break (brak)

[In most senses of mod. origin from the verb break, the older noun being breach with its variants: see breach. In some senses merely a different spelling of the related brake3, 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 continuity; a sudden stoppage or suspension; a gap between parts; specifically, in printing, the gap between two paragraphs. All modern trash is Set forth with numerous breaks and dashes. Swift . He [Ælfred] looked on the peace he had won as a mere break in the struggle, and as a break that might at any moment come suddenly to an end. J. R. Green, Conq. of Eng., p. 125. 3. A breaking or bursting out or away; a sudden 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 pa ion, in this speech, are admirable. Steele, Tatler, No. 106. 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. ( b ) A re making, the angle formed by the body and the brim of a hat.-6. In a ship, the part where a deck terminates and the descent to the next deck begins.-7. A contrivance to check the velocity of a wheeled carriage; a brake. See brake3, 9. -8. In teleg.: (a) A commutator or contrivance for interrupting or changing the direction of electric currents. ( b ) An interruption of the continuity of a conductor.-9. In music: (a) The point in the scale where the quality of voice of one register changes to that of another, as from tenor to alto or from alto to soprano. (b) The point where the chest-voice changes to the head-voice. (c) The point where a similar change occurs in a musical wind-instrument: thus, in the clarinet such a change occurs between the notes B flat and B natural. (d) The singing, or the sounding on a trumpet or horn, from lack of ability, care, or skill, of a note different from the one intended to be produced. (e) A note which a singer produces more imperfectly or with greater difficulty than the notes above or below it. (f) In an organs top, the sudden change in the proper scale series of pipes to a series lower in pitch. (9) 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 which, dough is kneaded.-11. In mining, a crack or fi ure caused by the sinking of strata. -12. In type - founding, a piece of metal next the shank of a type which is broken off in finishing. -13. On the stock exchange, a sudden decline in prices.-14. In pool, the shot that breaks or scatters the balls as piled together at the beginning of the game; hence, the first shot or play, or the right to the first play: as, it is my break.-15. In fort., same as brisure, 1.-16. A large, high-set, four-wheeled vehicle, with a straight body and a seat in front for the driver and another behind for footmen.-17. A regular sale of tobacco at the time when the hogsheads are first opened. [Local, Virginia.] 18. The quantity of hemp prepared in one year. Best St. Petersburg clean Hemp of the break of the year Ma . Mercury, April 29, 1796. 1796. break man breaker (brā'kér), n. [ brekere ; break + -er1.] 1. One who or that which breaks anything, as a machine to crush ores, stones, and other hard substances. Specifically-(a) A coal- getter or-hewer; one who breaks down the coal so that it can be conveyed away to the place where it is raised to the surface. [Somersets hire, Eng.] (b) A structure in which coal is broken, sized, and prepared for market. [Anthracite region of Penn.] (c) One whose occupation it is to break up old ships; a ship-breaker. ( d ) Milit . , a cup- shaped covering, usually made of lead, which serves to break a tube of gla or plaster of Paris at the proper time for igniting the charge in fuses of a certain construction. Farrow , Mil. Encyc. (e) In cotton - manuf ., a breaking- engine (which see). (1) In linen - manus ., a carding-ma chine to the action of which the tow is first subjected. A light, strong plow for breaking new ground. 2. A violator or transgre or: as, a breaker of the law.-3. A wave broken into foam against the shore, a sand-bank, or a rock near the sur- face: generally in the plural. The night-winds sigh, the breakers roar, And shrieks the wild sea-mew. Byron, Childe Harold, i. 13. 4. [In this sense perhaps a corruption of Sp. barrica, a keg.] A small water-cask used in =Syn. 3. See wave . boats to supply the crew with water and for ballast.-5. A trainer, as of horses or dogs. breakfast (brek fast), n. [Late ME. brekefaste; one breaks the fast lasting from the previous day; the food eaten at the first meal.-2. A meal or food in general. The wolves will get a breakfast by my death. Dryden. Act's breakfast. See act . breakfast (brek'fast), v. [ breakfast , n.; orig. two words, break fast .] I. trans. To furnish with the first meal in the day; supply with breakfast. II, in trans. To eat the first meal in the day. First, sir, I read, and then I breakfast. Prior, Ep. to F. Shepherd, May 14, 1689. breakfast-cap (brek'fast-cap), п. A small cap, usually made of muslin or lace and ribbons, worn at breakfast by married women. The Mistre , in a pretty little breakfast - cap , is moving about the room with a feather-duster. C. D. Warner, Backlog Studies, p. 71.