[UP- 4. Cf. WFris. opbrekke, (M)Du. opbreken, (M)LG. upbreken, LG. upbrāken, MHG. ûfbrëchen (G. aufbrechen), Da. opbrække.]
† 1. intr. To break out; to begin to speak. Obs.
c. 1205. Lay., 5431. Þeo hit [alles] up bræc, hit wes god þat he spec.
c. 1320. Castel Love, 457. So þat Pees a-last vp-breek, And þus to hire Fader speek.
2. trans. To break up; to break open.
1382. Wyclif, Gen. xix. 9. Now nyȝ it was that thei shulden vp breke [L. effringerent] the ȝatis.
a. 1400. Octouian, 190. The emperour tho … gan vp-breke The dore.
c. 1440. Pallad. on Husb., VIII. 1. At Iuyl the lond vpbroken in Aprile Is eft to plowe.
1582. Stanyhurst, Æneis, I. (Arb.), 24. Thee stags vpbreaking they slit to the dulcet or inchepyn.
1855. Lynch, Rivulet, VIII. i. As a field Is by the plough up-broken for the corn.
1885–94. R. Bridges, Eros & Psyche, May, iv. The sun … Upbroke the grey dome of the morning sky.
3. intr. To force or make a way upward or to the surface.
1859. Tennyson, Guinevere, 391. They … rode … over sheets of hyacinth That seem’d the heavens upbreaking thro’ the earth.
1887. Cornhill Mag., Aug., 214. When from the gloom Of the dark earth upbreaks the tender bloom.
