Break v.

Pa. t. broke. Pa. pple. broken, broke. Forms: 1 brecan (Northumb. brican), 2–5 breken, 3–6 breke, 6–7 breake, 6– break; (also 2–3 breoken, 3–4 brec, 4 brek, 4–5 breek, 5 brakyn, byrkyn, 6 Sc. brek, breik, 7 breack). Pa. t. sing. 1–3 bræc, 2–4 brac, (Orm. bracc), 3–5 (& 6. Sc.) brak, 4– (Sc.) brack; also 2–3 brec, 3 breac, 4 brek, breck, 4–5 breek, breke, 6 breake, 4–8 brake; pl. 1 brǽcon, (2 breaken, breoken), 2–4 breken, 3–4 breke, 4 breeken; also 3–5 braken, (2–5 north. brak, 4 brac, 4– brack); sing. and pl. 4–6 (7–9 arch.) brake, 6– broke, (6 brooke, 7 broak). Pa. pple. 1 brocen, 2–3 ibroken, 3– broken, (3–5 brokun, -yn, 4–5 y-broke), 4– broke, (7 broak, brake, 8 Sc. breaken).

  [OE. brecan (bricþ, pa. t. bræc, brǽcon, pa. pple. brocen), corresp. to OFris. breka, OS. brekan, (MDu., Du. breken), OHG. brehhan (MHG., mod.G. brechen), Goth. brikan (pa. t. brak, brêkum, pple. brukans):—OTeut. stem brek-, corresp. to L. frag- (frang-o, frēgi, frac-tum), Aryan *bhreg-. The original short vowels of the present stem and pa. pple. were lengthened in ME., though breck, brick, and brocken are still retained dialectally. The normal pa. t. brak, brack (= OE. bræc, Ormin’s bracc), remains in the north; the normal plural in ME. was brēken, breeke(n, which would have become breake in 16th c.; but by the operation of levelling, we find also a ME. sing. brēk, breek, and a (north.) pl. brak, brack; a pl. braken occurs in Layamon, and in late ME. brāke became the regular form both in sing. and pl., which, being retained in the Bible of 1611, is still familiar as an archaic form. But early in the 16th c., if not before, brake began to be displaced by the modern broke, formed after the pa. pple. Of the pa. pple., broken is still the regular form, but from the end of the 14th c. this was often shortened to broke, which was exceedingly common in prose and speech during the 17–18th c., and is still recognized in verse.]

  (Many of the uses of this verb are so contextual, that it is difficult, if not impossible, to find places for them in a general scheme of its signification: when not found here, they may be sought under other words of the phrase.)

  I.  To sever into distinct parts by sudden application of force, to part by violence. Often with an adjunct indicating result, as in to break asunder, in pieces, small. See also Break up.

  1.  trans. generally.

a. 1000.  Psalm ii. 9 (Spelm.). Swa swa fæt tiʓelen ðu bricst hi.

c. 1175.  Lamb. Hom., 79. Me brekeð þe nute for to habbene þene curnel.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 6542. Þe tables þat in hand he bare, To pees he þam brak right þar.

1398.  Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., V. xx. (1495), 125. The thynge that is kytte and broke bi the foreteeth.

c. 1440.  Promp. Parv., 49. Brakyn a-sunder cordys and ropis.

1589.  Warner, Alb. Eng., V. xxvii. 137. Spurres hewen off the heeles, and Swords broke ouer head.

1601.  Bp. Barlow, Serm. Paules Crosse, 17. A threefold rope is not easily broken.

1652.  Proc. Parl., No. 136. 2130. His Coach was broke to peeces.

1653.  Walton, Angler, 123. He should not have broke my line by running to the Rods end.

1700.  Blackmore, Job, 70. All my members were in pieces broke.

1710.  Steele, Tatler, No. 222, ¶ 3. A natural Inclination to break Windows.

1799.  G. Smith, Laboratory, II. 261. He [the fish] will certainly break you, as we term it (that is, snap your line) and make his escape.

1814.  Scott, Ld. Isles, VI. xvi. I’ve broke my trusty battle-axe.

  b.  intr. for refl.

c. 1175.  Lamb. Hom., 83. Þet gles ne brekeð.

c. 1230.  Hali Meid., 15. Þat hit ne breke ne beie.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 4389. He drou, sco held, þe tassel brak.

c. 1400.  Maundev., ii. 13. Thei breken for dryenesse, whan Men meven hem.

1526.  Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 47. Anone it breketh, and so shedeth the wyne.

1601.  Shaks., Twel. N., I. v. 24. If both [points] breake, your gaskins fall.

1860.  Tyndall, Glac., II. § 17. 317. The glacier was evidently breaking beneath our feet.

  2.  In various spec. uses, as

  † a.  To rend or tear (cloth, paper). Still in s. w. dial. (See also BROKEN.)

a. 1000.  Beowulf, 1511. Sae deor moniʓ hilde tuxum here syrcan bræc.

1382.  Wyclif, John xxi. 11. The nett … ful of grete fischis … the nett is not brokun.

c. 1489.  Caxton, Sonnes of Aymon, i. 37. There had you seen many a gowne torne and broken.

1516.  T. Allen, in Lodge, Illust. Brit. Hist. (1838), I. 23. After the sight thereof, your Lordship should break or burn it [the letter].

1557.  Order of Hospitalls, G ij. Mending of such [sheets, etc.] as shalbe broken from time to time.

  b.  To cut up (a deer); to tear in pieces (a fox), also with up; to carve (a fowl), also with out, up (obs.).

c. 1320.  Sir Tristr., 452. Bestes þai brac and bare.

1513.  Bk. Keruynge, in Babees Bk. (1868), 267. Breke that egryt. Ibid., 277. Take the capon by the legges … & breke hym out.

1588.  Shaks., L. L. L., IV. i. 58. Boyet, you can carue, Breake vp this Capon.

1810.  Scott, Lady of L., IV. v. Raven … watching while the deer is broke.

1875.  Buckland, Log-bk., 155. Like hounds breaking up a fox.

  † c.  To comb (wool) roughly, being the first process in carding. Obs. or arch.

1511–2.  Act 3 Hen. VIII., vi. § 1. Every Clothier … which shall … delyver to eny persone eny Wolle to breke, kembe, carde, or spynne.

1514.  Act 6 Hen. VIII., ix. § 1. The Breaker or Kember to deliver again … the same Wooll so broken and kembed.

  † d.  To wreck (a ship). Obs.

1382.  Wyclif, 1 Kings xxii. 48. Thei ben broken in Aziongober [1611 Bible The shippes were broken at Ezion Geber].

1535.  Stewart, Cron. Scot., II. 529. Ane schip … wes brokin on ane sand.

1547–64.  Bauldwin, Mor. Philos. (Palfr.), xi. 167. When the ship is broken, [they] may swim and escape.

1611.  Bible, Jonah i. 4. The ship was like to be broken.

  e.  To destroy the completeness of; to take away a part from; to divide, part (a set of things). To break with: to divide and share with. Cf. To break bulk, 43.

1741.  Richardson, Pamela, xvii. (L.). You should have given them [4 guineas] back again to your master: and yet I have broken them.

1808.  Jamieson, Scot. Dict., To Break a Bottle: to open a full bottle; especially when it is meant only to take out part of its contents.

1821.  Clare, Vill. Minstr., I. 67. My last-earn’d sixpence will I break with thee.

Mod.  The shopkeeper would not break the set.

  † f.  To dissolve (parliament), disband (a regiment). Obs.; cf. Break up, 56 d.

1685.  Lond. Gaz., No. 1997/2. The Regiments he brought into the Emperors Service are broken.

a. 1715.  Burnet, Own Time, II. 209. The Earl of Danby’s prosecution was the point on which the parliament was broken.

1763.  Brit. Mag., IV. 106. Lord Robert Sutton’s regiment … having refused to be broke.

1788.  Priestley, Lect. Hist., V. xl. 291. The Grand Seignior can neither touch the public treasure, [nor] break the Janizaries.

  † g.  intr. (for refl.) Obs.

1601.  Shaks., All’s Well, IV. iv. 11. The Army breaking, My husband hies him home.

  h.  In Music: To break a CHORD, a NOTE, q.v.

  3.  In phrases: To break bread: see BREAD, 2 c. To break a lance with: to enter the lists against, enter into competition with. To break blows, words with: to exchange blows, words with. † To break a straw with: to fall out with (humorous).

971.  Blickl. Hom., 37. Brec þinne hlaf þearfendum mannum.

1589.  Greene, Menaph. (Arb.), 85. Breaking a few quarter blowes with such countrey glances as they coulde.

1590.  Shaks., Com. Err., III. i. 75. A man may breake a word with you sir, and words are but winde. Ibid. (1591), 1 Hen. VI., III. ii. 51. Breake a Launce, and runne a-Tilt at Death.

1603.  Florio, Montaigne, III. viii. (1632), 520. I shall breake a straw or fall at ods with him that keepes himselfe so aloft.

1862.  Thornbury, Turner, I. 263. In 1800 Turner entered classical ground to break a lance with Claude.

  4.  trans. and intr. To burst. Of an abscess or boil: To burst the surface, so that the contents escape. Sometimes also of a vein, blood vessel, etc.

1398.  Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., VII. xxi. (1495), 239. Yf the postume of the eere be broke it is knowe by rennynge of quytter.

1533.  Elyot, Cast. Helth (1541), 38. A boyle or impostume comen forthe and broken.

1557.  North, trans. Gueuara’s Diall Pr. (1582), 452 b. They brake the vaines of their hands and feete, and offered the bloud thereof.

1576.  Lambarde, Peramb. Kent (1826), 408. As the evill humor … (gathered to a boyle, or head) will easily breake.

1592.  Shaks., Ven. & Ad., 460. The berry breaks before it staineth. Ibid. (1602), Ham., IV. iv. 28. This is the imposthume of much wealth and peace, That inward breaks.

1652.  Culpepper, Eng. Physic., 17. Laid warm on a Boil [it] will ripen and break it.

1711.  Lond. Gaz., No. 4894/2. Most of their Bombs break before they fall.

1802.  R. Reece, Med. Guide (1850), 306. Boils … after they break ., require only to be kept clean.

  5.  Said in reference to the rupture of a surface:

  a.  To part or lay open the surface of (anything), as of land (by plowing, etc.). Also To break up, 56 f: and see To break ground, 44.

1499.  Promp. Parv., 49. Breken claddis, occo.

1526.  Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 23. Our soyle or lande is our hertes, whiche we … breke with the plough of abstynence.

1552.  Huloet, Break land with a plough, obfringo.

1697.  Dryden, Virg. Eclog., VIII. 97. Verse breaks the Ground, and penetrates the Brake.

1813.  Byron, Giaour, i. No breath of air to break the wave.

1847.  Longf., Ev., I. ii. 114. The merry lads … breaking the glebe round about.

  b.  To crack or rupture (the skin); to graze, bruise, wound, as in phrase To break one’s head. To break Priscian’s head: to violate the rules of grammar.

c. 1305.  Jud. Iscariot, 50, in E. E. P. (1862), 108. Children … he wolde smyte, And breke here armes and here heued.

c. 1489.  Caxton, Sonnes of Aymon, x. 256. Atte the fallyng that he made, he brake alle his browes.

1590.  Shaks., Com. Err., II. i. 78. Backe slaue, or I will breake thy pate a-crosse. Ibid. (1592), Rom. & Jul., I. iii. 38. Euen the day before she broke her brow.

1711.  Budgell, Spect., No. 161, ¶ 3. A Ring of Cudgel-Players … breaking one another’s Heads.

1785.  R. Cumberland, Observer, No. 22 § 6. Observe how this … orator breaks poor Priscian’s head for the good of his country.

1883.  Daily Tel., 10 July, 5/5. Does Shakespeare never break Priscian’s head?

  6.  intr. To crack without complete separation. Formerly said of a bell; hence possibly, from the similarity of the sound emitted, of a boy’s voice on reaching the age of puberty.

1486.  Bk. St. Albans, D iij. That thay [the bells on a hawk’s neck] be hoole and not brokyn and specialli in the sowndyng place.

1667.  Pepys, Diary, 21 Aug. This morning come two of Captain Cooke’s boys, whose voices are broke; and are gone from the Chapel.

1706.  A. Bedford, Temple Mus., ix. 172. Lads, when their voices did Break, or Alter.

1880.  in Grove, Dict. Mus., I. 703/2. His voice began to break.

  II.  With regard chiefly to the state or condition produced: to break so as to disable, destroy cohesion, solidity, or firmness, crush, shatter.

  7.  trans. To crush, shatter (e.g., a bone). To break the leg or arm: i.e., the bones of the limb.

a. 1000.  Ags. Gosp., John xix. 32. [Hi] bræcon ærest ðæs sceancan þe mid him ahangen wæs.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 21145. A wicked iuu … him brac his harn panne.

1382.  Wyclif, Ex. ix. 25. Eche treo of the cuntree it [the hail] breke togidere.

c. 1460.  Towneley Myst., 142. I shuld with this steylle brand Byrkyn alle his bonys.

1599.  Hakluyt, Voy., II. II. 331 [19]. The elephant … with the poise of his body breaketh him.

1759.  trans. Duhamel’s Husb., I. xv. (1762), 100. When the distemper’d grain is broke.

1836.  Marryat, Midsh. Easy, xxxiii. Break my leg!—break my leave, you mean?

  b.  To break on the wheel: to bind a criminal to a wheel, or similar frame, and break his limbs, or beat him to death; so † To break on the torture: to put to the torture, dislocate on the rack, etc. To break one’s back or neck: to dislocate the bones of the back or neck; also fig. to overpower, render nugatory, crush. To break the neck of a journey, a piece of business, etc.: to get through the most serious part of it. To break the back of a ship: to break the keel and keelson, dislocate the framework of the center, so that the two ends tend to fall apart.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 22202. Ouer hogh to lepe his hals to brek.

c. 1400.  Gamelyn, 712. I ne hadde broke his nekke, tho I his rigge brak.

1579.  Fenton, Guicciard., VII. (1599), 289. To break the necke of the wicked purposes and plots of the French.

1586.  Warner, Alb. Eng., II. x. 47. Her good-man … kindly bad her breake her necke, olde Jade.

1598.  Grenewey, Tacitus’ Ann., XI. vii. (1622), 148. Being broken on the torture, he confessed nothing.

1610.  Shaks., Temp., III. ii. 26. I had rather cracke my sinewes, breake my backe, Then you should such dishonor vndergoe.

1634.  Massinger, Very Wom., V. iv. Rack him first, and after break him Upon the wheel.

1690.  Luttrell, Brief Rel. (1857), II. 147. A Dutch man of war … run upon the sands and broke her back.

1735.  Pope, Prol. Sat., 308. Who breaks a butterfly upon a wheel?

1864.  Times, 24 Dec., 8/5. The governing delusion that a single campaign would ‘break the neck of the rebellion.’

1878.  Morley, Diderot, I. 201. A country where youths were broken on the wheel for levity in face of an ecclesiastical procession.

  c.  To break the heart: to kill, crush, or overwhelm with sorrow. Also intr. (for refl.)

c. 1386.  Chaucer, Knts. T., 96. Hym thoughte þat his herte wolde breke.

1593.  Drayton, Eclog., X. 93. Thou with thine Age, my Heart with sorrow broke.

1605.  Shaks., Macb., IV. iii. 210. The griefe that do’s not speake, Whispers the o’re-fraught heart, and bids it breake.

1713.  Addison, Cato, III. iii. 31. Thy disdain Has broke my heart.

1832.  Tennyson, Œnone, 31. My heart is breaking and my eyes are dim.

1848.  Macaulay, Hist. Eng., II. 253. The great calamity which … had almost broken his heart.

  † 8.  To dissolve (anything hard or coherent).

1579.  Langham, Gard. Health (1633), 81. The herbe boyled or drunke raw with Wine breaketh the stone.

a. 1648.  Digby, Closet Open. (1677), 87. Set them [honey and water] over so gentle a fire as you might endure to break it in the water with your hand.

  b.  intr. To dissolve, relax. As said of a frost there may be some admixture of the notion of a break of continuity (branch V).

1530.  Palsgr., 754/2. It thaweth, as the weather dothe, whan the frost breaketh.

1570–87.  Holinshed, Scot. Chron. (1806), I. 273. The frost breake and the snowe melted.

1607.  Topsell, Four-f. Beasts, 291. His Cough breaketh more and more.

1681.  Dryden, Abs. & Achit., 287. Or if they shou’d, their Interest soon would break.

1767.  Watson, in Phil. Trans., LVII. 444. On the next day … the frost broke.

  9.  trans. To demolish, smash, destroy, ruin; to defeat, foil, frustrate (things material or immaterial).

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 12018. Thoru envie and wreth and tene [He] brack þe lackes al bi-dene.

1513.  More, Edw. V. (1641), 13. Each laboureth to breake that the other maketh.

1535.  Coverdale, Ps. lxxxviii. [ix]. 10. Thou breakest the proude, like one that is wounded.

1678.  N. Wanley, Wonders, V. i. § 103. 468/2. Ferdinand the third … broke the Great power of the Swedes.

1719.  De Foe, Crusoe, xiv. The number of them broke all my measures.

1871.  Freeman, Norm. Conq. (1876), IV. xvii. 47. Their moral force was utterly broken.

  10.  trans. To shiver or dash in pieces a wave, billow, or moving mass of water, as a rock or other obstacle does; also intr. said of waves, etc., when they dash against an obstacle, or topple over and become surf or ‘broken water’ in the shallows. (But in the ‘breaking’ of waves, the sea, etc., various other senses are often combined: see the quots.)

c. 1375.  Barbour, Bruce, III. 699. Wawys wyd [that] brekand war.

1593.  Shaks., Lucr., 1440. Their [the waves] ranks began To break upon the galled shore.

1697.  Dryden, Virg. Georg., III. 406. About him, and above, the Billows broke.

c. 1720.  Pope, Ess. Homer (J.). That tumult in the Icarian sea, dashing and breaking among its croud of islands.

1795.  Southey, Joan of Arc, VIII. 306. Some huge promontory whose broad base Breaks the rough wave; the shiver’d surge rolls back.

1842.  Tennyson. Break, break, break On thy cold gray stones O Sea!

1860.  Merc. Mar. Mag., VII. 259. In heavy … weather Point Pinos breaks the swell.

  11.  To ruin financially, make bankrupt (a person or bank). To break the bank: formerly also in the sense ‘to become bankrupt.’

  (To break the bank, in Gambling means to clear out the amount of money that the proprietor of the gaming table has before him: see BANK sb.³ 4.

1612–5.  Bp. Hall, Contempl. O. T., XIX. vii. The holiest man may be deep in arrearages, and break the bank.

1644–7.  R. Stapylton, Juvenal, 123. Meer expence in paper breaks you all.

a. 1674.  Clarendon, Hist. Reb. (1703), II. VII. 330. The necessities of the Army still pressed us … to break the Merchants here.

1705.  Tate, Warriour’s Welc., x. 7. Britain’s Gen’ral came … and broke the Bank of Fame.

1850.  Thackeray, Pendennis, lvi. (1884), 548. He had seen his friend … break the bank three nights running at Paris.

  b.  intr. (for refl.) To become bankrupt, to ‘fail’ (commercially). Now less usual.

1596.  Shaks., Merch. V., III. i. 120. Hee cannot choose but breake.

1661–2.  Pepys, Diary, 19 Jan. Our merchants here in London do daily break.

1678.  Butler, Hud., III. III. 248. By which some Glorious Feats atchieve, As Citizens, by breaking, thrive.

1793.  Ld. Spencer, in Ld. Auckland’s Corr. (1862), III. 82. Hutchinson is going to break, and to show the world that honesty is the best policy.

1856.  Emerson, Eng. Traits, v. 89. In trade, the Englishman believes that nobody breaks who ought not to break.

1879.  H. George, Progr. & Pov., V. i. (1881), 250. A bank breaks … and on every side workmen are discharged.

  12.  trans. To crush the strength of, wear out, exhaust; to weary, impair, in health or strength.

1483.  Caxton, Gold. Leg., 224/1. He was broken with the hete of the sonne and wyth labour.

1583.  Babington, Commandm., Ep. Ded. Your servants, that breake both bodie and braines in your affaires.

1666.  Pepys, Diary (1879), VI. 78. Whom I have not seen since he was sicke … he is mightily broke.

a. 1715.  Burnet, Own Time, II. 340. Lord Essex told me he was much broken in his thoughts.

1725.  Pope, Odyss., XII. 143. O worn by toils, oh broke in fight.

1857.  Ruskin, Pol. Econ. Art, 16. None had been broken by toil.

  † b.  So To break one’s brain, mind, wind (cf. BROKEN-WINDED). Obs.

c. 1340.  Hampole, Prose Treat., 37. He sall mowe breke his heuede and his body and he sall neuer be þe nerre.

1530.  Palsgr., 464/1. I breake my brayne to do hym good.

1547.  Boorde, Brev. Health, § 321. Breaking a mans mynde about many matters the which he can nat comprehende.

1596.  Shaks., 1 Hen. IV., II. ii. 13. If I trauel but foure foot … further a foote I shall breake my winde.

1597.  Morley, Introd. Mus., 77. I shall neuer leaue breaking my braines til I finde it.

1647.  Ward, Simp. Cobler, 22. It would breake his [the Devil’s] wind and wits to attend such a Province.

1690.  W. Walker, Idiom. Anglo-Lat., 70. He breakes his brains with studying.

  c.  intr. To fail in health, decay, give way. See also To break up, 56 i.

1713.  Swift, Cadenus & V., Wks. 1755, III. II. 15. I’m sorry Mopsa breaks so fast.

1804.  G. Rose, Diaries (1860), II. 194. The Archbishop … is breaking fast.

1876.  Trevelyan, Life & Lett. Macaulay, II. vii. 2. His health was breaking fast.

  13.  To crush in spirit or temper; to discourage; to overcome, prevail upon (obs.).

[1513.  Douglas, Æneis, VIII. vii. 33. Aurora wyth hyr teris so the brak, For tyl enarme hir child.]

1618.  Bolton, Florus, II. xvii. 144. Cato … brake the hearts of the Celtiberians … by certaine encounters.

1667.  Milton, P. L., V. 887. That Golden Scepter Is now an Iron Rod to bruise and breake Thy disobedience.

a. 1674.  Clarendon, Hist. Reb. (1704), III. xv. 458. By breaking their Fortunes and Estates, he had not at all broken their Spirits.

1752.  Hume, Ess. & Treat. (1777), I. 192. A person … easily broken by affliction.

1855.  Macaulay, Hist. Eng., IV. 96. The slaughter of Aghrim had broken the spirit of the army.

  14.  To reduce to obedience or discipline, tame, train (horses or other animals, also human beings); to subject or habituate to. Now also To break in, 52 a.

1474.  Caxton, Chesse, 32. His hors wel broken.

1519.  Horman, Vulg., 254. It is better to breke a mannys owne people in warr than to hyre straungers.

1542.  Udall, Erasm. Apoph., 80 a. The same children he broke and taught how to awayte on their parentes.

1596.  Shaks., Tam. Shr., II. i. 148. Why then thou canst not break her to the Lute?

1605.  Bacon, Adv. Learn., II. xiii. § 7 (1873), 156. Cicero himself being broken unto it by great experience.

1668.  Pepys, Diary, 14 Dec. About breaking of my horses to the coach.

1688.  R. Holme, Armoury, II. 149/2. To Break or Back a Colt is the first riding of him.

1766.  Goldsm., Vic. W., x. They had never been broken to the rein.

1824.  Miss Mitford, Village, Ser. I. (1863), 113. Whose dog hath he broken?

  b.  To break from. Cf. also break of, 33 b.

1530.  Palsgr., 464/2. I breake a yonge beest from his wylde condyscions.

  III.  To violate.

  15.  To violate, do violence to; to fail to observe or keep; to transgress. (The opposite of to keep sacred or intact.) Said esp. in reference to

  a.  a law, commandment, rule, requirement; a thing sanctified by law or ordinance, as the Sabbath, the king’s peace, a sanctuary. † To break time (in Music): to fail to keep time.

a. 1000.  Cædmon’s Daniel, 299 (Gr.). Yldra usse … ðin bibodu bræcon.

1023.  Chart. Canute, in Cod. Dipl., IV. 24. Gif æniʓ is ðæt ʓewilnað to brekenne … ðas ure ʓefæstnunge.

c. 1175.  Lamb. Hom., 79. He … brec cristes heste.

c. 1200.  Trin. Coll. Hom., 179. Þat … brecð grið þar he hit healde sholde.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 11992. Hu iesus brickes vr halidai. Ibid., 13808. Þou carl, qui brekes þou vr lau?

c. 1375.  Wyclif, Serm., Sel. Wks. II. 95. He brac þe Sabot.

1377.  Langl., P. Pl., B. II. 82. Unboxome and bolde to breke þe ten hestes.

1591.  Spenser, Virgil’s Gnat, lix. Cruell Orpheus … Seeking to kisse her, brok’st the gods decree.

1593.  Shaks., Rich. II., V. v. 43. Keepe time: How sowre sweet Musicke is, When Time is broke, and no Proportion kept?

1668.  Marvell, Corr., ci. Wks. 1872–5, II. 255. We had broke no privelege of the Lords.

1678.  Butler, Hud., II. III. 592. He Ingag’d the Constable to seize All those that would not break the Peace.

1771.  Junius Lett., liv. 284. The laws have … been shamefully broken.

1850.  Thackeray, Pendennis, lxi. (1884), 603. As refined as Mrs. Bull, who breaks the King’s English.

  b.  a contract or covenant of any kind; a treaty, indenture, league, truce, peace, or the like.

911.  O. E. Chron. (Parker MS.). Her bræc se here on Norð hymbrum þone frið.

1340.  Ayenb., 16. Prede brek uerst uelaȝrede and ordre.

c. 1440.  Promp. Parv., 50. Breke conuenant, fidifrago.

1513.  Douglas, Æneis, XII. v. Advt., Quhou Iuturna … Breikis the peax, and hasty batale sent.

1552.  Huloet, Breake truce, fœdus frangere.

1763.  Brit. Mag., IV. 372. Which made me break my indentures, and run away.

1791.  Burke, App. Whigs, Wks. VI. 150. The contract is thereby broke.

1873.  Burton, Hist. Scot., V. lvii. 153. The English were the first to break the peace.

  c.  an oath, promise, pledge, vow, one’s word, (one’s) faith.

a. 1000.  Beowulf, 4132. Þonne bioð brocene, að-sweord eorla.

c. 1205.  Lay., 705. Brutus him swar an æð, breken þat he hit nælde.

c. 1340.  Cursor M., 10674. Hir you to breke.

1496–7.  Act 12 Hen. VII., xii. Pream., In breking his seid promys.

1552.  Huloet, Breake fayth, othe, or promyse.

1593.  Shaks., 2 Hen. VI., V. i. 91. False King, why hast thou broken faith with me? Ibid., Rich. II., IV. i. 214. God pardon all Oathes that are broke to mee.

1664.  Butler, Hud., II. II. 138. Some, to the Glory of the Lord, Perjur’d themselves and broke their word.

1752.  Johnson, Rambl., No. 201, ¶ 9. A promise is never to be broken.

1848.  Macaulay, Hist. Eng., II. 79. The king would gladly have broken his word. Ibid. (1857), II. 471. That men who are in the habit of breaking faith should be distrusted when they mean to keep it is part of their just and natural punishment.

  d.  † To break spousehood (ME.), wedlock, matrimony (16th c.): to break the marriage vow, commit adultery. To break a marriage: to dissolve or annul it, obtain a divorce.

c. 1175.  Lamb. Hom., 143. Þe sunfulle Men þet spushad brekeð.

1530.  Tindale, Gen. Prol. David, though he brake wedlock.

1535.  Coverdale, Matt. xix. 18. Thou shalt not breake wedlocke. Ibid., Luke xvi. 18. Who so euer putteth awaye his wife and marieth another breaketh matrimony.

1844.  Ld. Brougham, Brit. Const., xiv. (1862), 212. His desire to break his first marriage from his wish to espouse Anne Boleyn.

  † e.  To break day: to fail to keep an appointed time (for payment, etc.). Obs.

c. 1300.  Beket, 769. Com to morwe … that thu thane dai ne breke.

c. 1386.  Chaucer, Chan. Yem. Prol. & T., 487. That in no wise he breke wol his day.

c. 1590.  Marlowe, Jew of M., I. ii. 340. If we break our day, we break the league.

c. 1610.  Rowlands, Terrible Batt., 8. Sirrha, your day is broke, ile keepe your pawne.

1642.  Rogers, Naaman, To Rdr. Breaking daies, promises, yea oaths and vowes.

  IV.  To make a way through, or lay open by breaking; to penetrate; to open up.

  16.  To burst (a barrier) so as to force a way through it. Also to break open: see 17 b.

a. 1000.  Byrhtnoth, 277. Eadweard bræc ðone bordweall.

a. 1200.  Moral Ode, 92, in E. E. P. (1862), 27. Ne brecð neuereuft crist helle dure.

c. 1325.  E. E. Allit. P., B. 1239. He brek þe bareres as bylyue.

1384.  Chaucer, Mother of G., 86. And broken been the yates eek of helle.

1607.  Shaks., Cor., I. i. 210. They … sigh’d forth Prouerbes That Hunger broke stone wals.

1766.  Gibbon, Decl. & F., I. xvi. 419. The doors were instantly broke open.

1860.  Smiles, Self-Help, i. 10. Admiral Hobson … broke the boom at Vigo, in 1702.

  † 17.  To enter (a house, an enclosed place, etc.) by breaking part of its circuit; to enter by force or violence. (Now To break open, or into; see 42). Cf. also To break up, 56 j. (See HOUSEBREAKER.)

851.  O. E. Chron. [The Danes] bræcon Contwara burʓ and Lundenburʓ. Ibid. (a. 1123), an. 1102. Þeofas … breokan þa minstre of Burh.

c. 1305.  Jud. Iscariot, 73, in E. E. P. (1862), 109. Iudas brac þe ȝard anon.

1393.  Langl., P. Pl., C. XXI. 383. [Þou] by-glosedest hem and bygyledest hem and my gardyn breke.

1483.  Cath. Angl., 42. To Breke garth, desepire.

1495.  Act 11 Hen. VII., lix. Pream., Evyll disposed persones … intendyng … to have broken the hous of your seid Subget.

1533–4.  Durham Depositions (Surtees), 49. The said Dicson did break the churche of West Awkelande.

c. 1677.  Marvell, Growth Popery, 29. Clauses most severe … one for breaking all Houses whatsoever on suspicion of any such Pamphlet.

1745.  Wesley, Wks. (1872), XII. 69. Shall George Whitfield be charged with felony, because John Wesley broke a house?

1768.  Blackstone, Comm., III. 209. Every unwarrantable entry on another’s soil the law entitles a trespass by breaking his close.

  b.  To break open: to open or enter by breaking. Cf. also To break up, 56 j.

1590.  Shaks., Com. Err., III. i. 73. Go fetch me something, Ile break ope the gate. Ibid. (1593), Lucr., 446. She, much amazed, breaks ope her lock’d-up eyes.

1621.  Quarles, Esther (1638), 89. Break ope the leaves, those leaves so full of dread.

1623.  Meade, in Ellis, Orig. Lett., I. 289, III. 150. The king siezes upon all the Merchants Letters from Spain, breaks them open.

1652.  Proc. Parliament, No. 109. Advt., His stable being broke open, was stoln one Brown bay gelding.

1753.  W. Douglass, Brit. Settlem. N. Amer., II. 287. They broke open his house, carried him from his naked bed [etc.].

1853.  Arab. Nts. (Rtldg.), 266. The very robbers who had broken open and pillaged his house.

  18.  To make or produce (a hole, opening, passage, way, etc.) by breaking.

c. 1320.  Seuyn Sag. (W.), 1261. An hole thai bregen.

1633.  P. Fletcher, Purple Isl., XI. xii. A renting sigh way for her sorrow brake.

1698.  in Select. Harl. Misc. (1793), 387. Morgan set his soldiers to break avenues for their marching out.

1705.  Hearne, Coll., 5 Oct. (1885), I. 52. Dalton being forc’d to break way.

1835.  I. Taylor, Spir. Despot., ii. 70. Their predecessors who have broke a path upon this field of noble and expansive good will.

1865.  Tylor, Early Hist. Man., ii. 20. A way for thought is already broken.

  19.  To escape from (an enclosed place) by breaking part of the enclosure, as in to break prison or jail; also to break bounds.

c. 1300.  Beket, 48. Gilbert and his felawes siththe … Prisoun breke.

1482.  Caxton, Chron. Eng., cclvii. 336. The prysoners of Newgate brake theyr prison.

c. 1593.  Spenser, Sonn., lxxiii. My hart … Breaking his prison, forth to you doth fly.

1674.  J. B[rian], Harv.-Home, viii. 52. Who is himself; and breaks the jayl, must die.

1790.  Burke, Fr. Rev., 8. Am I to congratulate an highwayman … who has broke prison, upon the recovery of his natural rights?

1813.  Byron, Giaour, 534. The faithless slave that broke her bower.

1857.  Buckle, Civiliz., I. xii. 670. A hatred and jealousy which broke all bounds.

Mod.  Scholars gated for a week for breaking bounds.

  20.  To break covert or cover: to start forth from a hiding-place; also absol. to break; cf. 37, 39.

1602.  Return fr. Parnass., II. v. (Arb.), 31. [I] stood to intercept from the thicket: the buck broke gallantly.

1859.  Jephson, Brittany, ix. 149. The wolf, a cub, broke cover in fine style.

1859.  Tennyson, Enid, 183. They break covert at our feet.

  b.  To break water or soil: said of a stag.

1486.  Bk. St. Albans, E vij b. Then brekyth he water ther to take yow tent.

1575.  Turberv., Venerie, 241. When he goeth quite through a ryver or water, we say he breaketh soyle.

1607.  Topsell, Four-f. Beasts, 91. They love the lakes and strong streams, breaking the floods to come by fresh pasture.

  21.  To penetrate (as light breaks the darkness, sound the air). Cf. 41.

1599.  Shaks., Hen. V., III. iii. 40. Whiles the mad Mothers, with their howles confus’d, Doe breake the Cloudes.

1676.  Dryden, Virg. Georg., IV. 666. All her fellow Nymphs the Mountains tear With loud Laments, and break the yielding Air.

1795.  Southey, Joan of Arc, IV. 44. To-morrow’s sun, Breaking the darkness of the sepulchre.

1813.  Byron, Giaour, 1145. What beam shall break my night?

1839.  Thirlwall, Greece, III. 265. Only one ray of hope broke the gloom of her prospects.

1871.  Swinburne, Songs bef. Sunrise, Eve of Rev., 49. The night is broken eastward; is it day?

  b.  intr. Said of the darkness (rare).

1594.  Shaks., Rich. III., V. iii. 86. Flakie darkenesse breakes within the East.

  22.  † To break one’s mind (heart): to deliver or reveal what is in one’s mind (obs.). To break news, a matter, a secret: to make it known, disclose, divulge it; now implying caution and delicacy.

c. 1450.  Lonelich, Grail, xxxvi. 274. Al ȝowre herte thanne to me breke.

1474.  Sir J. Paston, Lett., 747, III. 118. To whom she brake hyr harte and tolde hyr y^t she sholde have hadde Mast^r Paston.

1525.  Ld. Berners, Froiss., II. lxii. [lxv.] 212. A squyer of Bretayne, to whome he had broken his mynde.

1528.  Gardiner, in Pocock, Rec. Ref., I. 101. His holiness demanded whether the king’s highness had at any time broken this matter to the queen.

1683.  Penn. Archives, I. 83. I broke y^e bussiness to Pr. Aldrix.

1712.  Steele, Spect., No. 455, ¶ 3. She began to break her Mind very freely … to me.

1712.  Arbuthnot, John Bull, 102. With a design to break the matter gently to his partners.

1759.  Dilworth, Pope, 64. After a short acquaintance … he broke his mind to him upon that subject.

a. 1779.  G. Colman, in G. Colman (Jun.), Posth. Lett. (1820), 339. Here it may be resolved … that she shall break the secret of their marriage to the old Earl.

1840.  Hood, Up the Rhine, 1. Now, however, I have some news to break.

  † b.  Hence, intr. to break with (rarely to a person), of or concerning (a thing). Obs.

1463.  Paston Lett., 473, II. 134. He kept not his owyn councell but brak to every man of it.

1529.  More, Comf. agst. Trib., II. Wks. 1188/1. Wyth hym she secretely brake, and offered hym ten ducates for hys labour.

1591.  Shaks., Two Gent., III. i. 59. I am to breake with thee of some affaires. Ibid. (1599), Much Ado, I. i. 328. Then after to her father will I breake.

1612.  Drayton, Poly-olb., Song xii. 200. With him to breake Of some intended act.

1614.  Raleigh, Hist. World, V. vi. § 8. To this effect Scipio brake with the Consul.

  23.  trans. To break a jest: to utter, crack a joke. So to break a sigh, a smile, etc.

1589.  Pappe w. Hatchet, B. Your Knaueship brake your fast on the Bishops, by breaking your iests on them.

1599.  Shaks., Much Ado, II. i. 152. Hee’l but breake a comparison or two on me.

1655.  Fuller, Ch. Hist., V. III. 119. On the Scaffold (a place not to break jests, but to break off all jesting) he could not hold.

1709.  Swift, Adv. Relig., Wks. 1755, II. I. 107. He is … in continual apprehension that some pert man of pleasure should break an unmannerly jest.

a. 1774.  Goldsm., Double Transf., 57. Jack … often broke A sigh in suffocating smoke.

1795.  Southey, Joan of Arc, X. 151. Welcoming his gallant son, He brake a sullen smile.

1833.  Fraser’s Mag., VIII. 54. The landlord and waiter … were not suffered to do any thing, save to break their jokes on the members.

  24.  To open, commence, begin. In certain obs. phrases, as to break parle, break trade. Also at Billiards: To break the balls: to make a stroke from the formal position in which the balls are placed at the beginning of a game, or after a foul stroke. (But cf. 31.)

1588.  Shaks., Tit. A., V. iii. 19. Romes Emperour and Nephewe breake the parle.

1788.  A. Falconbridge, Slave Tr. Afr., 12. After permission has been obtained for breaking trade … the captains go ashore … to examine the negroes that are exposed to sale.

1850.  Bohn’s Handbk. Games, 565. Breaking the balls is to take them all off the table, place the red on its spot, and … begin again from the baulk.

  V.  To make a rupture of union or continuity by breaking.

  * of union.

  25.  trans. To break a bond, or anything that confines or fastens; to disrupt; hence to dissolve, loosen. Also fig. often with asunder.

a. 1225.  St. Marher., 18. Alre kingene king brec nu mine bondes.

1382.  Wyclif, Judges xvi. 9. She criede to him, Philistien upon thee, Sampson, The which brak the boondis.

1535.  Coverdale, Ps. ii. 3. Let us breake their bondes a sunder.

1578.  Timme, Calvin on Gen., 241. The ambition of Nimrod, brake the bonds of this modesty.

1717.  Pope, Eloisa, 173. Death, only death, can break the lasting chain.

1837.  Newman, Par. Serm. (ed. 3), I. xv. 226. Distrust … breaks the very bonds of human society.

1855.  Macaulay, Hist. Eng., IV. 95. The spell which bound his followers to him was not altogether broken.

  b.  intr. (for refl.) See also 1 b for literal use.

  26.  trans. To make a rupture in (the ranks of the enemy). (Also in one’s own ranks, by quitting them, or fleeing.)

c. 1205.  Lay., 27506. Þene sceld-trume breken: Þe Bruttes þer heolden.

1375.  Barbour, Bruce, XII. 217. And luk ȝhe na vay brek aray.

c. 1400.  Destr. Troy, 6679. Mony batels he broke, buernes he slough.

c. 1460.  Fortescue, Abs. & Lim. Mon. (1714), 46. Nor yet to may breke a mighty Flote gatheryd of Purpose.

c. 1532.  Ld. Berners, Huon (1883), 344. He drew his swerde … & brake the thyckest presse.

1636.  Massinger, Bashf. Lover, II. iii. He dies that breaks his ranks Till all be our’s.

1769.  Falconer, Dict. Marine (1789), A a iij. It cannot easily break the enemy’s line.

1803.  Munro, in Owen, Wellesley’s Disp., 790. After breaking their infantry, your cavalry … was not sufficiently strong to pursue any distance.

1842.  Tennyson, Two Voices, 155. The foeman’s line is broke.

  b.  absol. Said of a band of fighting men: To break their ranks, fall into disorder; also of the ranks.

1598.  Barret, Theor. Warres, I. i. 4. To perform execution if the enemie break or flie.

1781.  T. Jefferson, in Sparks, Corr. Amer. Rev. (1853), III. 308. They broke twice, and ran like sheep.

1824.  Macaulay, Ivry, 43. Their ranks are breaking like thin clouds before a Biscay gale.

1878.  Bosw. Smith, Carthage, 221. The 4,000 Roman cavalry … broke and fled.

  c.  intr. (for refl.) Said of clouds, mists, etc.: To divide, disperse.

1826.  Disraeli, Viv. Grey, VIII. iv. 485. The storm cannot last long thus … I am sure the clouds are breaking.

1875.  Green, Short Hist., viii. § 1. 448. Cromwell saw the mists break over the hills of Dunbar.

  ** of continuance or continuity.

  † 27.  trans. To cut short, stop, bring to a sudden end. To break the siege: to raise the siege. Obs.; but see To break off, 53 a.

c. 1330.  R. Brunne, Chron., III. (Mätz.). Our tale wille we no breke, bot telle forth the certeyn.

c. 1386.  Chaucer, Melibeus, ¶ 77. Wel ny alle atones bigonne they to rise for to breken his tale.

1387.  Trevisa, Higden, Rolls Ser. II. 415. Penthesilea … brak þe sege of þe Grees.

1534.  More, Answ. Poysoned Bk., 1058/2. A better then we both shall breake the strife betwene vs.

a. 1553.  Udall, Royster D., IV. iv. Will ye my tale break?

1709.  Strype, Ann. Ref., I. xlvii. 510. To use means to break the match.

  28.  To interrupt the continuance of (an action); to stop for the time, suspend.

c. 1400.  Rom. Rose, 6224. Love … brake his tale in the spekyng As though he had hym tolde lesyng.

1580.  Baret, Alv., B 1200. The workes be broken and remaine vnperfite for a time.

1712.  Addison, Spect., No. 321, ¶ 11. I would not break the Thread of these Speculations.

1848.  Macaulay, Hist. Eng., I. 513. He was the first country gentleman … to break that long prescription.

  b.  To break one’s fall, one’s journey, the force of a blow.

1848.  Macaulay, Hist. Eng., II. 117. His fall, though thus broken, was still a fall.

1858.  Sears, Athan., III. ii. 265. An awful plunge downward with nothing to break the fall.

1880.  Standard, 14 Dec., 5/6. Count Hatzfeldt, who is on his way from Constantinople to Berlin, breaks his journey at this capital to-day.

  29.  To interrupt the continuance of (a state); to disturb: esp. a. To break one’s sleep or rest; b. To break silence, stillness. (See SILENCE.)

1597.  Shaks., 2 Hen. IV., IV. v. 69. For this, the foolish ouercarefull Fathers Haue broke their sleepes with thoughts.

1623.  Bingham, Xenophon, 139. You shall put to death a man, that hath broken many a sleepe for you.

1706.  Estcourt, Fair Examp., I. i. 9. I hope your ill Luck did not break your Rest last Night.

1710.  Steele, Tatler, No. 222, ¶ 3. Keeping them awake, or breaking their Sleep when they are fallen into it.

1768.  Sterne, Sent. Journ. (1778), I. 176. I was not disposed to break silence.

1853.  Robertson, Serm., Ser. III. xi. 138. There are but three things which can break that peace.

1853.  Kingsley, Hypatia, xi. 126. Not a sound … broke the utter stillness of the glen.

  c.  To break one’s fast: to put an end to fasting by eating; esp. to eat after the night’s fast, take the first meal of the day; to breakfast.

c. 1400.  Beryn, Prol. 71. Ete & be merry, why breke yee nowt yeur fast?

1523.  Fitzherb., Husb., § 149. Be vppe betyme & breake thy faste before day.

1586.  Cogan, Haven Health, ccxiii. These old men brake their fast commonly with honey.

1620.  Venner, Via Recta, viii. 171. I aduise them, not to be altogether fasting till dinner, but to breake their fast.

1653.  Walton, Angler, i. 2. My purpose is to be at Hodsden … before I break my fast.

1665.  Evelyn, Mem. (1857), I. 375. I brake fast this morning with the King.

1808.  Scott, Marm., I. xxxi. And knight and squire had broke their fast.

  30.  To interrupt the uniformity of any quality; to qualify, allay.

1839.  Thirlwall, Greece, I. 183. An uniform tenor of life, broken only by the exertions necessary to satisfy the simplest animal wants.

1877.  A. B. Edwards, Up Nile, vii. 177. Not a tree, not a hut … broke the green monotony of the plain.

1885.  Spectator, 18 July, 950/2. He … breaks for a few hours the terrible sameness of a dull … sordid life.

  b.  Of colors: To modify a color by mixing it with some other color. Also break down 50 e, and broken colors (see BROKEN).

1753.  Chambers, Cycl. Supp., s.v. Broken, A colour is said to be broken, when it is taken down or degraded by the mixture of some colour.

  31.  To alter abruptly the direction of (a line). To break a ball (at Cricket): to make it change its direction on touching the ground. To break joint: said of stones or bricks in a building, when the lines of junction are not continuous. To break sheer: see SHEER.

1616.  Surfl. & Markh., Country Farm, 101. He [the ox] breaketh not vp his taile, but suffereth it to draw all along after him.

1660.  Bloome, Archit., B. This Pillar is broken perfectly.

1753.  Chambers, Cycl. Supp., s.v., The ray of incidence … is, as it were, broken and bent into another direction.

1793.  Smeaton, Edystone L., § 42. Breaking joint one course upon the other.

1884.  Lillywhite’s Cricket Comp., 29. Cooper … has the faculty of breaking a ball two or three feet.

1884.  W. G. Grace, in Pall Mall Gaz., 3 Oct., 2/1. He says that a fast bowler can ‘break’ both ways, but admits that this cannot be done with precision.

  32.  intr. To deviate or start off abruptly from a line or previous course; to project; to fall off. Also with away, off; see 53 c.

1677.  Moxon, Mech. Exerc. (1703), 36. Examine … whether the Worm … do not break into Angles. Ibid., 279. Let the Keystone break without the Arch.

1687.  Lond. Gaz., No. 2297/8. Stray’d or stolen … a black Mare … breaks high in the forehead.

1873.  Tristram, Moab, vii. 125. The plain … breaking away abruptly in limestone precipices to a great depth.

1879.  B. Taylor, Stud. Germ. Lit., 240. The narrative continually breaks into dialogue.

  b.  In Cricket. A ball bowled is said to break when it changes its course after it has pitched: the bowler causes this by his delivery. It is said to break back when it breaks in from the off, to break in, when it breaks from the leg side.

1882.  Daily Tel., 17 May, 3/7. Clean bowled by a trimmer from Barnes, the ball apparently breaking back.

  c.  Of flowers: To burst into a diversity of colors under cultivation.

1835.  Lindley, Introd. Bot. (1848), II. 249. We have known the dahlias from a poor single dull-coloured flower break into superior forms and brilliant colours.

1846.  Mrs. Loudon, Ladies Comp. Flower Gard., 303. All seedling Tulips, when they first flower, are … of a dull uniform colour; and to make them break, that is, to produce the brilliant and distinct colours which constitute the beauty of a florist’s flower, a variety of expedients are resorted to.

  VI.  To sever or remove by breaking.

  33.  trans. To separate by breaking a connection. (See break away, off, out.)

c. 1200.  Trin. Coll. Hom., 93. Brokene boȝes.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 15024. Bifor þair king þe childer kest Branches þai brak o bogh.

a. 1340.  Hampole, Pr. Consc., 2078. For þe dede his mynde away þan brekes.

1382.  Wyclif, Deut. xxiii. 25. Thou shalt breek eeris, and with the hoond brisse.

1611.  Bible, Gen. xxvii. 40. Thou shalt breake his yoke from off thy necke.

Mod.  Great boughs broken from the trees.

  b.  To break (any one) of a practice or habit: to cause him to discontinue it. Perh. orig. belonging to 14 b.

1612.  Bacon, Greatness of Kingd., Ess. (Arb.), 482. Neither must they be too much broken of it [danger], if they shall be preserued in vigor.

1701.  W. Wotton, Hist. Rome, v. 74. He … Broke them of their warm Bathes.

1748.  J. Mason, Elocut., 11. A thick mumbling Way of speaking; which he [Demosthenes] broke himself of by declaiming with pebbles in his mouth.

1816.  Life W. Havergal (1882), 15. His only fault is in preaching too fast, but he is trying to break himself of this.

1865.  M. Arnold, Eug. de Guérin, Ess. Crit. (1875), 165. When she wants to break a village girl of disobedience to her mother.

  34.  intr. To sever a connection abruptly; to cease from relation with, quarrel with. See also To break off, 53 f.

1591.  Shaks., Two Gent., II. v. 19. Speed. Shall he marry her? Launce. No, neither. Sp. What, are they broken? Ibid. (1607), Cor., IV. vi. 48. It cannot be The Volces dare breake with vs.

1687.  R. L’Estrange, Answ. Diss., 39. They Brake, upon This Point.

1734.  trans. Rollin’s Anc. Hist., XX. § 1 (1827), IX. 2. The Romans break with Perseus.

1859.  Masson, Milton, I. 616. Charles broke with his Third Parliament in March 1628–9.

1872.  Freeman, Gen. Sketch, xv. § 14. 324. Ready to break with the past altogether.

  35.  To break an officer; to cashier, deprive him of his commission, degrade him from his rank.

1695.  Lond. Gaz., No. 3135/3. Three other Colonels are broke.

1717.  De Foe, Hist. Ch. Scot., III. 73. Whether he was not broke for Cowardise I am not certain.

1787.  Nelson, in Nicolas, Disp. (1845), I. 243. That no Officer could serve under him, and that sooner or later he must be broke.

1840.  R. H. Dana, Bef. Mast, xvii. 46. From the time that he was ‘broken,’ he had had a dog’s berth on board the vessel.

1867.  Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., Break, to deprive of commission, warrant, or rating, by court-martial.

  VII.  Intransitive senses implying movement accompanied by the breaking of ties or barriers; to burst.

  36.  intr. To escape or depart by breaking ties or barriers (physical or immaterial); to depart by a forcible or sudden effort, to escape from restraint. Often with loose, free: see also To break away, 49 c.

a. 1000.  Phœnix, 67. Water wynsumu … of ðære moldan tyrf brimcealdu brecað.

a. 1000.  Andreas, 513 (Gr.). We brecað ofer bæþweʓ.

1423.  James I., Kingis Q., cxv. [Thay] breken louse, and walken at thaire large?

1535.  Coverdale, Dan. ii. 1. Had Nabuchodonosor a dreame … and his slepe brake from him.

1628.  Digby, Voy. Medit. (1868), 65. My boate broke from my sterne with a man in her.

1711.  Steele, Spect., No. 262, ¶ 4. When I broke loose from that great Body of Writers.

1810.  Scott, Lady of L., II. xxxiv. Then Roderick from the Douglas broke.

1846.  Ruskin, Mod. Paint., I. II. I. vii. § 3. 74. The great historical painters … who had broken so boldly … from the trammels of this notion.

1877.  R. H. Hutton, Ess., VII. Pref. Illusions from which … men have had the courage to break free.

1878.  Morley, Crit. Misc., Ser. I. 220. A world that had broken loose from its moorings.

  37.  To come out or emerge by breaking barriers; to burst forth, rush out with sudden violence. Const. upon. See also To break forth, 51; out, 54.

  a.  of words, laughter, sounds, etc.

c. 1330.  R. Brunne, Chron., 55 (Mätz.). Bituex þam and þe messengers broþefulle wordes brak.

1596.  Spenser, F. Q., II. iii. 24. Twixt the perles and rubins [i.e., teeth and lips] softly brake A siluer sound.

1709.  Pope, Ess. Crit., 628. But rattling nonsense in full vollies breaks.

1833.  Ht. Martineau, Fr. Wines & Pol., i. 12. Cries of grief and despair broke from them at every step.

1837.  Lytton, Athens, I. 477. Loud broke the trumpets The standards … were raised on high.

1876.  Green, Short Hist., i. § 4. 38. Verses of his own English tongue broke from time to time from the master’s lips.

  b.  of an attacking party.

c. 1400.  Destr. Troy, 13014. A busshement of bold men breke hym vpon.

1598.  Grenewey, Tacitus’ Ann., I. xiv. (1622), 27. Vntill the enemy, with hope to breake vpon them, should draw neere.

1614.  Raleigh, Hist. World, V. i. § 10. 573. They brake back furiously upon their own footmen.

  c.  of natural phenomena, as a storm, light, etc.

1875.  J. W. Dawson, Dawn of Life, i. 3. First bright streaks of light that break on … night and death.

  d.  Of fish: To rise to the bait.

1885.  Barnet Phillips, in Harper’s Mag., Jan., 216/1. Once I tried to fool them with sham colored feathers; but no, sir, they [the fish] never broke.

  38.  A person is also said to break into arms, rebellion, weeping, a laugh, etc.

1588.  Shaks., Tit. A., III. i. 216. Do not breake into these deepe extreames.

1670.  Cotton, Espernon, I. II. 46. To which … he was further necessitated by the King of Navarre’s breaking into Arms.

1866.  Kingsley, Herew., xii. 170. She broke into wild weeping.

1871.  ‘A. R. Hope,’ My Schoolb. Fr. (1875), 110. We broke into a titter.

1872.  Black, Adv. Phaeton, iv. 42. The pony broke into a brisk trot.

1876.  Green, Short Hist., vi. § 2 (1882), 275. In Kent … the discontent broke into open revolt.

  39.  To issue forth, come forth suddenly into notice, come as a surprise. Const. from, upon, into.

1711.  Steele, Spect., No. 41, ¶ 5. He thought fit to break from his Concealment.

1712.  Pope, Messiah. See heav’n … break upon thee in a flood of day.

1750.  Johnson, Rambl., No. 79, ¶ 7. The anxieties that break into his face.

1830.  H. Rogers, Ess., I. I. 9. There is no author who so often breaks upon his readers with turns of thought, for which they are totally unprepared.

1853.  Kane, Grinnell Exp., xv. (1856), 107. Here … the Greenland shore broke upon us.

1884.  W. C. Smith, Kildrostan, 43. Only the lap of the rippling wave Broke on the hush of their solitude.

  40.  Of buds, flowers, roots, etc.: To sprout out, come forth, burst into flower or leaf, expand.

c. 1325.  Rel. Ant., I. 124. When blosmes breketh on brere.

1868.  Darwin, Anim. & Pl., II. xiii. 31. In … carrot-beds a few plants often ‘break’—that is, flower too soon.

1882.  Garden, 18 March, 187/1. Vigorous young [vine] rods … will require dexterous handling to get them to break evenly.

  41.  To burst out of darkness, begin to shine; as the day, morning, daylight. Const. on, upon. Many varieties of this expression appear, often mixed with other uses of break, as ‘the darkness is breaking’; cf. ‘the clouds are breaking’ in 26 c.

1535.  Coverdale, Isa. xxi. 12. The watchman answered: The daye breaketh on.

1599.  Shaks., Hen. V., IV. i. 88. Brother Iohn Bates, is not that the Morning which breakes yonder?

1611.  Bible, Gen. xxxii. 26. Let me goe, for the day breaketh [Coverd. breaketh on].

1647.  J. Hall, Poems, 92. The day Breakes clearer on them.

1772–84.  Cook, Voy. (1790), V. 1688. Till day began to break upon them.

1829.  I. Taylor, Enthus., x. 259. When … the first beams of sound philosophy broke over the nations.

1836.  Kingsley, Lett. (1878), I. 33. Ere the sun had broken on the earth.

1871.  Morley, Voltaire (1886), 23. The darkness seems breaking.

  † b.  trans. To cause to break. Obs.

1509.  Hawes, Past. Pleas., I. xiv. Golden Phebus … With cloudes redde began to break the daye.

  42.  intr. (and with indirect pass.) To enter by breaking barriers; to make a forcible or violent entrance into a place; to make an irruption. (Formerly expressed by break trans.: see 17.)

1398.  Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., V. xxxv. (1495), 147. That colde ayre breke not sodaynly in to the herte.

c. 1400.  Destr. Troy, 11937. Þai … Brekyn into bildynges, britnet the pepull.

1628.  Hobbes, Thucyd. (1822), 55. The Lacedemonians afterwards brake into Attica.

1677.  Moxon, Mech. Exerc. (1703), 158. Carpenters with their Ripping Chissel do often Break in to Brick-walls; that is, they cut holes.

1883.  Law Rep. Queen’s B., XI. 590. The prosecutor’s house was feloniously broken into and entered.

  VIII.  Phrases and combinations.

  * Phrases.

  43.  To break bulk (cf. 2 e): ‘to open the hold and take out goods thence’ (Capt. Smith’s Seaman’s Gram., 1692); to destroy the completeness of a cargo by taking out a portion, to begin to unload.

1575.  in Hist. Glasgow (1881), 117. Breking bowk [of a cargo].

1587.  St. Paper Office, Domest. Corr. To bring them [ships] into this realme without breaking bulke.

1622.  Malynes, Anc. Law-Merch., 195. All Merchants ships being laden, haue alwaies … beene permitted to breake bulke below, or at Tilburie-Hope.

1668.  Marvell, Corr., xcviii. Wks. 1872–5, II. 257. An impeachment … against Sir W. Penn, for breaking bulke in the East India prizes.

1709.  Steele, Tatler, No. 106, ¶ 2. Whether he would break Bulk, and sell his Goods by Retail.

1792.  Burke, Negro Code, Wks. 1842, II. 424. The faithful execution of his part of the trust at the island where he shall break bulk.

1833.  Marryat, P. Simple, v. He was breaking Casks out of the hold.

1883.  Times, 24 March, 3/5. The whole [cargo of tea] can be sampled and sold the moment the steamer breaks bulk.

  44.  To break (the) ground (cf. 5 a).

  a.  To dig through the surface of ground, especially when covered with turf; to plow up ground for the first time, or after it has lain long in pasture. See also To break up, 56 f.

1712.  Prideaux, Direct. Ch.-wardens (ed. 4), 76. The Fee for breaking the soil [for a grave] belongs to them.

Mod.  (U.S.) It takes three farm-horses of good weight to break prairie-land.

  b.  Of an army: To begin digging trenches.

1678.  Lond. Gaz., No. 1320/3. We hear the French are breaking ground, as if they intended a formal Siege.

1810.  Wellington, in Gurw., Disp., VI. 200. The enemy broke ground before Ciudad Rodrigo on the night before last.

  c.  fig. To commence operations, take the first steps, do pioneer work.

1709.  Lond. Gaz., No. 4555/3. Last Night we broke Ground.

1830.  De Quincey, Bentley, Wks. VI. 56. One of those who first broke ground as a pioneer in the great field of Natural Philosophy.

1834.  Blackw. Mag., XXXV. 792. They have broken no ground from which they have not been driven.

1840.  Carlyle, Heroes, i. Could I thus, as it were, not exhaust my subject, but so much as break ground upon it.

  d.  Naut. ‘Break-ground. Beginning to weigh, or to lift the anchor from the bottom.’ Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk.

1752.  Beawes, Lex Mercat., 116. If … the ship breaks ground, and arrives at her port.

  45.  To break the ice [cf. quot. 1710]: to prepare the way, take the preliminary steps, make a beginning; sometimes, in modern use, with a reference to the coldness or stiffness of first intercourse with strangers.

1602.  Warner, Alb. Eng., XI. lxii. 273. Caboto whose Cosmographie and selfe-proofe brake the Ice To most our late Discouerers.

1610.  Guillim, Heraldry, To Rdr. I have broken the Ice, and made way to some after-commers.

1611.  Cotgr., Acheminer, to commence, breake the ice.

1683.  D. A., Art Converse, 15. The Ice being thus broken, another will utter her mind on the same matter.

1710.  Steele, Tatler, No. 7, ¶ 6. The Ice being broke, the Sound is again open for the Ships.

1775.  Sheridan, Duenna, II. ii. So! the ice is broke, and a … civil beginning too!

1853.  H. Rogers, Ecl. Faith, 28. I availed myself of a pause in the conversation to break the ice in relation to the topic which lay nearest my heart.

  46.  To break square, or squares [of uncertain origin: cf. 2 e]: to interrupt or violate the regular order; commonly in the proverbial phrase, it breaks no square, i.e., does no harm, makes no mischief, does not matter.

1576.  Foxe, A. & M., 986. The missyng of a few yeares in this matter, breaketh no great square in our story.

1594.  T. B., La Primaud. Fr. Acad., II. 116. There are but fewe that breake not square oftener in eating & drinking too much then to litle.

1633.  Herbert, Temple, Discharge, vii. Man and the present fit! if he provide [i.e., look into the future], He breaks the square.

1640.  Fuller, Joseph’s Coat, vii. (1867), 179. Would so small a matter have broken any squares?

1671.  Dryden, Even. Love, III. i. ’Tis no matter; this shall break no Squares betwixt us.

1760.  Sterne, Tr. Shandy (1802), II. v. 152. This fault in Trim broke no squares with them.

  47.  To break wind: to void wind from the stomach or bowels. [But cf. BRAKE v.⁵ to void from the stomach.]

[1540.  Lyndesay, Satire, 7624. I lay braikand like ane brok. Ibid., 4367. Sche blubbirt, bokkit, and braikit still.]

1552.  Huloet, Belke, or bolke, or breake wynde vpwarde.

1606.  Holland, Sueton., 171. He would give folke leave to breake winde downward and let it goe even with a crack at the very bourd.

1636.  Healey, trans. Theophrast. Char., 45. He lying along, belcheth or breaketh wind.

1795.  J. Wolcott (P. Pindar), Lousiad, Wks. 1812, I. 269. Had the Thunderer but broke wind.

  ** Combined with adverbs.

  48.  Break across. ‘In tilting, when the tilter by unsteadiness or awkwardness suffered his spear to be … broken across the body of his adversary, instead of by the push of the point’ (Nares). Cf. Shaks., A. Y. L., III. iv. 44.

1580.  Sidney, Arcadia, II. 196 b (N.).

  To break asunder: see 25.

  49.  Break away.

  a.  trans. [from 33.] To sever or remove by breaking.

1420.  E. E. Wills (1882), 45. A branche of þe couercle [is] y-broke away.

1781.  Cowper, Expost., 501. The lamp that with awaking beams, Dispell’d thy gloom and broke away thy dreams.

1855.  D. Costello, Stor. Screen, 77. Those who … broke away the bars which kept him prisoner.

  b.  intr. (for refl. of a.)

1860.  Tyndall, Glac., I. § 11. 70. The snow … broke away from the foot and fell into the chasm.

  c.  intr. [from 36.] To start away with abruptness and force; to go off abruptly; to escape by breaking from restraint. Also fig.

1535.  Coverdale, Jer. li. 6. The souldyers brake awaye, and fled out of the cite by night.

1590.  Shaks., Com. Err., IV. iv. 1. Feare me not man, I will not breake away.

c. 1610.  Middleton, etc., Widow, I. i. in Dodsley (1780), XII. 234. When thieves are taken, and break away twice or thrice one after another.

1852.  Tupper, Proverb. Philos., 317. A dappled hart hath flung aside the boughs and broke away.

1872.  Black, Adv. Phaeton, xii. 164. If people break away from the ordinary methods … they must take their chance.

  To break back (Cricket): see 32 b.

  50.  Break down.

  a.  trans. [from II.] To break (anything) so that its parts fall to the ground; to demolish, destroy, level with the ground. Also of things fig.

1382.  Wyclif, Isa. v. 5. I shal breke down his wal.

1611.  Bible, ibid. Breake downe the wall thereof.

1742.  Wesley, Wks. (1872), I. 353. They … brake down part of the house.

1876.  J. H. Newman, Hist. Sk., I. I. i. 9. They would be powerful to break down; helpless to build up.

1878.  Morley, Diderot, II. 29. He will not, however, on that account break down the permanent safeguards.

  b.  [from 7.] To break into small pieces; to crush; to decompose.

1859.  Jephson, Brittany, iv. 42. With delicious light French roll broken down into it.

1883.  Athenæum, 29 Dec., 871/1. The molecule of arabic acid, C₈₉H₁₄₂O₇₄, is broken down.

  c.  [from 12–13.] To crush or prostrate in strength, health, courage, etc.

1853.  Arab. Nts. (Rtldg.), 274. So much was he already broken down by affliction, sorrow and terror.

1873.  Morley, Rousseau, I. 28. The character of Jean Jacques was absolutely broken down.

1885.  Manch. Exam., 6 Sept., 5/4. He has been consistently anxious to break down the power in Egypt of the Turkish pashas.

  d.  intr. (for refl.) To fall broken or in ruins; to collapse, give way, fail utterly, prove of no avail; to give way, as the back sinews of a horse’s leg (whence the technical use in 1831, 1864).

1831.  Youatt, Horse, xvi. (1872), 373. A slight injury … is called a sprain of the back sinews or tendons; and when it is more serious, the horse is said to have broken down.

1856.  Sir B. Brodie, Psychol. Inq., I. iii. 93. The mind may break down all at once under some sudden affliction.

1864.  Ld. Palmerston, in Daily Tel., 26 Aug., 5/6. It often happens that a very good-looking horse breaks down.

1865.  Trollope, Belton Est., xxix. 345. The task before her was … so difficult that she almost broke down in performing it.

1875.  Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), III. 204. If this definition of justice breaks down.

1880.  McCarthy, Own Times, III. xl. 223. His health almost suddenly broke down.

  e.  [from 30.] To tone down, qualify.

1867.  Timbs & Gullick, Painting, 303. Breaking down the warm lights with colours of the opposite quality.

1882.  Standard, 9 Oct., 2/7. He had used ‘white’ sugar for ‘breaking down’ some gin.

1882.  Printing Times & Lithogr., 15 Feb., 35. Another class of tones is formed by breaking down orange with its complementary colour blue.

  51.  Break forth.

  a.  intr. [from 37.] To make a rush forward.

1552.  Huloet, Breake forth or out, prorumpo.

1611.  Bible, Exod. xix. 22. Lest the Lord breake forth vpon them.

1646.  Buck, Rich. III., II. 61. Forth breakes King Richard towards the Earle.

  b.  Of flame, light, passion, war, disease, etc.: To burst out, break out.

1535.  Coverdale, Isa. lix. 8. Then shal thy light break forth as y^e mornynge.

1561.  Norton & Sackv., Gorboduc, III. i. The fire … breakes forth with double flame.

1596.  Shaks., 1 Hen. IV., III. i. 27. Diseased Nature oftentimes breakes forth In strange eruptions.

1597.  Drayton, Mortimer., 11. A little sparke … Breakes forth in flame.

1611.  Bible, Ex. ix. 10. A boyle breaking forth with blaines.

1626.  Bacon, Sylva, § 384. Many Diseases … break forth at particular times.

1660.  Stanley, Hist. Philos. (1701), 85/2. In the second year … broke forth a War.

1712.  Steele, Spect., No. 302, ¶ 5. In Emilia … it [religion] does not break forth into irregular Fits and Sallies of Devotion.

1848.  Macaulay, Hist. Eng., I. 645. It was not only against the prisoners that his fury broke forth.

1871.  Freeman, Norm. Conq., IV. xviii. 224. He breaks forth into full light in the course of the next year.

1875.  Bryce, Holy Rom. Emp., vi. (ed. 5), 85. These were the feelings that … broke forth in the shout of Henry.

  c.  [from 36.] To break loose from restraint.

1605.  Shaks., Lear, I. iv. 222. Breaking forth In ranke and not to be endur’d riots.

a. 1639.  W. Whateley, Prototypes, II. xxix. (1640), 135. You young men that have too much broken forth.

  † d.  [from 40.] To spring or sprout out vigorously. Obs.

1674.  Grew, Anat. Trunks, vi. § 4. The Trunk-Roots break forth all along it.

  e.  [from 38.] To burst into utterance; to exclaim with sudden outburst.

1526.  Tindale, Gal. iv. 27. Breake forth and crye thou that travelest not.

1611.  Bible, Isaiah, xiv. 7. They breake foorth into singing.

1725.  Pope, Odyss., XVI. 482. The Prince breaks forth; proclaim What tydings, friends?

1882.  Sun, 14 May, 6/5. The anti-lacrossers cheered and broke forth with [a ditty].

  52.  Break in. a. trans. = 14.

1785.  Burke, Sp. Nab. Arcot’s Debts, Wks. 1842, I. 326. Suppose his highness not to be well broken in to things of this kind.

1840.  Macaulay, Clive, 3. Savages … who had not broken in a single animal to labour.

1850.  Mrs. Stowe, Uncle Tom’s C., xix. 198. I broke a fellow in, once.

1856.  F. E. Paget, Owlet of Owlst., 97. She must be well broke in to the smell of tobacco.

  b.  intr. [from 42.] To force one’s way in, enter forcibly or abruptly; to make an irruption.

1552.  Huloet, Breake in, irrumpo.

1614.  Raleigh, Hist. World, IV. v. § 6. 514. Ptolemy’s army brake in without resistance.

1615.  G. Sandys, Trav., Ded. The wild beasts … hauing broken in vpon them.

1711.  Addison, Spect., No. 131, ¶ 8. When an unexpected Guest breaks in upon him.

1749.  Fielding, Tom Jones, XV. v. I am afraid … I break in upon you abruptly.

1884.  Baring-Gould, Mehalah, iv. 50. It was as though Rebow were barring a door from within lest he should be broken in on from the cellar.

  c.  To infringe upon or interfere with; to interrupt or disturb suddenly or unexpectedly.

1657.  Burton’s Diary (1828), II. 79. Bring in a Bill, which is as effectual. Otherwise business will break in upon you.

1748.  Chesterf., Letters, II. 81. Some little passion or humour always breaks in upon their best resolutions.

1765.  Blackstone, Comm., I. 70. Whenever a standing rule of law … hath been wantonly broke in upon by statutes or new resolutions.

1806.  G. Rose, Diaries (1860), I. 251. I would … break in upon these [arrangements] to call in Clarges Street.

1820.  W. Irving, Sketch-bk. (1859), 5. Those sudden storms which will sometimes break in upon the serenity of a summer voyage.

1882.  Shorthouse, J. Inglesant, II. 378. The booming of cannon broke in upon the singing of the psalms.

  d.  To interpose abruptly in a conversation.

1705.  Addison, Italy, 101 (J.). The Doctor’s Character comprehends the whole Extent of a Pedant, that with a deep Voice, and a Magisterial Air breaks in upon Conversation, and drives down all before him.

1807.  Anna M. Porter, Hungarian Bro., 78. ‘You remember the circumstances,’ added the marshal, seeing Charles about to interrupt him, ‘but I’ll not be broken in on.’

1828.  Scott, F. M. Perth, I. 18. Feeling the certainty of being right … the father broke in.

1875.  Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), III. 9. In the discussion … Glaucon breaks in with a slight jest.

  e.  [from 39.] To burst or flash upon.

1713.  Berkeley, Hylas & Phil., iii. ad fin. A new light breaks in upon my understanding.

1742–3.  Observ. Methodists, 14/1. Received fresh Emanations of Divine Light break-in upon and refreshing my Soul.

1836.  J. Gilbert, Chr. Atonem., ii. (1852), 42. Had these lights but broken in upon an earlier period.

1865.  Dickens, Mut. Fr., xii. Not the faintest flash of the real state of the case broke in upon her mind.

  f.  (See quot.).

1823.  P. Nicholson, Pract. Builder, 220. To Break in—To cut or break a hole in brick-work, with the ripping-chisel for inserting timber, &c.

  53.  Break off.

  a.  trans. [from 27.] To discontinue (anything) abruptly; to put a forcible, abrupt or definite end to.

c. 1340.  Hampole, Prose Treat., 29. Þou sall … breke of þat.

1526.  Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 151. Vouchsafe … to interrupte and breke of the swete quietnes of contemplacyon.

1597.  Morley, Introd. Mus., 117. Now wil I breake off my intended walke.

1611.  Bible, Dan. iv. 27. Breake off thy sinnes by righteousnesse.

1649.  Milton, Eikon., 2. The first parlament he broke off at his coming to the Crown.

1712.  Hughes, Spect., No. 554, ¶ 7. I might break off the account of him here.

1712.  Addison, Spect., No. 295, ¶ 4. We find several Matches broken off upon this very Head.

1855.  Macaulay, Hist. Eng., III. 255. The conferences were soon broken off.

  b.  intr. To leave off or stop abruptly.

c. 1340.  Hampole, Prose Treat., 29. When þou hase bene besye vwtwarde … þou sall breke offe and come agayne to þi prayers.

1588.  Shaks., L. L. L., V. ii. 262. Not one word more my maides, breake off, breake off.

1589.  Puttenham, Eng. Poesie, III. xii. (Arb.), 178. When we begin to speake a thing, and breake of in the middle way.

1641.  J. Jackson, True Evang. T., II. 122. We must not here breake off; let us continue on the story.

1727.  De Foe, Syst. Magic, I. ii. (1840), 42. Upon this their consultation broke off.

1841.  Macaulay, in Trevelyan, Life (1876), II. ix. 111. He may break off in the middle of a story.

  c.  = 32.

1725.  De Foe, Voy. round World (1840), 129. She found the shore break off a little, and soon after a little more.

1833.  Regul. Instr. Cavalry, I. 30. The front rank break off to the left.

  d.  trans. [from 33.] To sever or detach completely by breaking.

1530.  Palsgr., 465/1. I breake of a pece or porcyon of a thyng from the hole.

1611.  Bible, Ex. xxxii. 2. Breake off the golden earerings which are in the eares of your wiues.

1710.  Steele, Tatler, No. 15, ¶ 1. To the End of that Stamen of Being in themselves which was broke off by Sickness.

1759.  B. Martin, Nat. Hist. Eng., I. Cornw. 4. Part of one of them has been broke off.

  e.  intr. To detach oneself abruptly from.

1606.  Shaks., Ant. & Cl., I. ii. 132. I must from this enchanting Queene breake off.

1862.  Stanley, Jew. Ch. (1877), I. x. 198. A Jewish sect … which professes to have broken off from Israel at this time.

  f.  [from 34.] To sever connection or relation (with), to separate.

1647.  W. Browne, Polex., II. 73. To breake off instantly with the enemies of his greatnesse and religion.

1667.  Pepys, Diary, 27 July. The King and my Lady Castlemaine are quite broke off, and she is gone away.

1709.  Steele, Tatler, No. 36, ¶ 1. False Lovers, and their shallow Pretences for breaking off.

1827.  Scott, Surg. Dau., II. 158. Her ungrateful lover … was now occupied with the means, not indeed of breaking off with her entirely, but [etc.].

  g.  trans. To draw off sharply, withdraw completely from.

1607.  Topsell, Four-f. Beasts, 107. Then must the retreat be sounded, and … the Dogs be broken off.

1700.  J. Law, Counc. Trade (1751), 155. At whose pains … ought the people of this kingdom be broken off from this habit of idleness.

  h.  [from 28 b.] To intercept and repel.

1791.  Smeaton, Edystone L., § 338. A sloping Bank … to break off the fury of the sea.

  † i.  intr. [from 24.] To start, begin. Obs.

1591.  Lyly, Sappho, II. iii. 177. Then shall wee have sweet musique. But come, I will not breake off.

  j.  Naut. (See quot.)

1867.  Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., s.v. She breaks off from her course: applied only when the wind will not allow of keeping the course; applies only to ‘close-hauled’ or ‘on the wind.’ Broken off, fallen off, in azimuth, from the course.

  To break on: see 41.

  54.  Break out.

  a.  trans. [from 33.] To force out by breaking.

1611.  Bible, Ps. lviii. 6. Breake out the great teeth of the young lyons.

Mod.  To break the glass out of a window, the teeth out of a rake, etc.

  b.  intr. [from 37.] To burst or spring out from restraint, confinement or concealment. Said of persons and things material, also of fire, light, etc.

a. 1000.  Beowulf, 5085. Geseah þa … stream ut þonan brecan of beorʓe.

c. 1205.  Lay., 30854. Þat he [the pick] brac ut biforen under his breaste.

c. 1340.  Hampole, Pr. Consc., 4465. Bot at þe last þai sal breke out And destroy many landes obout.

1382.  Wyclif, Isa. lviii. 8. Thanne shal breken out as morutid thi liȝt. Ibid., xxxv. 6.

1576.  Lambarde, Peramb. Kent (1826), 261. Those very welles or springs … whereof the one breaketh out of the ground about Stallesfield.

1647.  Sectary Dissected, 17. What an ambush of Banditi is here broken out against the poor Statutes?

1679.  W. Longueville, in Hatton Corr. (1878), 183. Sunday last a fire or two broke out in y^e citty.

1763.  Wesley, Jrnl., 21 Aug. The sun broke out several times, and shone hot in my face.

1885.  Manch. Exam., 6 July, 5/1. A fire broke out and spread with great rapidity.

  c.  said of a morbid eruption on the skin; also of an epidemic disease.

1535.  Coverdale, Levit. xiii. 12. Whan the leprosy breaketh out in the szkynne.

1640.  Fuller, Abel Rediv. (1867), II. 143. There brake out a grievous pestilence in that city.

1661.  Lovell, Hist. Anim. & Min., 327. The measells, which are little swellings, red, breaking out in the skinn.

1711.  Addison, Spect., No. 16, ¶ 2. Those Blotches and Tumours which break out in the Body.

1842.  Tennyson, Walk. to Mail, 71. The same old sore breaks out from age to age.

1851.  Dixon, W. Penn, xxxi. (1872), 298. The yellow fever broke out in Philadelphia.

  d.  A person, or his body, is also said to break out (in or into boils, etc.).

c. 1300.  Beket, 2421. His flesch bigan to breken out: and rotede and foule stonk.

1552.  Huloet, Breake oute, or braste oute, as a mannes face doth with heate.

1651.  Hobbes, Leviath. (1839), 309. The bodies of children … breaking out into biles and scabs.

1690.  Lond. Gaz., No. 2596/4. He is a short … Man, his Lips broke out.

1769.  Goldsm., Rom. Hist. (1786), II. 144. His face was all broke out into ulcers.

1829.  L. Hunt, Indicator, No. 7 (1822), I. 56. He used to break out in enormous biles and blisters.

  e.  said of exclamations, feelings, passions, traits; of discord, riot, war, rebellion, etc.

1580.  Baret, Alv., B 1201. Laughter breaketh out soudainlie.

1598.  Drayton, Heroic. Ep., II. 35. My Heart must breake within, or Woes breake out.

1649.  Milton, Eikon., iv. (1851), 360. Besides this, the Rebellion in Ireland was now broke out.

a. 1715.  Burnet, Own Time, II. 406. His speech was suppressed for some days, but it broke out at last.

1845.  Sarah Austin, Ranke’s Hist. Ref., I. 429. The natural antagonism between them soon broke out.

1847.  L. Hunt, Men, Women, & Bks., II. xi. 274. Traits of him still break out.

1848.  Macaulay, Hist. Eng., I. 163. Formidable riots broke out in many places.

1850.  W. Irving, Goldsmith, xxix. 284. His goodness of heart, which broke out on every occasion.

  f.  Persons or other agents are also said to break out into or in some manifestation of feeling or some action.

1480.  Caxton, Descr. Brit., 19. A metrer breketh out in this maner in praysing of this cite.

1599.  Shaks., Much Ado, I. i. 24. Did he breake out into teares?

1655.  Fuller, Ch. Hist., IX. 83. Thomas Piercy … brake out into open Rebellion against the Queen.

1711.  Addison, Spect., No. 45, ¶ 6. She broke out into a loud Soliloquy.

1795.  Southey, Joan of Arc, VIII. 316. The exultant French Break out in loud rejoicing.

1875.  Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), I. 185. Ctesippus again breaks out, and again has to be pacified by Socrates.

Mod.  He’s not a confirmed dipsomaniac, but only breaks out now and again.

  55.  Break through. [f. branch VII. Through is here originally a preposition, and the analysis is to break through-a-fence, not to break-through a fence, but the prep. tends to attach itself to the vb. as in L. perfringĕre, and is sometimes used absol. as an adverb.]

  a.  trans. To penetrate (a barrier of any kind) by breaking it; to force one’s way through.

c. 1400.  Destr. Troy, 5827. He hit hym so hetturly … Þat he breke þurgh the burd to the bare throte.

1697.  Dryden, Virg. Georg., IV. 528. Hypanis, profound, Breaks through th’ opposing Rocks.

1711.  Steele, Spect., No. 53, ¶ 8. A Satyr peeping over the silken Fence, and threatening to break through it.

  fig.  1597.  Hooker, Eccl. Pol., V. xlix. § 6. Neither are they able to break through those errors wherein they are settled.

1798.  Ferriar, Illustr. Sterne, ii. 24. Wit, like beauty, can break through the most unpromising disguise.

1847.  L. Hunt, Men, Women, & Bks., II. xi. 262. Those conventional hypocrisies of which most people are ashamed, even when they would be far more ashamed to break through them.

  b.  To burst through restraints of, transgress.

1712.  Budgell, Spect., No. 401, ¶ 7. I purpose to break through all Rules.

1749.  Fielding, Tom Jones, I. iii. A custom he never broke through on any account.

1808.  T. Jefferson, Writ. (1830), IV. 129. I was unwilling it should be broke through by others.

  c.  To project abruptly through.

1860.  Tyndall, Glac., I. § 11. 80. Two rocks break through the snow.

  d.  absol.

1526.  Tindale, Matt. vi. 19. Where theves breake through and steale.

1659.  Burton’s Diary (1828), IV. 273. The Chair broke through and rose without a question.

1690.  Locke, Educ., § 70. After Corruption had once broke thro’.

  56.  Break up.

  a.  trans. [from 1.] To break into many parts; to disintegrate.

1752.  Beawes, Lex Mercat., 52. If a ship be broken up or taken to pieces … and afterwards … be rebuilt … she is now another, and not the same ship.

1864.  Derby Mercury, 7 Dec. The steel pieces were broken up, and the iron ones were beaten up into bars.

1875.  Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), IV. 7. He cannot understand how an absolute unity … can be broken up into a number of individuals.

1876.  J. H. Newman, Hist. Sk., I. I. ii. 54. Heraclius succeeded in … breaking up the Persian power.

  b.  To rend or tear: see 2 a.

  c.  To cut up, carve: see 2 b.

  d.  [from 2 f.] To dissolve, disband, put an end to, give up; as in to break a regiment, gang, parliament (obs.); to break up a house, household, housekeeping, school, an assembly.

1483.  Act 1 Rich. III., ii. Many worshipful Men … were compelled by Necessity to break up their Housholds.

c. 1500.  Song, in Rel. Ant., I. 117. To brek upe the scole.

1647.  Ward, Simp. Cobler, 12. Glad to heare the Devill is breaking up house in England, and removing somewhether else.

1721.  Lond. Gaz., No. 5977/2. They … broke up their Assembly.

1833.  Marryat, P. Simple, xxix. My uncle … had … broken up his housekeeping.

1875.  Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), I. 70. We fairly gave way and broke up the company.

  e.  absol. and intr. from preceding.

1535.  Coverdale, Isa. xxxvii. 36. So Sennacherib the kinge of the Assirians brake vp, and dwelt at Niniue.

1536.  Wriothesley, Chron. (1875), I. 52. The twentith daie of Julie, the Convocation brooke upp at Poules.

1606.  G. W[oodcocke], Ivstine, 14 b. Euery one bethinking how he might priuly breake vp, and steale home to resist the Enemy.

1612.  Drayton, Poly-olb., v. 77. Then vp the Session brake.

1882.  Boy’s Own P., IV. 283. A few days later the school broke up for the summer holidays.

  f.  trans. [from 5.] To open up (ground) with the spade or plow.

1557.  Tusser, 100 Points Husb., lxi. In January, husbandes will breake vp their lay.

1611.  Bible, Jer. iv. 3. Breake vp your fallow ground.

a. 1771.  Smollett, Humph. Cl. (1815), 192. The roads having been broke up by the heavy rains in the spring, were … rough.

1787.  Winter, Syst. Husb., 129. The beginning of October is the best season for breaking-up old pasture-lands.

  † g.  intr. [from 5 b.] = break out, 54 d. Obs.

1561.  Hollybush, Hom. Apoth., 1 a. [It] maketh the skin stronge, harde, and also cleane, that it break vp no more.

  h.  [from 8 b.] Of frost, (formerly) of an epidemic: To give way, cease.

1626.  Bacon, Sylva, § 383. In Barbary, the Plagues break up in the Summer Moneths.

1801.  Nelson, in Nicolas, Disp. (1845), IV. 355. Before the frost broke up at Cronstadt.

  i.  [from 12 c.] To fail in physical organization.

  † j.  trans. [from 16, 17.] To burst open (a barrier), make forcibly way into (a house), open forcibly (a letter, box, etc.).

1523.  Ld. Berners, Froiss., I. cccxxii. 501. With great axes they brake vp the dore.

1552.  Huloet, Breake vp a wryt or letter, resigno.

1578.  Timme, Calvin on Gen., 199. The Lord brake up the floodgates of the waters.

1646.  Burd. Issach., in Phenix (1708), II. 309. If any should offer violence to break up the Doors.

1682.  Bunyan, Holy War, 278. When we had broken it [the letter] up and had read the contents thereof.

1700.  Blackmore, Job, 108. He in the dark Breaks houses up, on which he set his mark.

1712.  Prideaux, Direct. Ch.-wardens (ed. 4), 87. If any Person doth in the Night-time break up the Church.

1827.  Carlyle, Germ. Rom., III. 223. Fixlein … broke up the presentation as his own.

  † k.  absol. [from prec.] Obs.

1528.  Tindale, Doctr. Treat. (1848), 203. Let the judges … not break up into the consciences of men.

1535.  Coverdale, Matt. vi. 20. Where theues nether breake vp nor yet steale.

  l.  To begin or commence operations upon.

1688.  Lond. Gaz., No. 2344/4. There was 500 Acres of Fresh Grass … broak up on May Day.

1711.  Addison, Spect., No. 60, ¶ 4. As a Mine not broken up.

  † m.  intr. (from 39.) To transpire. Obs.

1584.  J. Carmichael, Lett., in Wodrow Soc. Misc., 418. The murder of the Prince of Orange first brack up and came by speciall post.

  † n.  (from 40). To burst (into flower). Obs.

c. 1450.  Henryson, Mor. Fab., 45. The blossomes blyth brack vp on banke and bra.

  ☞  Phrase-key of BREAK v. (in addition to the adverbial combinations):—b one’s back, 7 b; b ball, 31; b balls, 24; b bank, 11; b in billiards, 24; b blows with, 3; boils b, 4; b bonds, 25; b bounds, 19; b brain, 12 b; b bread, 3; buds b, 40; b bulk, 43; b cloth, 2 a; b cover, covert, 20; b in cricket, 31; day b, 41; b day, 15 e; b deer, 2 b; b fall, 28 b; b fast, 29 c; fish b, 36 d; flowers b, 32 c, 40; b fowl, fox, 2 b; b free, 36; frost b, 8 b; b ground, 44; b of habit, 33; b one’s head, 5 b; b one’s heart, 7 c, 22; b horse, 14; b house, 17; b ice, 45; b into, 38, 42; b jail, 19; b jest, 23; b joint, 31; b journey, 28 b; b a lance with, 3; b law, 15; b loose, 36; b marriage, matrimony, 15 d; b matter, 22; b one’s mind, 12 b, 22; morning b, 41; b one’s neck, 7 b; b news, 22; b oath, 15 c; b officer, 35; b on, 39, 41; b open, 17 b; b parle, 24; b parliament, 2 f; b peace, 15; b in pieces, 1; b of practice, 33; b Priscian’s head, 5 b; b prison, 19; b promise, 15 c; b ranks, 26; b regiment, 2 f; b rest, 29; b sheer, 31; b ship, 2 d; b siege, 27; b sigh, 23; b silence, sleep, 29; b small, 1; b smile, 23; b soil, 20 b; b spirit, 13; b spousehood, 15 d; b square(s, 46; b stillness, 29; b a straw with, 3; b on torture, 7 b; b trade, 24; b upon, 39, 41; b vein, 4; voice b, 6; b water, 20 b; waves b, 10; b on wheel, 7 b; b wind, 12 b, 47; b with, 2 e, 22 b. 34; b wool, 2 c; b one’s word, 15 c; b words with, 3.