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To break or crack, or crack off a portion of, as of an eggshell in hatching, or a piece of crockery.

The act or process of cutting or breaking off small pieces, as in dressing iron with a chisel, or reducing a timber or block of stone to shape.

o seize or devour greedily; -- with up. [Obs.] Upon the opening of his mouth he drops his breakfast, which the fox presently chopped up. L'estrange.

oever hath his mind fraught with many thoughts, his wits and understanding do clarify and break up in the discoursing with another. Bacon.

block of wood, attached to a man or an animal to hinder motion. As a dog . . . but chance breaks loose, And quits his clog. Hudibras. A clog of lead was round my feet. Tennyson.

To break into small pieces, as ore, so as to sort out its better portions. Raymond.

marine work, often surrounding a central space filled with stones; as, a cobwork dock or breakwater.

A sudden and complete failure; an utter failure of any kind; a breakdown. [Colloq.]

To roll over, as the top or crest of a wave; to break with a white foam, as waves.

he place of the Bohea of 150 years ago, and is now itself giving way to the term "English breakfast tea." S. W. Williams.

d sense of guilt or innocence. [R.] An honest mind is not in the power of a dishonest: to break its peace there must be some guilt or consciousness. Pope.

n a regular order; successive; uninterrupted in course or succession; with no interval or break; as, fifty consecutive years.

Without break, cessation, or interruption; without intervening space or time; uninterrupted; unbroken; continual; unceasing; constant; continued; protracted; extended; as, a continuous line of railroad; a continuous current of electricity. he can hear its continuous murmur. Longfellow.

The act of grinding or ribbing to powder; attrition; friction; rubbing. [Obs.] The breaking of their parts into less parts by contrition. Sir I. Newton.

To bruise; to injure or disorganize a part without breaking the skin. Contused wound, a wound attended with bruising.

furniture for the use of one person at a meal; as, covers were laid for fifty guests. To break cover, to start from a covert or lair; -- said of game. -- Under cover, in an envelope, or within a letter; -- said of a written message. Letters . . . dispatched under cover to her ladyship. Thackeray.

To break or burst, with or without entire separation of the parts; as, to crack glass; to crack nuts.

To break into bends, turns, or angles; to crinkle. Old Veg's stream . . . drew her humid train aslope, Crankling her banks. J. Philips.

To break in pieces; to crack. [Obs.] "The pot was crased." Chaucer.

To break in pieces violently; to dash together with noise and violence. [R.] He shakt his head, and crasht his teeth for ire. Fairfax.