break 
(ft) To be dissipated or disappear, as fog or clouds. To 
break down. () To come down l>y breaking: as, the 
conch bmkf ilmrn. (ft) To fail in any undertaking through 
incapacity, miscalculation, emotion, embarrassment, or 
loss of health. 
Some do/en ""mm did double duty, and then were 
blamed for ftmt/, //"/ i/mr//. 
'/,. M. Atcott, Hospital Sketches, p. 08. 
(c) To lose one's health ; become sick. (d)Tobe oven n- 
by emotion; weep, (e) To granulate, as gunpowder. To 
break forth, (n) To burst out ; be suddenly manifested ; 
exhibit sudden activity : as, a cry broke forth. 
His malice 'gainst the lady 
Will suddenly break forth. 
Shak., As you Like it, i. 2. 
Break. forth, ye hearts that frozen winters bind 
lu icy 'chains more strong than close the year! 
Jones Very, Poems, p. 40. 
670 
breakman 
cess or projection from the general surface of breaker (bra'ker), n. [< ME. brekere; < break 
any architectural part or feature. 5. In hat- + -erl.} 1. One who or that which breaks 
making, the angle formed by the body and the anything, as a machine to crush ores, stones, 
brim of a hat 6 In a ship, the part where a and other hard substances. Specifically (n) A m,,i 
decktennmatesandthedescenttothenextdeck setter or ^"^ ^ ^a^Xrf ItT^lt 
begins. 7. A contrivance to check the velocity Jj.fSutoce. [Somersetshire, Eug.J (b) A structure in 
of a wheeled carriage ; a brake. See brake 3 , 9. which coal is broken, sized, and prepared for market. 
8. In teleg. : (a) A commutator or contrivance [Anthracite region of Penn.) (c) One whose occupation it 
for interrupting or changing the direction of ^^^2^^uaiy a maae oftead/whtohMlTM^ 
electric currents, (b) An interruption of the con- break a tuue o{ gi^ O ' r piaster of Paris at the pr< .per time 
tinuity of a conductor. 9. In music: (a) The f or igniting the charge in fuses of a certain construction. 
point in the scale where the quality of voice of Farrow, Mil. Encyc. (e) In cotton-mnmif. , a breaking- 
one register changes to that of another, as f ine (wl^ch se^ tfj^^*^^ 
irom tenor to alto or from alto to soprano. (6) () A ht st , ow for , )reaking ,, ew gro , m d. 
The point where the chest-voice changes to the 2 A violator or transgressor: as, a breaker of 
head-voice, (c) The point where a similar the law. 3. A wave broken into foam against 
aftss E? ^f3Ag -vs change occure in MrtriSsSfttart ^^i&Sfrsir* near the sur - 
ings ; , -- - -- - . 
forth into singing," Isa. xliv. 23. To break from, to 
disengage one's self from ; leave abruptly or violently. 
To break in, to leave the point, and start to chase game : 
said of a dog on point. To break into, (a) To enter by 
force, especially burglariously : as, to break into a house. 
In (aw, opening a latched door, or pushing open an unfas- 
tened but closed sash, may be a breaking which will con- 
stitute burglary, (ft) To break forth into. 
It is very natural for men who are abridged in one ex- 
cess to break into some other. 
Goldsmith, Citizen of the World, Iviii. 
To break in upon, to intrude upon suddenly or vio- 
lently. To break loose, to get free by force; escape 
from confinement by violence; shake off restraint. To 
break Off. () To part ; become separated : as, the branch 
broke off. (6) To desist suddenly. 
Do not break of so. Shak., C. ot E., i. 1. 
TO break Off from, to part from with violence. To 
break out. (a) To issue forth ; arise or spring up : as, a 
fire breaks out ; a sedition breaks out ; a fever breaks out. 
(ft) To appear in eruptions : said of certain diseases ; to 
have pustules or an efflorescence on the skin : said of a 
person, (c) To throw off restraint and become dissolute : 
as, after living quietly he again broke out. (d) To give 
vent to the feelings impetuously by speech. 
As soon as my uncle Toby was seated by the fire, and 
had filled his pipe, my father broke out in this manner. 
Sterne, Tristram Shandy, ix. 32. 
To break sheer (naut.\ to be forced the wrong way by 
the wind or current, so as not to lie well for keeping clear 
of the anchor : said of a ship at anchor. To break Shot, 
to leave the point, when the gun is discharged, to chase 
game: said of a dog on point. To break through, (a) 
To disregard or overcome : as, to break through all restraint 
or reserve, (ft) To act contrary to ; violate with impu- 
nity : as, to break through a law (in such a manner as to 
avoid the penalty). To break up. (n) To dissolve and 
separate : as, a company breaks up ; a meeting breaks up; 
the ice breaks up ; a fog breaks up. 
We went into Mrs. Mercer's, and there mighty merry, 
smutting one another with candle grease and soot, till most 
of us were like devils. And that being done, then we broke 
up, and to my house. Pepys, Diary, II. 430. 
(ft) In altf., said of an equation or quantic when in con- 
sequence of particular relations between its coefficients 
it reduces to a product of factors of lower degree. To 
break with. () To part in enmity from ; cease to be 
friends with ; quarrel with : as, to break with a friend or 
companion. 
Be not afraid to break 
With murderers and traitors. B. Jonson, Catiline. 
He had too much consideration and authority in the 
country for her to wish to break with him. Prescott. 
(ftt) To broach a subject to ; make a disclosure to. 
But perceiving this great alteration in his friend, he 
thought fit to break with him thereof. Sir P. Sidney. 
If thou dost love fair Hero, cherish it ; 
And I will break with her, and with her father, 
And thou Shalt have her. Shak., Much Ado, i. 1. 
break (brak), . [In most senses of mod. ori- 
gin from the verb break, the older noun being 
breach with its variants : see breach. In some 
senses merely a different spelling of the re- 
lated brake 3 , q. v.] 1. A forcible disruption 
or separation of parts ; a gap or opening made 
by breaking; a fracture, rupture, or breach: 
as, a break in a wall, a beam, or a garment. 
2. A breaking off ; an interruption of continu- 
ity; a sudden stoppage or suspension; a gap 
between parts ; specifically, imprinting, the gap 
between two paragraphs. 
All modern trash is 
Set forth with numerous breaks and dashes. Swift. 
He [Alfred] looked on the peace he had won as a mere 
break in the struggle, and as a break that might at any mo- 
ment come suddenly to an end. 
J. R. Green, Conq. of Eng., p. 125. 
3. A breaking or bursting out or away ; a sud- 
den or marked transition from one course, 
place, or state to another : as, a break of the 
voice; the break of day; the prisoner made a 
break for freedom. 
The several emotions of mind, and breaks of passion, in 
this speech, are admirable. Steele, Tatler, No. 100. 
4. In arch. : (a) A distinct variation in the 
style of a part of a building from that of other 
parts ; the place where such a change occurs 
in the design, or the junction in the building 
of two distinct styles or designs. (6) A re- 
in the clarinet such a 
change occurs between the 
notes B fiat and B natural. 
(d) The singing, or the 
horn, fr lack 
face : generally in the plural. 
The night-winds sigh, the breakers roar, 
And shrieks the wild sea-mew. 
Byron, (Jhilde Harold, i. 13. 
fll U52MA 
more imperfectly or with greater difficulty than SSlVSS'-wfc 
the notes above or below it. (/) In an organ- Breakfast (brek'fast), n. [Late ME. brekefaste; 
- " 
break +'fasfi, 'n. Cf. F. dejeuner, a break- 
fast, < dejeuner, break fast: see dejeuner.'} 1. 
The first meal -in the day; the meal by which 
one breaks the fast lasting from the previous 
day; the food eaten at the first meal. 2. A 
meal or food in general. 
f my death. Dryden. 
stop, the sudden change in the proper scale- 
series of pipes to a series lower in pitch. (</) 
In organ-building, the points in the scale of 
stops having more than one pipe to a note, 
where for any reason the relative pitch of the 
pipes is altered : especially applied to mixture- 
stops having several pipes to each note. 10. 
In a bakery, a bench on which, or a machine by T " e wolve9 wl ** a bre "V ai 
which, dough is kneaded. 11. In mining, a Act's breakfast. See act. 
crack or fissure caused by the sinking of strata, breakfast (brek fast), r. [< breakfast, n. ; orig. 
12.In<e-#raJi*np,apieceofmetalnextthe two words, break fast.] I. tram. To furnish 
shank of a type which is broken off in finishing, with the first meal in the day; supply with 
13. On the stock exchange, a sudden decline breakfast. 
in prices. 14. Inpool, the shot that breaks or II. intrans. To eat the first meal in the day. 
scatters the balls as piled together at the be- First, sir, I read, and then I breakfast. 
ginning of the game ; hence, the first shot or Prior, Ep. to F. Shepherd, May 14, 1689. 
play, or the right to the first play: as, it is my breakfast-cap (brek'fast-cap), n. A small cap, 
break. 15. Infort., same &s brisure, 1. 16. A ugua lly made of muslin or lace and ribbons, 
large, high-set, four-wheeled vehicle, with a worn a t breakfast by married women. 
straight J>ody and a seat in front for the driver 
and another behind for footmen. 17. A reg- 
ular sale of tobacco at the time when the hogs- 
heads are first opened. [Local Virginia.]- 
18. The quantity of hemp prepared in one year. 
Best St. Petersburg clean Hemp of the ftreaA of the year 
1796. Mass. Mercury, April 29, 1798. 
The Mistress, in a pretty little breakfast-cap, is moving 
about the room with a feather-duster. 
C. D. Warner, Backlog Studies, p. 71. 
(brek'fas-ting), n. The act of 
tst ; a party at breakfast. 
No breakfasting* with them, which consume a great deal 
of time. Chesterfield. 
19. Same as breck, 4 Break of day, the first ap- v roa v in (bvak'inl Tn rnrv a hole made 
pearance of light in the morning; the dawn daybreak. DreaK-m (DiaK in), . in carp., a 
in brickwork with the ripping-chisel, to receive 
He arrived with his guide, a little after break of day, at i fhfi ,1 of y, P am or the like 
Charing-cross. Addison, Foxhunter at a Masquerade. , a P lu ?> tn 2 6 ?,, . H W i et. i 
breaking (bra king), n. [Verbal n. of break, v. ; 
Break of the forecastle (naut.), , the after-edge of the _ u g^ykwitf.] i. i n worsted-manuf., the pro- 
cess of uniting the short slivers, as received 
from the comber, into one continuous rope or 
sliver, by doubling and running through draw- 
ing-webs. 2. [Imitation of G. brechung.} In 
topgallant forecastle. Break of the poop (naut.), the 
forward end of the poop-deck. 
breakable (bra'ka-bl), a. [< break + -able.} 
Capable of being Broken. 
We shall see what a breakable barrier this Afghanistan 
is, if we look at a few plain facts plainly. 
Marvin, Gates of Herat, viii. 
breakage (bra'kaj), . [< break + -age.} 1. 
The act of breaking. 2. The amount or quan- 
. . - 
tity of anything broken: as, the breakage was breaking-diameter 
excessive ; allowance for breakage of goods in 
transit. 3. Naut., the act of leaving empty 
spaces in stowing the hold. 
breakax (brak'aks), n. 1. A large tree of Ja- 
maica, Sloanea Jamaicensis, natural order Tili- 
ace(e. 2. A species of Citharexylum with ex- 
ceedingly hard wood, found in Mexico. 
breakbone fever. See fever and dengue. 
breakbones (brak'bonz), n. An English name 
philol., the change of one vowel to two before 
certain consonants, as, in Anglo-Saxon (where 
the phenomenon abounds), earm for 'arm, arm, 
the for *ertJie, earth, etc. 
The diameter of a test specimen of metal at 
the point of rupture when subjected to tensile 
stress. It is measured and used to determine the area 
of the cross-section at that point after rupture. The 
comparison of this area with the original area of the same 
cross-section gives the degree of constriction or the per- 
centage, technically called the contraction of area. 
breaking-engine (bra'king-en"jin), . In cot- 
ton-manuf., the first carding-machine following 
the lapper; a breaker. 
of the" stitch wort, Stellaria Holostea, from the breaking-frame (bra'king-fram),. Amachine 
fragility of its joints. for splicing and stretching slivers of wool. 
break-circuit (brak'ser"kit), n. Any device breaking-weight (bra'king-wat),. The weight 
for opening or closing an electrical circuit ; a which must be hung from a rod of given cross- 
circuit-breaker. 
breakdown (brak'doun), . 1. A falling apart, 
as of a carriage ; a downfall ; a crash ; hence, a 
failure ; a collapse. 
Well . . . here is another breakdown. 
T. Hook, Gilbert Gurney, I. i. t, rea fc_i r(m (brak ' I " em), . In carpenters' 
The complete breakdown of the Republican party in the planes with double irons, the top or front iron, 
m the lower edge of which is in contact with the 
2. A noisy, lively dance, sometimes accom- f ac e of the lower cutting-iron just above its eut- 
paiiied by singing, as m the southern United ting edge As the s having is cut. the break- 
States. [U. S.] j ron f urns or breaks it away from the wood. 
Don't clear out when the quadrilles are over, for we are break-lathe (brak'laTH), H. A lathe having a 
going to have a breakdown to wind up with j u bed in order to j ncl . ea se its swing 
Aew England Tales. * J e it forturain g objects of large r~"~ 
Here is a belle Alncame, so exhilarated by her sur- , ,,' TTT-.. 
roundings that she is dancing a break-down. a gap-lathe Or gap-bed latlie. 
New Princeton Rev., II. 86. breakman, M. See brakemaii. 
section or placed upon any structure in order 
to break it. It measures the cohesion of the 
material experimented upon. 
The floor was loaded with pig-iron to one-fourth of it^ 
breaking-might. Workshop Receipts, 2d ser., p. 293. 
r* TT i.-,,;.,i,< 
E. H. Knight. 
