Katharine, break thy mind to me.
Shak.

Out, out, hyena! these are thy wonted arts . . .
To break all faith, all vows, deceive, betray.
Milton

Go, release them, Ariel;
My charms I'll break, their senses I'll restore.
Shak.

The victim broke in pieces the musical instruments with which he had solaced the hours of captivity.
Prescott.

An old man, broken with the storms of state.
Shak.

I'll rather leap down first, and break your fall.
Dryden.

Why, then thou canst not break her to the lute?
Shak.

With arts like these rich Matho, when he speaks,
Attracts all fees, and little lawyers breaks.
Dryden.

I see a great officer broken.
Swift.

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.]

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 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.

Else the bottle break, and the wine runneth out.
Math. ix. 17.

The day begins to break, and night is fled.
Shak.

And from the turf a fountain broke,
and gurgled at our feet.
Wordsworth.

The clouds are still above; and, while I speak,
A second deluge o'er our head may break.
Dryden.

At length the darkness begins to break.
Macaulay.

See how the dean begins to break;
Poor gentleman! he droops apace.
Swift.

He that puts all upon adventures doth oftentimes break, and come to poverty.
Bacn.

To break upon the score of danger or expense is to be mean and narrow-spirited.
Collier.

With prepositions or adverbs: -

To break away, to disengage one's self abruptly; to come or go away against resistance.

Fear me not, man; I will not break away.
Shak.

To break down. (a) To come down by breaking; as, the coach broke down. (b) To fail in any undertaking.

He had broken down almost at the outset.
Thackeray.

-- 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;

often with into in expressing or giving vent to one's feelings. "Break forth into singing, ye mountains." Isa. xliv. 23.

To break from, to go away from abruptly.

This radiant from the circling crowd he broke.
Dryden.

-- 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.