Break

1. To shatter to pieces; to reduce to fragments.
2. To become weakened in constitution or faculties; to lose health or strength.
3. To fall in business; to become bankrupt.
4. To exchange for other money or currency of smaller denomination; as, to break a five dollar bill.
5. To make an abrupt or sudden change; to change the gait; as, to break into a run or gallop.
6. To open up; to be scattered; to be dissipated; as, the clouds are breaking.
7. An interruption of continuity; change of direction; as, a break in a wall; a break in the deck of a ship.
8. 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.
9. To diminish the force of; to lessen the shock of, as a fall or blow.
10. To destroy the official character and standing of; to cashier; to dismiss.
11. To infringe or violate, as an obligation, law, or promise.
12. 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.
13. A large four-wheeled carriage, having a straight body and calash top, with the driver's seat in front and the footman's behind.
14. 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.
15. To open spontaneously, or by pressure from within, as a bubble, a tumor, a seed vessel, a bag.
16. To tame; to reduce to subjection; to make tractable; to discipline; as, to break a horse to the harness or saddle.
17. To destroy the strength, firmness, or consistency of; as, to break flax.
18. To destroy the completeness of; to remove a part from; as, to break a set.
19. To destroy the arrangement of; to throw into disorder; to pierce; as, the cavalry were not able to break the British squares.
20. To fall out; to terminate friendship.
21. To lay open as by breaking; to divide; as, to break a package of goods.
22. To burst forth violently, as a storm.
23. A projection or recess from the face of a building.
24. To lay open, as a purpose; to disclose, divulge, or communicate.
25. To weaken or impair, as health, spirit, or mind.
26. To come apart or divide into two or more pieces, usually with suddenness and violence; to part; to burst asunder.
27. An interruption; a pause; as, a break in friendship; a break in the conversation.
28. 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.
29. The first appearing, as of light in the morning; the dawn; as, the break of day; the break of dawn.
30. An opening or displacement in the circuit, interrupting the electrical current.
31. To be crushed, or overwhelmed with sorrow or grief; as, my heart is breaking.
32. An opening made by fracture or disruption.
33. An interruption in continuity in writing or printing, as where there is an omission, an unfilled line, etc.
34. A device for checking motion, or for measuring friction. See Brake, n. 9 & 10.
35. To destroy the financial credit of; to make bankrupt; to ruin.
36. To burst forth; to make its way; to come to view; to appear; to dawn.