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The act of breaking apart, or separating; the state of being asunder; as, the rupture of the skin; the rupture of a vessel or fiber; the rupture of a lutestring. Arbuthnot. Hatch from the egg, that soon, Bursting with kindly rupture, forth disclosed Their callow young. Milton.

To suffer disjunction; to be parted, or rent asunder; to be separated; to part; to separate. Shak.

To break short, or at once; to part asunder suddenly; as, a mast snaps; a needle snaps. But this weapon will snap short, unfaithful to the hand that employs it. Burke.

To burst; to rupture; to rend; to tear asunder. A huge vessel of exceeding hard marble split asunder by congealed water. Boyle.

The greatest longitudinal stress a substance can bear without tearing asunder, -- usually expressed with reference to a unit area of the cross section of the substance, as the number of pounds per square inch, or kilograms per square centimeter, necessary to produce rupture.

l thee to go a mile, go with him twain. Matt. v. 41. In twain, in halves; into two parts; asunder. When old winder split the rocks in twain. Dryden. -- Twain cloud. (Meteor.) Same as Cumulo-stratus.

A symbol representing two units, as 2, II., or ii. In two, asunder; into parts; in halves; in twain; as, cut in two.