English edit

 
A breakfront bookcase.

Etymology edit

break +‎ front

Pronunciation edit

  • IPA(key): /ˈbɹeɪkfɹʌnt/
  • Hyphenation: break‧front

Noun edit

breakfront (plural breakfronts)

  1. (chiefly attributive) Any piece of furniture (especially a bookcase or cabinet) that has a central section that projects farther forward than the other sections.
    • 1991, Stephen King, Needful Things:
      Quickly, she began to tear off slips of pink paper and tape them to things — the refrigerator, the stove, the telephone which hung on the kitchen wall by the garage doorway, the breakfront in the dining room.
    • 2001, Jonathan Franzen, The Corrections:
      He stopped and took proper note, as possibly no one else ever had, of the Waterford goblets and candy dishes that Enid kept on display in the breakfront.