Emily Dickinson Lexicon

FRAC'TURE, n. [L. fractura. See Break.]

1. A breach in any body, especially a breach caused by violence; a rupture of a solid body.
2. In surgery, the rupture or disruption of a bone. A fracture is simple or compound; simple, when the bone only is divided; compound, when the bone is broken, with a laceration of the integuments.
3. In mineralogy, the manner in which a mineral breaks and by which its texture is displayed; as, a compact fracture; a fibrous fracture; foliated, striated, or conchoidal fracture, &c. Kirwan.