Emily Dickinson Lexicon

BREAK, v.t. [pret. broke, brake, Obs. pp. broke or broken. Sax. bræcan, brecan, to break, and bracan, to bray, as in a mortar; Sw. bräka; Dan. brækker; D. braaken, breeken; G. brechen; W. bregu, to break; breg, a rent or rupture; breç, a breaking out, a freckle; Goth. brikan; Ir. bracaim, to break, to harrow; Sp. and Port. brecha, a breach; L. frango, fregi, n casual; Arm. fricga; Fr. fracas; Heb. Ch. Syr. Sam. and Ar. פרק, farak, to break, to free or deliver, to separate; Gr. φρασσω, φραγμα. These words seem also to be allied to ברן and פרן. If the first consonant is a prefix, which is probable, then connected with these words are the Gr. ῥηγνυω and ερεικω, W. rhwygaw, Arm. roga, rega, to rend. Wreck is probably of the same family. The primary sense is to strain, stretch, rack, drive; hence, to strain and burst or break. It should be noted that the Greek ῥηγη, in the Æolic dialect, is βρηγη.]

1. To part or divide by force and violence, as a solid substance; to rend apart; as, to break a band; to break a thread or a cable.
2. To burst or open by force. The fountains of the earth were broke open. – Burnet.
3. To divide by piercing or penetrating; to burst forth; as, the light breaks through the clouds. – Dryden.
4. To make breaches or gaps by battering, as in a wall. – Shak.
5. To destroy, crush, weaken, or impair, as the human body or constitution. – Milton.
6. To sink; to appall or subdue; as, to break the spirits or the passions. – Philips.
7. To crush; to shatter; to dissipate the strength of, as of an army. – Dryden.
8. To weaken, or impair, as the faculties. – Shak.
9. To tame; to train to obedience; to make tractable; as, to break a horse. – Addison.
10. To make bankrupt. – South.
11. To discard, dismiss, or cashier; as, to break an officer. – Swift.
12. To crack, to part or divide, as the skin; to open, as an aposteme.
13. To violate, as a contract or promise, either by a positive act contrary to the promise, or by neglect or non-fulfillment.
14. To infringe or violate, as a law, or any moral obligation, either by a positive act or by an omission of what is required. – Dryden.
15. To stop; to interrupt; to cause to cease; as, to break conversation; to break sleep. – Shak.
16. To intercept; to check; to lessen the force of; as, to break a fall, or a blow. – Bacon.
17. To separate; to part; as, to break company or friendship. – Atterbury.
18. To dissolve any union; sometimes with off; as, to break off a connection.
19. To cause to abandon; to reform or cause to reform; as, to break one of ill habits or practices. – Grew.
20. To open as a purpose; to propound something new; to make a first disclosure of opinions; as to break one's mind. – Bacon.
21. To frustrate; to prevent. If plagues or earthquakes break not heaven's design. – Pope.
22. To take away; as, to break the whole staff of bread. – Ps. cv.
23. To stretch; to strain; to rack; as, to break one on the wheel. To break the back, to strain or dislocate the vertebers with too heavy a burden; also, to disable one's fortune. – Shak. To break bulk, to begin to unload. – Mar. Dict. To break a deer, to cut it up at table. – Johnson. To break fast, to eat the first meal in the day, but used as a compound word. To break ground, to plow. – Carew. To break ground, to dig; to open trenches. – Encyc. To break the heart, to afflict grievously; to cause great sorrow or grief; to depress with sorrow or despair. – Dryden. To break a jest, to utter a jest unexpected. – Johnson. To break the neck, to dislocate the joints of the neck. – Shak. To break off, to put a sudden stop to; to interrupt; to discontinue. Break off thy sins by righteousness. – Dan iv. #2. To sever; to divide; as, to break off a twig. To break sheer, in marine language. When a ship at anchor is in a position to keep clear of the anchor, but is forced by wind or current out of that position, she breaks her sheer. – Mar. Dict. To break up, to dissolve or put an end to; as, to break up house-keeping. #2. To open or lay open; as, to break up a bed of earth. #3. To plow ground the first time, or after lying long unplowed; a common use in the United States. #4. To separate; as, to break up a company. #5. To disband; as, to break up an army. To break upon the wheel, to stretch and break the bones by torture upon the wheel. To break wind, to give vent to wind from the body backward.