Emily Dickinson Lexicon
Definition for Break (-eth, -ing, -s, brake, broke, broken)
break (-eth, -ing, -s, brake, broke, broken), v. [OE.] (webplay: blow, burst, company, contract, day, earth, fall, heart, human, ill, interrupt, light, mind, new, passion, pierce, separate, sleep, stop).
- Communicate; convey; cause to know; give surprising news.
- Damage; crush; injure; wound; harm; [fig.] disappoint; wrong; offend; cause sorrow; affect negatively; (see Acts 21:13).
- Change; convert; turn; transform; repent; sympathize; shift from self-interest to concern for others.
- Write; engrave; appear as script; [fig.] be revealed.
- Disconnect; rupture; splinter; come loose; split away; go asunder; [fig.] disassociate; disjoint; lose sanity.
- Shed; drop; molt; cast down; throw off.
- Grin; open; part; separate; begin smiling; spread out into a happy look.
- Cease; finish; conclude; give up; lay down; depart; [fig.] sacrifice; offer as a ransom.
- Bloom; sprout; spring; come forth; push out from below a surface; [fig.] resurrect; rise from the dead; emerge from the grave.
- Sound; vocalize; make noise; be heard.
- Fall; collapse; crash; descend; rupture; crack open; obtain release from natural restraint; (see Genesis 7:11).
- Hit; crash; collide; move into shore; create a rhythmic sound.
- Dawn; rise; grow light; [fig.] happen; occur suddenly; come to pass; become a reality; (see Genesis 32:26).
- Suffer; sorrow; mourn; grieve; hurt; feel pain.
- Arrest; attack; block; occlude; halt the function of; (see Jeremiah 14:17).
- Dishonor; disregard; neglect; not keep; leave undone; fail to perform; not act in accordance with.
- Endear; become sublime unto; create exquisite feelings in; cause deep love; overwhelm with intense affection.
- Penetrate; breach; rupture; [fig.] touch; stir; affect; move; cause to feel; create a response in.
- Phrase. “Break into”: rejoice with; sound as; start singing; begin vocalizing; cry aloud with; (see Isaiah 54:1).
- Phrase. “Break up”: confuse; scatter; confound; baffle; bewilder; offset; destabilize; unbalance.
- Phrase: “Break off”: end; finish speaking; fall into silence; (see Job 17:11); [fig.] die; utter last words; give last breath.
Return to page 45 of the letter “b”.