<adj.all> brought low a broken man his broken spirit
tamed or trained to obey
<adj.all> a horse broken to the saddle this old nag is well broken in
topographically very uneven
<adj.all> broken terrain rugged ground
imperfectly spoken or written
<adj.all> broken English
thrown into a state of disarray or confusion
<adj.all> troops fleeing in broken ranks a confused mass of papers on the desk the small disordered room with everything so upset
weakened and infirm
<adj.all> broken health resulting from alcoholism
destroyed financially
<adj.all> the broken fortunes of the family
out of working order (`busted' is an informal substitute for `broken')
<adj.all> a broken washing machine the coke machine is broken the coke machine is busted
discontinuous
<adj.all> broken clouds broken sunshine
lacking a part or parts
<adj.all> a broken set of encyclopedia
Broken \Bro"ken\ (br[=o]"k'n), a. [From {Break}, v. t.] 1. Separated into parts or pieces by violence; divided into fragments; as, a broken chain or rope; a broken dish.
2. Disconnected; not continuous; also, rough; uneven; as, a broken surface.
4. Made infirm or weak, by disease, age, or hardships.
The one being who remembered him as he been before his mind was broken. --G. Eliot.
The broken soldier, kindly bade to stay, Sat by his fire, and talked the night away. --Goldsmith.
5. Subdued; humbled; contrite.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit. --Ps. li. 17.
6. Subjugated; trained for use, as a horse.
7. Crushed and ruined as by something that destroys hope; blighted. ``Her broken love and life.'' --G. Eliot.
8. Not carried into effect; not adhered to; violated; as, a broken promise, vow, or contract; a broken law.
9. Ruined financially; incapable of redeeming promises made, or of paying debts incurred; as, a broken bank; a broken tradesman.
10. Imperfectly spoken, as by a foreigner; as, broken English; imperfectly spoken on account of emotion; as, to say a few broken words at parting.
Amidst the broken words and loud weeping of those grave senators. --Macaulay.
{Broken ground}. (a) (Mil.) Rough or uneven ground; as, the troops were retarded in their advance by broken ground. (b) Ground recently opened with the plow.
{Broken line} (Geom.), the straight lines which join a number of given points taken in some specified order.
{Broken meat}, fragments of meat or other food.
{Broken number}, a fraction.
{Broken weather}, unsettled weather.
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["a]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.
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.'' --Spenser.
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.
The report said corn moisture and the amount of damaged kernels decreased, but there was a small increase reported in broken corn and the presence of foreign material.
Charles Trombly, recorder for the court, said the figures are not broken down into specific categories.
Winderlich told a news conference that protesters also had broken into the building's section for counter-espionage activities but did not discover the identity of the section's workers.
It stated: "Money isn't everything (Yeah right)." Efforts by the United States and Peru to agree on terms for a military aid program to fight drug smuggling have broken down, the State Department said Wednesday.
Her little girl said: 'That newsman has broken the law.
By the time police arrived, the fight had broken up and the women were in their car.
Miss Valaziotis was in stable condition with a broken jaw and bruises.
But some have spent so much time in hospitals, in broken homes or at arm's length from a terrified society that social skills like speaking have not been properly developed.
A lovely pastoral scene later on populated by figures of Shiva, an elephant, and an Indian woman playing with an electric yo-yo, is broken up by fascist bikers.
"I don't say anything important until we have an interpreter," he said in broken German.
I sensed I had broken a taboo of some sort.
The bus driver was admitted in fair condition with a broken leg, said Maria Tayek, spokeswoman for St. Vincent Charity Hospital and Health Center.
He also won the Derby in 1929 and 1930, a double that was not emulated until 1973; and won 19 races in succession, a record which was not broken until 1974.
Ashland officials did not say why the Middle Eastern firm backed out of the contract but said the deal was broken during the Iranian hostage crisis in 1979.
Steve Kux, 41, was listed in fair condition at Queen's Medical Center with broken bones and cuts.
Officers noted that the bottle seals had obviously been broken and the caps simply screwed back on.
He said mirrors were cracked, tables damaged, and some statues had fingers broken off.
A broken egg has dried on the living room floor.
Streets throughout the region known as the Lowcountry are littered with piles of leaves, broken limbs and logs from felled trees _ some piled so high they obscure the view of the houses beyond.
As an action hero he's pretty goofy, but he does walk through broken glass barefoot, which should attract the Rambo fans.
Ties were broken at the height of a battle of wills over an Iranian Embassy employee wanted for questioning about terrorist attacks in Paris.
Fights have broken out in this and other camps jam-packed with hungry refugees who fled Iraq and Kuwait after Iraq invaded Aug 2. They scramble and jostle for a meager daily ration of a piece of bread, a tomato and a cucumber.
She just had a cast removed from an arm that was broken around Christmas.
Ground also is being broken for a new jail to hold inmates awaiting trial.
CBS reported on a smuggling ring broken up recently in Panama. The network, quoting unidentified military sources, reported that at least nine people, including two Americans, were arrested.
Passing cars and police squads also were stoned, and several windows were reported broken, merchants said.
Little remains for the holiday season of West Berliners' spirit of sharing that choked millions with emotion seven weeks ago, when Stalinist bounds were broken by the forces for freedom.
Instead he is picking up the broken crockery caused by the scandal involving his predecessor Mr Mariano Rubio. 'The public seems to think that everyone in the Bank of Spain is under suspicion,' says Mr Rojo with a stab at humour.
Gerlesky was taken to Kane Commnity Hospital for treatment of a broken leg and bruises.
Mr Smith and Mr Gordon Brown, the shadow chancellor, have plugged away on the theme of broken promises.