Talk:break

Suggestion

May I suggest a definition that doesn't yet appear here: to disclose for the first time ("Washington Post broke the story on the Darmok invasion"; "Do you want to break the news to him, or should I?") -Heath 24.197.25.238 17:56, 6 October 2005 (UTC)

• Added - you could have done it yourself. SemperBlotto 18:48, 6 October 2005 (UTC)

Gimme a break?

We could do with a defn for "gimme a break". --Dangherous 11:06, 29 April 2006 (UTC)

To break the law

One of the later senses currently would really be more appropriate at a separate "to break the law" entry. Now that I think about it, this sort of usage is highly idiomatic and difficult to deal with: "break the law", "break the rule", "break your promise", "break your word", "break the agreement", "break the pact", etc. — This unsigned comment was added by Language Lover (talk • contribs) at 23:13, 8 February 2007 (UTC).

while talkin about a car

does the word break really is supposed to be "I broke too late and I hit the car in front of me", not "I breaked too late and I hit the car in front of me"? //frizabela — This unsigned comment was added by 72.79.224.244 (talk) at 22:48, 25 August 2007 (UTC).

You're thinking of “braked”. Rod (A. Smith) 04:19, 28 August 2007 (UTC)

Intransitive?

Can anyone explain how the verb is intransitive in the examples:

• Don't slip and break your leg.
• Don't break the fridge with your tools.

Just because it's in the imperative, it doesn't mean that "leg" and "tools" are not the object. Surely this is a transitive verb in those cases? If this is to illustrate an ergative verb, then wouldn't the examples be:

• You slipped and your leg broke.
• The fridge broke.

--RexxS 01:49, 21 October 2008 (UTC)

I think it's fixed now. Thanks. DCDuring TALK 17:45, 13 November 2008 (UTC)

missing senses

For the noun MWOnline has 11 senses, 4 with no subsenses, 2 with definitions and subdefinitions, 5 with only subdefinitions. One definition also has subsubsenses. The total number of definitions at all levels is 31. This just barely edges past our total of 13. DCDuring TALK 17:12, 13 August 2010 (UTC)

RFV-archive

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break

Rfv-sense

4. (transitive, medicine, ergative) Of a bone, to fracture accidentally.

Don't break your fingers playing basketball.

— specifically the "accidentally" part, which is the only thing to distinguish it from

3. (transitive, medicine, ergative) Of a bone, to cause to crack under physical strain.

Don't try to break his neck.

​—msh210℠ 20:02, 13 May 2010 (UTC)

The "unintentional" aspect just seems to be a common-sense normal implication of the subject and the possessor of the object of "break" being the same. I could imagine that there might be some language somewhere that had different a verb for my breaking of my bones versus someone else's breaking of my bones. I don't see why this distinction, even if actual, should generate a different sense in English. Intention seems simply fundamentally irrelevant to this verb's meaning. DCDuring TALK 20:37, 13 May 2010 (UTC)

All the translations we show are identical, except for French, which has a reflexive of the same verb for the "X broke (X's) bones" case. DCDuring TALK 20:42, 13 May 2010 (UTC)

I would merge these definitions. You can, of course, break your fingers unaccidentally. The extra French translation is moot, as French has reflexive for many similar things (je me suis blessé le pied [literally, I injured myself the foot] = I injured my foot) --Rising Sun talk? contributions 20:45, 13 May 2010 (UTC)

• More importantly, the definitions are wrong -- they say "Of a bone", which would indicated an intransitive meaning ("his femur broke in the scrum"), but in fact the usexes are transitive and not of bones at all, rather of people or other agents. Ƿidsiþ 12:01, 14 May 2010 (UTC)
  • That's true, but another issue. If I'm the one to merge these, or otherwise act on the result of the discussion I've here initiated, then I'll fix that problem, too. Thanks for pointing it out.​—msh210℠ 14:55, 14 May 2010 (UTC)
• BTW, some of the confusion here is attributable to the usage examples. I don't think that the sole usage example for garden-variety nouns, verbs, adjectives, or -ly adverbs should ever be of anything other than a canonical sentence. An imperative serves to make the grammar a bit less transparent. (Imperative forms can be needed to illustrate interjection-type usage, of course.) DCDuring TALK 15:14, 14 May 2010 (UTC)

Hm, there's another redundant sense:

2. (intransitive, transitive, medicine) Of a bone, to crack or fracture through a sudden physical strain, such as a collision.

Don't slip and break your leg.

Then his fifth metatarsal broke.

These three should be merged into two (one transitive and one intransitive) IMO.​—msh210℠ 16:17, 14 May 2010 (UTC)

I'm confused. Only one sense has been tagged as needing verification, and despite problems of wording and structure, it's clearly the ordinary sense of "To accidentally break a bone" -slash- "(of a bone) To be accidentally broken." I would have thought this was in clearly widespread use. You say that you're seeking to verify the "accidentally" part, to which I'd say, specifically, that bone-breaking is usually accidental, and the use of this verb to describe such accidental bone-breaking is clearly widespread. I suppose your implied question must be something like, "Would anyone ever say, 'He's lying, he didn't break his leg at all! He fractured it intentionally!'?"; but I don't think that's a question for RFV: even if the answer is no, or if no one presents cites demonstrating that the answer is yes, that doesn't mean the sense just automatically gets deleted. There's no requirement in WT:CFI that each sense be clearly distinct from all other senses. Rather, I think it's a question for RFD. I feel like people bring some RFD questions here because citations are relevant — as in, there are some hypothetically conceivable citations that, if real, would clearly sway an RFD to "keep" — but RFV isn't about citations in general, it's about attestation specifically. As a descriptive dictionary, most or all of our decisions should be grounded in observed usage, which often/usually/ideally takes the form of citations, but that doesn't mean that most or all of our decisions should come through this page! —Ruakh_TALK 08:29, 13 September 2010 (UTC)

This would seem to be an issue for RFC, as so many definitions are redundant or incorrectly phrased (as transitive, intransitive). I am cleaning up the entry. That will, I hope, solve this RFV. — Beobach 02:11, 21 November 2010 (UTC)

I have begun a new section at the bottom of this page to request verification of several other senses. — Beobach 04:28, 21 November 2010 (UTC)

RFV-archive 2

The following discussion has been moved from Wiktionary:Requests for verification.

This discussion is no longer live and is left here as an archive. Please do not modify this conversation, but feel free to discuss its conclusions.

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Rfv-sense, these senses:

• 28. (transitive, US) To arrange a temporary split (with a romantic partner).
• 29. (intransitive, of an emulsion) To demulsify.

After a discussion above (WT:RFV#break), I completely overhauled the English section of break. In doing so, I found these senses given, and doubted them. In the time it has taken me to write this, someone has already set about citing sense 29, demulsify! :) I may withdraw my RFV of it in a moment. With regard to sense 28, "to arrange a temporary split with a romantic partner", what I doubt is that it is not used with a preposition. "You broke with your girlfriend?" I would believe, and "You broke up with your boyfriend?" is of course a phrase (though generally it means a non-temporary split), but can one say "she broke her boyfriend" (or "they broke") and mean "she arranged to temporarily split with him"? If the phrase is "break with" or similar, wouldn't that belong at break with (cf get to)? — Beobach 04:48, 21 November 2010 (UTC)

The emulsion sense feels to me like it should be a specific example of something more general, but I can't come up with anything right now- maybe it will come to me later. Nadando 04:55, 21 November 2010 (UTC)

Sufficiently many citations of the "demulsify" sense have been on the citations page for months.​—msh210℠ (talk) 16:17, 22 November 2010 (UTC)

Ah! Thank you for pointing that out! Now we must only consider whether that sense should be made more general (probably retaining the specific subsense), as Nadando suggests, or not. — Beobach 01:04, 24 November 2010 (UTC)

Now, does "to break" mean "to temporarily split with a romantic partner"? Certainly the noun, as in "I think we should take a break", does (as an extension of the more general meaning of "take a break"). — Beobach 01:04, 24 November 2010 (UTC)

Demulsify sense long since passed; romantic sense RFV-failed, without prejudice, as uncited. - -sche (discuss) 20:43, 8 August 2011 (UTC)

Maybe add break as a noun, meaning a percussion loop

just like Amen break, or break from When The Levee Breaks. it's different from the existing noun meaning — This unsigned comment was added by 78.8.102.143 (talk) at 16:54, 12 June 2012 (UTC).

break for, make a break for

1. to stop working for something else, such as lunch, coffee, etc. We should break now for lunch. I want to break for coffee.
2. to run suddenly toward something; to increase dramatically one's speed while running. 
https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/break+for

Also make a break for --Backinstadiums (talk) 16:39, 7 June 2020 (UTC)