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 cover, to burst forth from a protecting concealment, as game when hunted. -- To break a deer or 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.
Break (brk), v. i. 1. To come apart or divide into two or more pieces, usually with suddenness and violence; to part; to burst asunder.
2. To open spontaneously, or by pressure from within, as a bubble, a tumor, a seed vessel, a bag.
Else the bottle break, and the wine runneth out.
Math. ix. 17.