burst

      English

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      Wikipedia

      Etymology

      Middle English bersten, from Old English berstan, from Proto-Germanic *brestaną (compare West Frisian boarste, Dutch barsten, Swedish brista), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰre-s-t- (compare Irish bris ‘to break’), enlargement of *bʰreHi- ‘to snip, split’. More at brine.

      Pronunciation

      Noun

      burst (plural bursts)

      1. An instance of, or the act of bursting.
        The bursts of the bombs could be heard miles away.

      Translations

      instance or act of bursting

      Verb

      burst (third-person singular simple present bursts, present participle bursting, simple past burst or archaically brast, past participle burst or rarely bursten)

      1. (intransitive)  To break from internal pressure.
        • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 6, The China Governess[1]:
          ‘[…] I remember a lady coming to inspect St. Mary's Home where I was brought up and seeing us all in our lovely Elizabethan uniforms we were so proud of, and bursting into tears all over us because “it was wicked to dress us like charity children”. […]’.
        I blew the balloon up too much, and it burst.
      2. (transitive)  To cause to break from internal pressure.
        I burst the balloon when I blew it up too much.
      3. (transitive)  To separate formfeed at perforation lines.
        I printed the report on formfeed paper then burst the sheets.
      4. (intransitive)  To enter or exit hurriedly and unexpectedly.
        • 1856: Gustave Flaubert, Madame Bovary, Part III Chapter X, translated by Eleanor Marx-Aveling
          He entered Maromme shouting for the people of the inn, burst open the door with a thrust of his shoulder, made for a sack of oats, emptied a bottle of sweet cider into the manger, and again mounted his nag, whose feet struck fire as it dashed along.
        • 1913, Mariano Azuela, The Underdogs, translated by E. MunguÍa, Jr.
          Like hungry dogs who have sniffed their meat, the mob bursts in, trampling down the women who sought to bar the entrance with their bodies.

      Quotations

      Derived terms

      Related terms

      Translations

      to break from internal pressure
      to cause to burst
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      Old High German

      Etymology

      From Proto-Germanic *burstiz. Akin to Old English byrst, Old Norse burst.

      Noun

      burst

      1. bristle

      Descendants

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      Last modified on 18 June 2013, at 01:19