as, to break silence; to break one's sleep; to
break one's journey.
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Go, release them, Ariel;
My charms I'll break, their senses I'll restore.
--Shak.
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6. To destroy the completeness of; to remove a part from; as,
to break a set.
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7. To destroy the arrangement of; to throw into disorder; to
pierce; as, the cavalry were not able to break the British
squares.
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8. To shatter to pieces; to reduce to fragments.
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The victim broke in pieces the musical instruments
with which he had solaced the hours of captivity.
--Prescott.
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9. To exchange for other money or currency of smaller
denomination; as, to break a five dollar bill.
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10. To destroy the strength, firmness, or consistency of; as,
to break flax.
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11. To weaken or impair, as health, spirit, or mind.
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An old man, broken with the storms of state.
--Shak.
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12. To diminish the force of; to lessen the shock of, as a
fall or blow.
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I'll rather leap down first, and break your fall.
--Dryden.
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13. 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.
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14. To tame; to reduce to subjection; to make tractable; to
discipline; as, to break a horse to the harness or
saddle. "To break a colt." --Spenser.
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Why, then thou canst not break her to the lute?
--Shak.
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15. To destroy the financial credit of; to make bankrupt; to
ruin.
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With arts like these rich Matho, when he speaks,
Attracts all fees, and little lawyers breaks.
--Dryden.
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16. To destroy the official character and standing of; to
cashier; to dismiss.
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I see a great officer broken. --Swift.
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Note: With prepositions or adverbs:
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{To break down}.
(a) To crush; to overwhelm; as, to break down one's
strength; to break down opposition.
(b) To remove, or open a way through, by breaking; as, to
break down a door or wall.
{To break in}.
(a) To force in; as, to break in a door.
(b) To train; to discipline; as, a horse well broken in.
{To break of}, to rid of; to cause to abandon; as, to break
one of a habit.
{To break off}.
(a) To separate by breaking; as, to break off a twig.
(b) To stop suddenly; to abandon. "Break off thy sins by
righteousness." --Dan. iv. 27.
{To break open}, to open by breaking. "Open the door, or I
will break it open." --Shak.
{To break out}, to take or force out by breaking; as, to
break out a pane of glass.
{To break out a cargo}, to unstow a cargo, so as to unload it
easily.
{To break through}.
(a) To make an opening through, as, as by violence or the
force of gravity; to pass violently through; as, to
break through the enemy's lines; to break through the
ice.
(b) To disregard; as, to break through the ceremony.
{To break up}.
(a) To separate into parts; to plow (new or fallow
ground). "Break up this capon." --Shak. "Break up
your fallow ground." --Jer. iv. 3.
(b) To dissolve; to put an end to. "Break up the court."
--Shak.
{To break} (one) {all up}, to unsettle or disconcert
completely; to upset. [Colloq.]
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Note: With an immediate object:
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{To break the back}.
(a) To dislocate the backbone; hence, to disable totally.
(b) To get through the worst part of; as, to break the
back of a difficult undertaking.
{To break bulk}, to destroy the entirety of a load by
removing a portion of it; to begin to unload; also, to
transfer in detail, as from boats to cars.
{To break a code} to discover a method to convert coded
messages into the original understandable text.
{To break cover}, to burst forth from a protecting
concealment, as game when hunted.
{To break a deer} or {To break a stag}, to cut it up and
apportion the parts among those entitled to a share.
{To break fast}, to partake of food after abstinence. See
{Breakfast}.
{To break ground}.
(a) To open the earth as for planting; to commence
excavation, as for building, siege operations, and
the like; as, to break ground for a foundation, a
canal, or a railroad.
(b) Fig.: To begin to execute any plan.
(c) (Naut.) To release the anchor from the bottom.
{To break the heart}, to crush or overwhelm (one) with grief.
{To break a house} (Law), to remove or set aside with
violence and a felonious intent any part of a house or of
the fastenings provided to secure it.
{To break the ice}, to get through first difficulties; to
overcome obstacles and make a beginning; to introduce a
subject.
{To break jail}, to escape from confinement in jail, usually
by forcible means.
{To break a jest}, to utter a jest. "Patroclus . . . the
livelong day breaks scurril jests." --Shak.
{To break joints}, to lay or arrange bricks, shingles, etc.,
so that the joints in one course shall not coincide with
those in the preceding course.
{To break a lance}, to engage in a tilt or contest.
{To break the neck}, to dislocate the joints of the neck.
{To break no squares}, to create no trouble. [Obs.]
{To break a path}, {road}, etc., to open a way through
obstacles by force or labor.
{To break upon a wheel}, to execute or torture, as a criminal
by stretching him upon a wheel, and breaking his limbs
with an iron bar; -- a mode of punishment formerly
employed in some countries.
{To break wind}, to give vent to wind from the anus.
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Syn: To dispart; rend; tear; shatter; batter; violate;
infringe; demolish; destroy; burst; dislocate.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Broken \Bro"ken\ (br[=o]"k'n), a. [From {Break}, v. t.]
1. Separated into parts or pieces by violence; divided into
fragments; as, a broken chain or rope; a broken dish.
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2. Disconnected; not continuous; also, rough; uneven; as, a
broken surface.
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3. Fractured; cracked; disunited; sundered; strained; apart;
as, a broken reed; broken friendship.
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4. Made infirm or weak, by disease, age, or hardships.
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The one being who remembered him as he been before
his mind was broken. --G. Eliot.
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The broken soldier, kindly bade to stay,
Sat by his fire, and talked the night away.
--Goldsmith.
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5. Subdued; humbled; contrite.
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The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit. --Ps. li.
17.
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6. Subjugated; trained for use, as a horse.
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7. Crushed and ruined as by something that destroys hope;
blighted. "Her broken love and life." --G. Eliot.
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8. Not carried into effect; not adhered to; violated; as, a
broken promise, vow, or contract; a broken law.
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9. Ruined financially; incapable of redeeming promises made,
or of paying debts incurred; as, a broken bank; a broken
tradesman.
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10. Imperfectly spoken, as by a foreigner; as, broken
English; imperfectly spoken on account of emotion; as, to
say a few broken words at parting.
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Amidst the broken words and loud weeping of those
grave senators. --Macaulay.
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{Broken ground}.
(a) (Mil.) Rough or uneven ground; as, the troops were
retarded in their advance by broken ground.
(b) Ground recently opened with the plow.
{Broken line} (Geom.), the straight lines which join a number
of given points taken in some specified order.
{Broken meat}, fragments of meat or other food.
{Broken number}, a fraction.
{Broken weather}, unsettled weather.
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From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
broken
adj 1: physically and forcibly separated into pieces or cracked or
split; or legally or emotionally destroyed; "a broken
mirror"; "a broken tooth"; "a broken leg"; "his neck
is broken"; "children from broken homes"; "a broken
marriage"; "a broken heart" [ant: {unbroken}]
2: not continuous in space, time, or sequence or varying
abruptly; "broken lines of defense"; "a broken cable
transmission"; "broken sleep"; "tear off the stub above
the broken line"; "a broken note"; "broken sobs" [ant: {unbroken}]
3: subdued or brought low in condition or status; "brought
low"; "a broken man"; "his broken spirit" [syn: {crushed},
{humbled}, {humiliated}, {low}]
4: (especially of promises or contracts) having been violated
or disregarded; "broken (or unkept) promises"; "broken
contracts" [syn: {unkept}] [ant: {unbroken}]
5: tamed or trained to obey; "a horse broken to the saddle";
"this old nag is well broken in" [syn: {broken in}]
6: topographically very uneven; "broken terrain"; "rugged
ground" [syn: {rugged}]
7: imperfectly spoken or written; "broken English"
8: thrown into a state of disarray or confusion; "troops
fleeing in broken ranks"; "a confused mass of papers on
the desk"; "the small disordered room"; "with everything
so upset" [syn: {confused}, {disordered}, {upset}]
9: weakened and infirm; "broken health resulting from
alcoholism"
10: destroyed financially; "the broken fortunes of the family"
[syn: {wiped out(p)}, {impoverished}]
11: out of working order (`busted' is an informal substitute for
`broken'); "a broken washing machine"; "the coke machine
is broken"; "the coke machine is busted" [syn: {busted}]
12: discontinuous; "broken clouds"; "broken sunshine"
13: lacking a part or parts; "a broken set of encyclopedia"
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
break
n 1: some abrupt occurrence that interrupts; "the telephone is an
annoying interruption"; "there was a break in the action
when a player was hurt" [syn: {interruption}]
2: an unexpected piece of good luck; "he finally got his big
break" [syn: {good luck}, {happy chance}]
3: (geology) a crack in the earth's crust resulting from the
displacement of one side with respect to the other; "they
built it right over a geological fault" [syn: {fault}, {geological
fault}, {shift}, {fracture}]
4: a personal or social separation (as between opposing
factions); "they hoped to avoid a break in relations"
[syn: {rupture}, {breach}, {severance}, {rift}, {falling
out}]
5: a pause from doing something (as work); "we took a 10-minute
break"; "he took time out to recuperate" [syn: {respite},
{recess}, {time out}]
6: the act of breaking something; "the breakage was
unavoidable" [syn: {breakage}, {breaking}]
7: a time interval during which there is a temporary cessation
of something [syn: {pause}, {intermission}, {interruption},
{suspension}]
8: breaking of hard tissue such as bone; "it was a nasty
fracture"; "the break seems to have been caused by a fall"
[syn: {fracture}]
9: the occurrence of breaking; "the break in the dam threatened
the valley"
10: the opening shot that scatters the balls in billiards or
pool
11: (tennis) a score consisting of winning a game when your
opponent was serving; "he was up two breaks in the second
set" [syn: {break of serve}]
12: an act of delaying or interrupting the continuity; "it was
presented without commercial breaks" [syn: {interruption},
{disruption}, {gap}]
13: a sudden dash; "he made a break for the open door"
14: any frame in which a bowler fails to make a strike or spare;
"the break in the eighth frame cost him the match" [syn:
{open frame}]
15: an escape from jail; "the breakout was carefully planned"
[syn: {breakout}, {jailbreak}, {gaolbreak}, {prisonbreak},
{prison-breaking}]
v 1: terminate; "She interrupted her pregnancy"; "break a lucky
streak"; "break the cycle of poverty" [syn: {interrupt}]
2: become separated into pieces or fragments; "The figurine
broke"; "The freshly baked loaf fell apart" [syn: {separate},
{split up}, {fall apart}, {come apart}]
3: destroy the integrity of; usually by force; cause to
separate into pieces or fragments; "He broke the glass
plate"; "She broke the match"
4: render inoperable or ineffective; "You broke the alarm clock
when you took it apart!"
5: ruin completely; "He busted my radio!" [syn: {bust}] [ant: {repair}]
6: act in disregard of laws and rules; "offend all laws of
humanity"; "violate the basic laws or human civilization";
"break a law" [syn: {transgress}, {offend}, {infract}, {violate},
{go against}, {breach}]
7: move away or escape suddenly; "The horses broke from the
stable"; "Three inmates broke jail"; "Nobody can break
out--this prison is high security" [syn: {break out}, {break
away}]
8: scatter or part; "The clouds broke after the heavy downpour"
9: force out or release suddenly and often violently something
pent up; "break into tears"; "erupt in anger" [syn: {burst},
{erupt}]
10: prevent completion; "stop the project"; "break off the
negociations" [syn: {break off}, {discontinue}, {stop}]
11: enter someone's property in an unauthorized manner, usually
with the intent to steal or commit a violent act;
"Someone broke in while I was on vacation"; "They broke
into my car and stole my radio!" [syn: {break in}]
12: make submissive, obedient, or useful; "The horse was tough
to break"; "I broke in the new intern" [syn: {break in}]
13: fail to agree with; be in violation of; as of rules or
patterns; "This sentence violates the rules of syntax"
[syn: {violate}, {go against}] [ant: {conform to}]
14: surpass in excellence; "She bettered her own record"; "break
a record" [syn: {better}]
15: make known to the public information that was previously
known only to a few people or that was meant to be kept a
secret; "The auction house would not disclose the price
at which the van Gogh had sold"; "The actress won't
reveal how old she is"; "bring out the truth"; "he broke
the news to her" [syn: {disclose}, {let on}, {bring out},
{reveal}, {discover}, {expose}, {divulge}, {impart}, {give
away}, {let out}]
16: come into being; "light broke over the horizon"; "Voices
broke in the air"
17: stop operating or functioning; "The engine finally went";
"The car died on the road"; "The bus we travelled in
broke down on the way to town"; "The coffee maker broke";
"The engine failed on the way to town"; "her eyesight
went after the accident" [syn: {fail}, {go bad}, {give
way}, {die}, {give out}, {conk out}, {go}, {break down}]
18: interrupt a continued activity; "She had broken with the
traditional patterns" [syn: {break away}]
19: make a rupture in the ranks of the enemy or one's own by
quitting or fleeing; "The ranks broke"
20: curl over and fall apart in surf or foam, of waves; "The
surf broke"
21: lessen in force or effect; "soften a shock"; "break a fall"
[syn: {dampen}, {damp}, {soften}, {weaken}]
22: be broken in; "If the new teacher won't break, we'll add
some stress"
23: come to an end; "The heat wave finally broke yesterday"
24: vary or interrupt a uniformity or continuity; "The flat
plain was broken by tall mesas"
25: cause to give up a habit; "She finally broke herself of
smoking cigarettes"
26: give up; "break cigarette smoking"
27: come forth or begin from a state of latency; "The first
winter storm broke over New York"
28: happen or take place; "Things have been breaking pretty well
for us in the past few months"
29: cause the failure or ruin of; "His peccadilloes finally
broke his marriage"; "This play will either make or break
the playwright" [ant: {make}]
30: invalidate by judicial action; "The will was broken"
31: discontinue an association or relation; go different ways;
"The business partners broke over a tax question"; "The
couple separated after 25 years of marriage"; "My friend
and I split up" [syn: {separate}, {part}, {split up}, {split},
{break up}]
32: assign to a lower position; reduce in rank; "She was demoted
because she always speaks up"; "He was broken down to
Sargeant" [syn: {demote}, {bump}, {relegate}, {kick
downstairs}] [ant: {promote}]
33: reduce to bankruptcy; "My daughter's fancy wedding is going
to break me!"; "The slump in the financial markets
smashed him" [syn: {bankrupt}, {ruin}, {smash}]
34: change directions suddenly
35: emerge from the surface of a body of water; "The whales
broke"
36: break down, literally or metaphorically; "The wall
collapsed"; "The business collapsed"; "The dam broke";
"The roof collapsed"; "The wall gave in"; "The roof
finally gave under the weight of the ice" [syn: {collapse},
{fall in}, {cave in}, {give}, {give way}, {founder}]
37: do a break dance; "Kids were break-dancing at the street
corner" [syn: {break dance}, {break-dance}]
38: exchange for smaller units of money; "I had to break a $100
bill just to buy the candy"
39: destroy the completeness of a set of related items; "The
book dealer would not break the set" [syn: {break up}]
40: make the opening shot that scatters the balls
41: separate from a clinch, in boxing; "The referee broke the
boxers"
42: go to pieces; "The lawn mower finally broke"; "The gears
wore out"; "The old chair finally fell apart completely"
[syn: {wear}, {wear out}, {bust}, {fall apart}]
43: break a piece from a whole; "break a branch from a tree"
[syn: {break off}, {snap off}]
44: become punctured or penetrated; "The skin broke"
45: pierce or penetrate; "The blade broke her skin"
46: be released or become known; of news; "News of her death
broke in the morning" [syn: {get out}, {get around}]
47: cease an action temporarily; "We pause for station
identification"; "let's break for lunch" [syn: {pause}, {intermit}]
48: interrupt the flow of current in; "break a circuit"
49: undergo breaking; "The simple vowels broke in many Germanic
languages"
50: find a flaw in; "break an alibi"; "break down a proof"
51: find the solution or key to; "break the code"
52: change suddenly from one tone quality or register to
another; "Her voice broke to a whisper when she started
to talk about her children"
53: happen; "Report the news as it develops"; "These political
movements recrudesce from time to time" [syn: {recrudesce},
{develop}]
54: become fractured; break or crack on the surface only; "The
glass cracked when it was heated" [syn: {crack}, {check}]
55: of the male voice in puberty; "his voice is breaking--he
should no longer sing in the choir"
56: fall sharply; "stock prices broke"
57: fracture a bone of; "I broke my foot while playing hockey"
[syn: {fracture}]
58: diminish or discontinue abruptly; "The patient's fever broke
last night"
59: weaken or destroy in spirit or body; "His resistance was
broken"; "a man broken by the terrible experience of
near-death"
[also: {broken}, {broke}]
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
broken
See {break}
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
268 Moby Thesaurus words for "broken":
aggravated, aloof, ausgespielt, bankrupt, beaten, blasted,
blighted, broke, broken off, broken-down, brought low, bumpy,
burned, burst, busted, capricious, careening, catchy, chastened,
checked, chipped, chopped-off, choppy, coarse, coarse-grained,
conditioned, conquered, corrugated, cracked, crazed, cross-grained,
crushed, cut, damaged, debilitated, decousu, defeated, defied,
dejected, demoralized, desolated, destitute, destroyed, desultory,
detached, deteriorated, devastated, deviative, disciplined,
disconnected, discontinued, discontinuous, discouraged, discrete,
disintegrated, disjointed, disjunctive, disobeyed, dispirited,
disregarded, disturbed, docile, domesticated, done for, done in,
dovelike, down-and-out, eccentric, embittered, enfeebled, episodic,
erratic, exacerbated, failed, fallen, felled, finished, fitful,
flattened, flickering, fluctuating, fractured, fragmentary,
fragmented, gapped, gentle, gone to pot, grainy, granulated,
guttering, halting, harmed, haywire, herky-jerky, heteroclite,
homespun, horripilant, housebroke, housebroken, humble, humbled,
humiliated, hurt, ignored, immethodical, impaired, imperfect,
in bits, in disrepair, in pieces, in receivership, in ruins,
in shards, incoherent, inconsistent, inconstant, inequal,
infringed, injured, inoperative, insolvent, intermittent,
intermitting, interrupted, irregular, irremediable, irritated,
jagged, jerky, jolty, kaput, lacerated, lamblike, licked,
linsey-woolsey, lurching, made to grovel, mangled, mastered, meek,
mild, mutilated, nonadherent, nonadhesive, noncoherent,
noncohesive, noncontinuous, nonlinear, nonsequential, nonserial,
nonuniform, obedient, on the blink, on the fritz, on the rocks,
open, out of commission, out of condition, out of gear,
out of joint, out of kelter, out of kilter, out of order,
out of repair, out of tune, out of whack, overthrown, pacific,
parenthetic, patchy, peaceable, pimply, pitted, pocky, potholed,
pulverized, put down, quelled, quiet, rambling, rank, ravaged,
reduced, rent, ripply, rough, rough-cast, rough-grained,
rough-hewn, ruffled, ruined, ruinous, ruptured, rutted, rutty,
scalded, scorched, scrappy, shagged, shaggy, shattered, shivered,
slashed, slit, smashed, snatchy, spasmatic, spasmic, spasmodic,
spastic, splintered, split, spoiled, sporadic, spotty, sprung,
staggering, subdued, subjugated, suppressed, suspended, tame,
tamed, tenuous, textured, the worse for, torn, trained,
transgressed, unadhesive, uncertain, uncoherent, uncohesive,
unconnected, undone, unequal, uneven, unjoined, unkempt, unlevel,
unmethodical, unmetrical, unpolished, unrefined, unregular,
unrhythmical, unsettled, unsmooth, unsteady, unsuccessive,
unsystematic, untenacious, ununiform, vanquished, variable,
veering, violated, wandering, wasted, wavering, weakened, wimpled,
wobbling, wobbly, worse, worse off, worsened, wrecked
From Jargon File (4.3.1, 29 Jun 2001) [jargon]:
broken adj. 1. Not working properly (of programs). 2. Behaving
strangely; especially (when used of people) exhibiting extreme
depression.
From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03) [foldoc]:
broken
Not working properly (of programs).
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