Break v. t. [imp. broke (Obs. Brake); p. p. Broken (Obs. Broke); p. pr. & vb. n. Breaking.]
 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.
 2. To lay open as by breaking; to divide; as, to break a package of goods.
 3. To lay open, as a purpose; to disclose, divulge, or communicate.
    Katharine, break thy mind to me.   --Shak.
 4. To infringe or violate, as an obligation, law, or promise.
  Out, out, hyena! these are thy wonted arts . . .
 To break all faith, all vows, deceive, betray.   --Milton
 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.
 Go, release them, Ariel;
 My charms I'll break, their senses I'll restore.   --Shak.
 6. To destroy the completeness of; to remove a part from; as, to break a set.
 7. To destroy the arrangement of; to throw into disorder; to pierce; as, the cavalry were not able to break the British squares.
 8. To shatter to pieces; to reduce to fragments.
    The victim broke in pieces the musical instruments with which he had solaced the hours of captivity.   --Prescott.
 9. To exchange for other money or currency of smaller denomination; as, to break a five dollar bill.
 10. To destroy the strength, firmness, or consistency of; as, to break flax.
 11. To weaken or impair, as health, spirit, or mind.
    An old man, broken with the storms of state.   --Shak.
 12. To diminish the force of; to lessen the shock of, as a fall or blow.
    I'll rather leap down first, and break your fall.   --Dryden.
 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.
 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.”
    Why, then thou canst not break her to the lute?   --Shak.
 15. To destroy the financial credit of; to make bankrupt; to ruin.
 With arts like these rich Matho, when he speaks,
 Attracts all fees, and little lawyers breaks.   --Dryden.
 16. To destroy the official character and standing of; to cashier; to dismiss.
    I see a great officer broken.   --Swift.
 Note: With prepositions or adverbs: --
 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.]
 Note: With an immediate object: --
 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.
 Syn: -- To dispart; rend; tear; shatter; batter; violate; infringe; demolish; destroy; burst; dislocate.


 Ice n.
 1. Water or other fluid frozen or reduced to the solid state by cold; frozen water. It is a white or transparent colorless substance, crystalline, brittle, and viscoidal. Its specific gravity (0.92, that of water at 4° C. being 1.0) being less than that of water, ice floats.
 Note: ☞ Water freezes at 32° F. or 0° Cent., and ice melts at the same temperature. Ice owes its cooling properties to the large amount of heat required to melt it.
 2. Concreted sugar.
 3. Water, cream, custard, etc., sweetened, flavored, and artificially frozen.
 4. Any substance having the appearance of ice; as, camphor ice.
 Anchor ice, ice which sometimes forms about stones and other objects at the bottom of running or other water, and is thus attached or anchored to the ground.
 Bay ice, ice formed in bays, fiords, etc., often in extensive fields which drift out to sea.
 Ground ice, anchor ice.
 Ice age Geol., the glacial epoch or period. See under Glacial.
 Ice anchor Naut., a grapnel for mooring a vessel to a field of ice. --Kane.
 Ice blink [Dan. iisblink], a streak of whiteness of the horizon, caused by the reflection of light from ice not yet in sight.
 Ice boat. (a) A boat fitted with skates or runners, and propelled on ice by sails; an ice yacht. (b) A strong steamboat for breaking a channel through ice.
 Ice box or Ice chest, a box for holding ice; a box in which things are kept cool by means of ice; a refrigerator.
 Ice brook, a brook or stream as cold as ice. [Poetic] --Shak.
 Ice cream [for iced cream], cream, milk, or custard, sweetened, flavored, and frozen.
 Ice field, an extensive sheet of ice.
 Ice float, Ice floe, a sheet of floating ice similar to an ice field, but smaller.
 Ice foot, shore ice in Arctic regions; an ice belt. --Kane.
 Ice house, a close-covered pit or building for storing ice.
 Ice machine Physics, a machine for making ice artificially, as by the production of a low temperature through the sudden expansion of a gas or vapor, or the rapid evaporation of a volatile liquid.
 Ice master. See Ice pilot (below).
 Ice pack, an irregular mass of broken and drifting ice.
 Ice paper, a transparent film of gelatin for copying or reproducing; papier glacé.
 Ice petrel Zool., a shearwater (Puffinus gelidus) of the Antarctic seas, abundant among floating ice.
 Ice pick, a sharp instrument for breaking ice into small pieces.
 Ice pilot, a pilot who has charge of a vessel where the course is obstructed by ice, as in polar seas; -- called also ice master.
 Ice pitcher, a pitcher adapted for ice water.
 Ice plow, a large tool for grooving and cutting ice.
 Ice sludge, bay ice broken small by the wind or waves; sludge.
 Ice spar Min., a variety of feldspar, the crystals of which are very clear like ice; rhyacolite.
 Ice tongs, large iron nippers for handling ice.
 Ice water. (a) Water cooled by ice. (b) Water formed by the melting of ice.
 Ice yacht. See Ice boat (above).
 To break the ice. See under Break.
 Water ice, a confection consisting of water sweetened, flavored (usually with a fruit syrup), and frozen.

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