To destroy the strength, firmness, or consistency of; as, to break flax.
To tame; to reduce to subjection; to make tractable; to discipline; as, to break a horse to the harness or saddle.
To destroy the financial credit of; to make bankrupt; to ruin.
To come apart or divide into two or more pieces, usually with suddenness and violence; to part; to burst asunder.
An opening made by fracture or disruption.
When heating a butter sauce, this is the point when fat solids separate from the rest of a sauce. A broken sauce is not desirable as it detracts from the creamy texture. A butter with lower moisture breaks less.
to teach a horse to tolerate being handled/ridden; very earliest schooling
In a draw poker game, to discard cards that make a made hand in the hope of making a much better one. For example, a player with J-J-10-9-8 may wish to break his pair of jacks to draw for the straight, and a lowball player may break his 9-high 9-5-4-2-A to draw for the wheel. To end a session of play. The game broke at about 3:00.
breaking of hard tissue such as bone; "it was a nasty fracture"; "the break seems to have been caused by a fall"
become separated into pieces or fragments; "The figurine broke"; "The freshly baked loaf fell apart"
destroy the integrity of; usually by force; cause to separate into pieces or fragments; "He broke the glass plate"; "She broke the match"
render inoperable or ineffective; "You broke the alarm clock when you took it apart!"
move away or escape suddenly; "The horses broke from the stable"; "Three inmates broke jail"; "Nobody can break out--this prison is high security"
scatter or part; "The clouds broke after the heavy downpour"
enter someone's property in an unauthorized manner, usually with the intent to steal or commit a violent act; "Someone broke in while I was on vacation"; "They broke into my car and stole my radio!"
make submissive, obedient, or useful; "The horse was tough to break"; "I broke in the new intern"
make known to the public information that was previously known only to a few people or that was meant to be kept a secret; "The auction house would not disclose the price at which the van Gogh had sold"; "The actress won't reveal how old she is"; "bring out the truth"; "he broke the news to her"
come into being; "light broke over the horizon"; "Voices broke in the air"
stop operating or functioning; "The engine finally went"; "The car died on the road"; "The bus we travelled in broke down on the way to town"; "The coffee maker broke"; "The engine failed on the way to town"; "her eyesight went after the accident"
make a rupture in the ranks of the enemy or one's own by quitting or fleeing; "The ranks broke"
curl over and fall apart in surf or foam, of waves; "The surf broke"
be broken in; "If the new teacher won't break, we'll add some stress"
come to an end; "The heat wave finally broke yesterday"
cause to give up a habit; "She finally broke herself of smoking cigarettes"
come forth or begin from a state of latency; "The first winter storm broke over New York"
cause the failure or ruin of; "His peccadilloes finally broke his marriage"; "This play will either make or break the playwright"
invalidate by judicial action; "The will was broken"
discontinue an association or relation; go different ways; "The business partners broke over a tax question"; "The couple separated after 25 years of marriage"; "My friend and I split up"
emerge from the surface of a body of water; "The whales broke"
break down, literally or metaphorically; "The wall collapsed"; "The business collapsed"; "The dam broke"; "The roof collapsed"; "The wall gave in"; "The roof finally gave under the weight of the ice"
separate from a clinch, in boxing; "The referee broke the boxers"
go to pieces; "The lawn mower finally broke"; "The gears wore out"; "The old chair finally fell apart completely"
become punctured or penetrated; "The skin broke"
pierce or penetrate; "The blade broke her skin"
be released or become known; of news; "News of her death broke in the morning"
undergo breaking; "The simple vowels broke in many Germanic languages"
change suddenly from one tone quality or register to another; "Her voice broke to a whisper when she started to talk about her children"
become fractured; break or crack on the surface only; "The glass cracked when it was heated"
fall sharply; "stock prices broke"
fracture a bone of; "I broke my foot while playing hockey"
diminish or discontinue abruptly; "The patient's fever broke last night"
The time when a story has been published. ("When did that story break?") 2. The first news source to report a story. ("An indie Web site first broke the scandal.")
A general term used in mining geology for any discontinuity in the rock, such as a fault, a fracture, or a small cavity.