Break \Break\ (br[=a]k), v. i.
   1. To come apart or divide into two or more pieces, usually
      with suddenness and violence; to part; to burst asunder.
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   2. To open spontaneously, or by pressure from within, as a
      bubble, a tumor, a seed vessel, a bag.
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            Else the bottle break, and the wine runneth out.
                                                  --Math. ix.
                                                  17.
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   3. To burst forth; to make its way; to come to view; to
      appear; to dawn.
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            The day begins to break, and night is fled. --Shak.
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            And from the turf a fountain broke,
            and gurgled at our feet.              --Wordsworth.
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   4. To burst forth violently, as a storm.
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            The clouds are still above; and, while I speak,
            A second deluge o'er our head may break. --Dryden.
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   5. To open up; to be scattered; to be dissipated; as, the
      clouds are breaking.
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            At length the darkness begins to break. --Macaulay.
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   6. To become weakened in constitution or faculties; to lose
      health or strength.
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            See how the dean begins to break;
            Poor gentleman! he droops apace.      --Swift.
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   7. To be crushed, or overwhelmed with sorrow or grief; as, my
      heart is breaking.
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   8. To fall in business; to become bankrupt.
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            He that puts all upon adventures doth oftentimes
            break, and come to poverty.           --Bacn.
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   9. To make an abrupt or sudden change; to change the gait;
      as, to break into a run or gallop.
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   10. 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.
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   11. To fall out; to terminate friendship.
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             To break upon the score of danger or expense is to
             be mean and narrow-spirited.         --Collier.
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   Note: With prepositions or adverbs: 
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   To break away, to disengage one's self abruptly; to come or
      go away against resistance.
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            Fear me not, man; I will not break away. --Shak.
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   To break down.
       (a) To come down by breaking; as, the coach broke down.
       (b) To fail in any undertaking; to halt before successful
           completion; as, the negotiations broke down due to
           irreconcilable demands.
       (c) To cease functioning or to malfunction; as, the car
           broke down in the middle of the highway.
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                 He had broken down almost at the outset.
                                                  --Thackeray.
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   To break forth, to issue; to come out suddenly, as sound,
      light, etc. "Then shall thy light break forth as the
      morning." --Isa. lviii. 8;
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   Note: often with into in expressing or giving vent to one's
         feelings. "Break forth into singing, ye mountains."
         --Isa. xliv. 23.
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   To break from, to go away from abruptly.
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            This radiant from the circling crowd he broke.
                                                  --Dryden.
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   To break into, to enter by breaking; as, to break into a
      house.

   To break in upon, to enter or approach violently or
      unexpectedly. "This, this is he; softly awhile; let us not
      break in upon him." --Milton.

   To break loose.
       (a) To extricate one's self forcibly. "Who would not,
           finding way, break loose from hell?" --Milton.
       (b) To cast off restraint, as of morals or propriety.

   To break off.
       (a) To become separated by rupture, or with suddenness
           and violence.
       (b) To desist or cease suddenly. "Nay, forward, old man;
           do not break off so." --Shak.

   To break off from, to desist from; to abandon, as a habit.
      

   To break out.
       (a) To burst forth; to escape from restraint; to appear
           suddenly, as a fire or an epidemic. "For in the
           wilderness shall waters break out, and stream in the
           desert." --Isa. xxxv. 6
       (b) To show itself in cutaneous eruptions; -- said of a
           disease.
       (c) To have a rash or eruption on the akin; -- said of a
           patient.

   To break over, to overflow; to go beyond limits.

   To break up.
       (a) To become separated into parts or fragments; as, the
           ice break up in the rivers; the wreck will break up
           in the next storm.
       (b) To disperse. "The company breaks up." --I. Watts.

   To break upon, to discover itself suddenly to; to dawn
      upon.

   To break with.
       (a) To fall out; to sever one's relations with; to part
           friendship. "It can not be the Volsces dare break
           with us." --Shak. "If she did not intend to marry
           Clive, she should have broken with him altogether."
           --Thackeray.
       (b) To come to an explanation; to enter into conference;
           to speak. [Obs.] "I will break with her and with her
           father." --Shak.
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