Break

King James Dictionary

BREAK, pret. broke, brake.obs. pp. broke or broken.

L. frango, fregi, n casual Heb.to break, to free or deliver, to separate.

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.

3. To divide by piercing or penetrating to burst forth as, the light breaks through the clouds. 4. To make breaches or gaps by battering, as in a wall. 5. To destroy, crush, weaken, or impair, as the human body or constitution. 6. To sink to appall or subdue as, to break the spirits, or the passions. 7. To crush to shatter to dissipate the strength of, as of an army. 8. To weaken, or impair, as the faculties. 9. To tame to train to obedience to make tractable as, to break a horse. 10. To make bankrupt. 11. To discard, dismiss or cashier as, to break an officer. 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. 15. To stop to interrupt to cause to cease as, to break conversation to break sleep. 16. To intercept to check to lessen the force of as, to break a fall, or a blow. 17. To separate to part as, to break company of friendship. 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 habits or practices. 20. To open as a purpose to propound something new to make a first disclosure of opinions as, to break one's mind. 21. To frustrate to prevent.

If plagues or earthquakes break not heaven's design.

22. To take away as, to break the whole staff of bread.  Psalms 105 . 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.

To break bulk, to begin to unload.

To break a deer, to cut it up at table.

To breakfast, to eat the first meal in the day, but used as a compound word.

To break ground, to plow.

To break ground, to dig to open trenches.

To break the heart, to afflict grievously to cause great sorrow or grief to depress with sorrow or despair.

To break a jest, to utter a jest unexpected.

To break the neck, to dislocate the joints of the neck.

To break off, to put a sudden stop to to interrupt to discontinue.

Break off thy sins by righteousness.  Daniel 4

1. 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.

To break up, to dissolve or put an end to as, to break up house-keeping.

1. To open or lay open as, to break up a bed of earth. 2. To plow ground the first time, or after lying long unplowed a common use in the U. States. 3. To separate as, to break up a company. 4. 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.

BREAK, To part to separate to divide in two as, the ice breaks a band breaks.

1. To burst as, a storm or deluge breaks. 2. To burst, by dashing against something as, a wave breaks upon a rock. 3. To open, as a tumor or aposteme. 4. To open, as the morning to show the first light to dawn. 5. To burst forth to utter or exclaim. 6. To fail in trade or other occupation to become bankrupt. 7. To decline in health and strength to begin to lose the natural vigor. 8. To issue out with vehemence. 9. To make way with violence or suddenness to rush often with a particle as, to break in to break in upon, as calamities to break over, as a flood to break out, as a fire to break forth, as light or a sound. 10. To come to an explanation.

I am to break with thee upon some affairs. I believe, antiquated.

11. To suffer an interruption of friendship to fall out.

Be not afraid to break with traitors.

12. To faint, flag or pant.

My soul breaketh for longing to thy judgments.  Psalms 119

To break away, to disengage itself from to rush from also, to dissolve itself or dissipate, as fog or clouds.

To break forth, to issue out.

To break from, to disengage from to depart abruptly, or with vehemence.

To break in, to enter by force to enter unexpectedly to intrude.

To break loose, to get free by force to escape from confinement by violence to shake off restraint.

To break off, to part to divide also, to desist suddenly.

To break off from, to part from with violence.

To break out, to issue forth to discover itself by its effects, to arise or spring up as, a fire breaks out a sedition breaks out a fever breaks out.

1. To appear in eruptions, as pustules to have pustules, or an efflorescence on the skin, as a child breaks out. Hence we have freckle from the root of break. 2. To throw off restraint, and become dissolute.

To break up, to dissolve itself and separate as a company breaks up a meeting breaks up a fog breaks up but more generally we say, fog, mist or clouds break away.

To break with, to part in enmity to cease to be friends as, to break with a friend or companion.

This verb carries with it its primitive sense of straining, parting, severing, bursting, often with violence, with the consequential senses of injury, defect and infirmity.

BREAK, n. A state of being open, or the act of separating an opening made by force an open place. It is the same word as brack, differently written and pronounced.

1. A pause an interruption. 2. A line in writing or printing, noting a suspension of the sense, or a stop in the sentence. 3. In a ship, the break of the deck is the part where it terminates, and the descent on to the next deck below commences. 4. The first appearance of light in the morning the dawn as the break of day.

Webster's Dictionary

(1): (v. t.) To weaken or impair, as health, spirit, or mind.

(2): (v. t.) To diminish the force of; to lessen the shock of, as a fall or blow.

(3): (v. t.) To destroy the strength, firmness, or consistency of; as, to break flax.

(4): (v. t.) To tame; to reduce to subjection; to make tractable; to discipline; as, to break a horse to the harness or saddle.

(5): (v. t.) To exchange for other money or currency of smaller denomination; as, to break a five dollar bill.

(6): (v. t.) To impart, as news or information; to broach; - with to, and often with a modified word implying some reserve; as, to break the news gently to the widow; to break a purpose cautiously to a friend.

(7): (v. t.) To destroy the official character and standing of; to cashier; to dismiss.

(8): (v. i.) To come apart or divide into two or more pieces, usually with suddenness and violence; to part; to burst asunder.

(9): (v. t.) To destroy the financial credit of; to make bankrupt; to ruin.

(10): (v. i.) To burst forth; to make its way; to come to view; to appear; to dawn.

(11): (v. i.) To burst forth violently, as a storm.

(12): (v. i.) To open up; to be scattered; to be dissipated; as, the clouds are breaking.

(13): (v. t.) To destroy the arrangement of; to throw into disorder; to pierce; as, the cavalry were not able to break the British squares.

(14): (v. t.) To shatter to pieces; to reduce to fragments.

(15): (v. i.) To fall in business; to become bankrupt.

(16): (v. i.) To make an abrupt or sudden change; to change the gait; as, to break into a run or gallop.

(17): (v. i.) To fail in musical quality; as, a singer's voice breaks when it is strained beyond its compass and a tone or note is not completed, but degenerates into an unmusical sound instead. Also, to change in tone, as a boy's voice at puberty.

(18): (v. i.) To fall out; to terminate friendship.

(19): (v. t.) An opening made by fracture or disruption.

(20): (v. t.) An interruption of continuity; change of direction; as, a break in a wall; a break in the deck of a ship.

(21): (v. t.) A projection or recess from the face of a building.

(22): (v. t.) To lay open as by breaking; to divide; as, to break a package of goods.

(23): (v. t.) An interruption; a pause; as, a break in friendship; a break in the conversation.

(24): (v. t.) An interruption in continuity in writing or printing, as where there is an omission, an unfilled line, etc.

(25): (v. t.) The first appearing, as of light in the morning; the dawn; as, the break of day; the break of dawn.

(26): (v. t.) A large four-wheeled carriage, having a straight body and calash top, with the driver's seat in front and the footman's behind.

(27): (v. t.) A device for checking motion, or for measuring friction. See Brake, n. 9 & 10.

(28): (n.) See Commutator.

(29): (v. t.) To destroy the completeness of; to remove a part from; as, to break a set.

(30): (v. t.) To interrupt; to destroy the continuity of; to dissolve or terminate; as, to break silence; to break one's sleep; to break one's journey.

(31): (v. t.) To infringe or violate, as an obligation, law, or promise.

(32): (v. t.) To lay open, as a purpose; to disclose, divulge, or communicate.

(33): (v. t.) To strain apart; to sever by fracture; to divide with violence; as, to break a rope or chain; to break a seal; to break an axle; to break rocks or coal; to break a lock.

(34): (v. i.) To become weakened in constitution or faculties; to lose health or strength.

(35): (v. i.) To be crushed, or overwhelmed with sorrow or grief; as, my heart is breaking.

(36): (v. i.) To open spontaneously, or by pressure from within, as a bubble, a tumor, a seed vessel, a bag.

(37): (v. t.) An opening or displacement in the circuit, interrupting the electrical current.

Vine's Expository Dictionary of OT Words

Shâbar ( שָׁבַר , Strong'S #7665), “to break, shatter, smash, crush.” This word is frequently used in ancient Akkadian and Ugaritic, and is common throughout Hebrew. It is found almost 150 times in the Hebrew Bible. The first biblical occurrence of shâbar is in Gen. 19:9, which tells how the men of Sodom threatened to “break” Lot’s door to take his house guests.The common word for “breaking” things, shâbar describes the breaking of earthen vessels (Judg. 7:20; Jer. 19:10), of bows (Hos. 1:5), of swords (Hos. 2:18), of bones (Exod. 12:46), and of yokes or bonds (Jer. 28:10, 12-13). Sometimes it is used figuratively to describe a “shattered” heart or emotion (Ps. 69:20; Ezek. 6:9). In its intensive sense, shâbar connotes “shattering” something, such as the tablets of the Law (Exod. 32:19) or idol images (2 Kings 11:18), or the “shattering” of trees by hail (Exod. 9:25).

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

brāk  : שׁבר , shabhar = "break" (down, off, in pieces, up), "destroy," "quench" ( Isaiah 14:25;  Jeremiah 19:10 ,  Jeremiah 19:11;  Ezekiel 4:16;  Amos 1:5 ); פרק , pāraḳ = "to break off" or "craunch"; figuratively "to deliver" ( Genesis 27:40 the King James Version); ערף , ‛āraph = "to break the neck," hence, "to destroy" ( Exodus 13:13 ); הרס , hāraṣ = "to break through" ( Exodus 19:21 ,  Exodus 19:24 ); פרץ , pārac = "to break" (forth, away), occurs in  Exodus 19:22 ,  Exodus 19:24;  1 Samuel 25:10; "breaking faith,"  Hosea 4:2; פרח , pāraḥ = "to break forth as a bud" ( Leviticus 13:12 ); נתץ , nāthac or נתך , nāthaḳ = "destroy" ( Ezekiel 23:34 the King James Version, the Revised Version (British and American) "gnaw"; see Breast ); חלל , ḥālal = "profane," "defile," "stain" ( Numbers 30:2;  Psalm 89:31 ,  Psalm 89:34 ); בּקע , bāḳa‛ = "rip open" ( 2 Kings 3:26;  Isaiah 58:8 ); רעע , rā‛a‛ = "to spoil by breaking to pieces," "to make good for nothing" ( Job 34:24;  Psalm 2:9;  Jeremiah 15:12 , the King James Version "Shall iron break northern iron?"); פצח , pācaḥ = "to break out" (in joyful sound), "break forth," "make a noise" ( Isaiah 14:7 , the nations rejoice in the peace which follows the fall of the oppressor); ניר , nı̄r = "to glisten," "gleam" (as of a fresh furrow) ( Jeremiah 4:3;  Hosea 10:12 ); פתח , pāthaḥ = "to open wide," "loosen," "have vent" ( Jeremiah 1:14 ); נפץ , nāphac = "to dash to pieces or scatter," "overspread," "scatter" ( Jeremiah 48:12 , the work usually done carefully shall be done roughly;  Jeremiah 51:20-23 , descriptive of the terrible fate appointed for Babylon); נאף , nā'aph = "to break wedlock" ( Ezekiel 16:38 ); צלח , cālaḥ or צלח , cālēaḥ = "break out," "come mightily" ( Amos 5:6 ). The New Testament employs λύω , lúō = "to loosen," "dissolve" ( Matthew 5:19 ); διορύσσω , diorússō = "to penetrate burglariously," "break through" ( Matthew 6:19 ,  Matthew 6:20 , Greek "dig through"); ῥήγνυμι , rhḗgnumi or ῥήσσω , rhḗssō = "to disrupt," "burst," "to utter with a loud voice" ( Galatians 4:27 ); κλάω , kláō = "to break" ( Acts 20:7 , "to break bread," i.e. to celebrate the Lord's Supper;  1 Corinthians 10:16 ). See also Breach .