'To break off' definitions:

Definition of 'To break off'

From: GCIDE
  • Break \Break\ (br[=a]k), v. t. [imp. broke (br[=o]k), (Obs. Brake); p. p. Broken (br[=o]"k'n), (Obs. Broke); p. pr. & vb. n. Breaking.] [OE. breken, AS. brecan; akin to OS. brekan, D. breken, OHG. brehhan, G. brechen, Icel. braka to creak, Sw. braka, br[aum]kka to crack, Dan. br[ae]kke to break, Goth. brikan to break, L. frangere. Cf. Bray to pound, Breach, Fragile.]
  • 1. 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. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
  • 2. To lay open as by breaking; to divide; as, to break a package of goods. [1913 Webster]
  • 3. To lay open, as a purpose; to disclose, divulge, or communicate. [1913 Webster]
  • Katharine, break thy mind to me. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
  • 4. To infringe or violate, as an obligation, law, or promise. [1913 Webster]
  • Out, out, hyena! these are thy wonted arts . . . To break all faith, all vows, deceive, betray. --Milton [1913 Webster]
  • 5. 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. [1913 Webster]
  • Go, release them, Ariel; My charms I'll break, their senses I'll restore. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
  • 6. To destroy the completeness of; to remove a part from; as, to break a set. [1913 Webster]
  • 7. To destroy the arrangement of; to throw into disorder; to pierce; as, the cavalry were not able to break the British squares. [1913 Webster]
  • 8. To shatter to pieces; to reduce to fragments. [1913 Webster]
  • The victim broke in pieces the musical instruments with which he had solaced the hours of captivity. --Prescott. [1913 Webster]
  • 9. To exchange for other money or currency of smaller denomination; as, to break a five dollar bill. [1913 Webster]
  • 10. To destroy the strength, firmness, or consistency of; as, to break flax. [1913 Webster]
  • 11. To weaken or impair, as health, spirit, or mind. [1913 Webster]
  • An old man, broken with the storms of state. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
  • 12. To diminish the force of; to lessen the shock of, as a fall or blow. [1913 Webster]
  • I'll rather leap down first, and break your fall. --Dryden. [1913 Webster]
  • 13. 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. [1913 Webster]
  • 14. To tame; to reduce to subjection; to make tractable; to discipline; as, to break a horse to the harness or saddle. "To break a colt." --Spenser. [1913 Webster]
  • Why, then thou canst not break her to the lute? --Shak. [1913 Webster]
  • 15. To destroy the financial credit of; to make bankrupt; to ruin. [1913 Webster]
  • With arts like these rich Matho, when he speaks, Attracts all fees, and little lawyers breaks. --Dryden. [1913 Webster]
  • 16. To destroy the official character and standing of; to cashier; to dismiss. [1913 Webster]
  • I see a great officer broken. --Swift. [1913 Webster]
  • Note: With prepositions or adverbs: [1913 Webster]
  • To break down. (a) To crush; to overwhelm; as, to break down one's strength; to break down opposition. (b) To remove, or open a way through, by breaking; as, to break down a door or wall.
  • To break in. (a) To force in; as, to break in a door. (b) To train; to discipline; as, a horse well broken in.
  • To break of, to rid of; to cause to abandon; as, to break one of a habit.
  • To break off. (a) To separate by breaking; as, to break off a twig. (b) To stop suddenly; to abandon. "Break off thy sins by righteousness." --Dan. iv. 27.
  • To break open, to open by breaking. "Open the door, or I will break it open." --Shak.
  • To break out, to take or force out by breaking; as, to break out a pane of glass.
  • To break out a cargo, to unstow a cargo, so as to unload it easily.
  • To break through. (a) To make an opening through, as, as by violence or the force of gravity; to pass violently through; as, to break through the enemy's lines; to break through the ice. (b) To disregard; as, to break through the ceremony.
  • To break up. (a) To separate into parts; to plow (new or fallow ground). "Break up this capon." --Shak. "Break up your fallow ground." --Jer. iv. 3. (b) To dissolve; to put an end to. "Break up the court." --Shak.
  • To break (one) all up, to unsettle or disconcert completely; to upset. [Colloq.] [1913 Webster]
  • Note: With an immediate object: [1913 Webster]
  • To break the back. (a) To dislocate the backbone; hence, to disable totally. (b) To get through the worst part of; as, to break the back of a difficult undertaking.
  • To break bulk, to destroy the entirety of a load by removing a portion of it; to begin to unload; also, to transfer in detail, as from boats to cars.
  • To break a code to discover a method to convert coded messages into the original understandable text.
  • To break cover, to burst forth from a protecting concealment, as game when hunted.
  • To break a deer or To break a stag, to cut it up and apportion the parts among those entitled to a share.
  • To break fast, to partake of food after abstinence. See Breakfast.
  • To break ground. (a) To open the earth as for planting; to commence excavation, as for building, siege operations, and the like; as, to break ground for a foundation, a canal, or a railroad. (b) Fig.: To begin to execute any plan. (c) (Naut.) To release the anchor from the bottom.
  • To break the heart, to crush or overwhelm (one) with grief.
  • To break a house (Law), to remove or set aside with violence and a felonious intent any part of a house or of the fastenings provided to secure it.
  • To break the ice, to get through first difficulties; to overcome obstacles and make a beginning; to introduce a subject.
  • To break jail, to escape from confinement in jail, usually by forcible means.
  • To break a jest, to utter a jest. "Patroclus . . . the livelong day breaks scurril jests." --Shak.
  • To break joints, to lay or arrange bricks, shingles, etc., so that the joints in one course shall not coincide with those in the preceding course.
  • To break a lance, to engage in a tilt or contest.
  • To break the neck, to dislocate the joints of the neck.
  • To break no squares, to create no trouble. [Obs.]
  • To break a path, road, etc., to open a way through obstacles by force or labor.
  • To break upon a wheel, to execute or torture, as a criminal by stretching him upon a wheel, and breaking his limbs with an iron bar; -- a mode of punishment formerly employed in some countries.
  • To break wind, to give vent to wind from the anus. [1913 Webster]
  • Syn: To dispart; rend; tear; shatter; batter; violate; infringe; demolish; destroy; burst; dislocate. [1913 Webster]

Definition of 'To break off'

From: GCIDE
  • 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. [1913 Webster]
  • 2. To open spontaneously, or by pressure from within, as a bubble, a tumor, a seed vessel, a bag. [1913 Webster]
  • Else the bottle break, and the wine runneth out. --Math. ix. 17. [1913 Webster]
  • 3. To burst forth; to make its way; to come to view; to appear; to dawn. [1913 Webster]
  • The day begins to break, and night is fled. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
  • And from the turf a fountain broke, and gurgled at our feet. --Wordsworth. [1913 Webster]
  • 4. To burst forth violently, as a storm. [1913 Webster]
  • The clouds are still above; and, while I speak, A second deluge o'er our head may break. --Dryden. [1913 Webster]
  • 5. To open up; to be scattered; to be dissipated; as, the clouds are breaking. [1913 Webster]
  • At length the darkness begins to break. --Macaulay. [1913 Webster]
  • 6. To become weakened in constitution or faculties; to lose health or strength. [1913 Webster]
  • See how the dean begins to break; Poor gentleman! he droops apace. --Swift. [1913 Webster]
  • 7. To be crushed, or overwhelmed with sorrow or grief; as, my heart is breaking. [1913 Webster]
  • 8. To fall in business; to become bankrupt. [1913 Webster]
  • He that puts all upon adventures doth oftentimes break, and come to poverty. --Bacn. [1913 Webster]
  • 9. To make an abrupt or sudden change; to change the gait; as, to break into a run or gallop. [1913 Webster]
  • 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. [1913 Webster]
  • 11. To fall out; to terminate friendship. [1913 Webster]
  • To break upon the score of danger or expense is to be mean and narrow-spirited. --Collier. [1913 Webster]
  • Note: With prepositions or adverbs: [1913 Webster]
  • To break away, to disengage one's self abruptly; to come or go away against resistance. [1913 Webster]
  • Fear me not, man; I will not break away. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
  • 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. [1913 Webster +PJC]
  • He had broken down almost at the outset. --Thackeray. [1913 Webster]
  • 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; [1913 Webster]
  • Note: often with into in expressing or giving vent to one's feelings. "Break forth into singing, ye mountains." --Isa. xliv. 23. [1913 Webster]
  • To break from, to go away from abruptly. [1913 Webster]
  • This radiant from the circling crowd he broke. --Dryden. [1913 Webster]
  • 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. [1913 Webster]

Words containing 'To break off'