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To separate into parts with force or sudden violence; to tear asunder; to split; to burst; as, powder rends a rock in blasting; lightning rends an oak. The dreadful thunder Doth rend the region. Shak.

To burst open; to split. Shak. Timber . . . not apt to rif with ordnance. Bacon.

ass drop with a long tail, made by dropping melted glass into water. It is remarkable for bursting into fragments when the surface is scratched or the tail broken; -- so called from Prince Rupert, nephew of Charles I., by whom they were first brought to England. Called also Rupert's ball, and glass tear.…

A breaking or bursting open; breach; rupture. "By ruption or apertion." Wiseman.

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.

Same as Burstwort.

To leap or rush out; to burst forth; to issue suddenly; as a body of troops from a fortified place to attack besiegers; to make a sally. They break the truce, and sally out by night. Dryden. The foe retires, -- she heads the sallying host. Byron.

repitans). Its fruit is a depressed many-celled woody capsule which, when completely dry, bursts with a loud report and scatters the seeds. See Illust. of Regma. -- Sand bug (Zoöl.), an American anomuran crustacean (Hippa talpoidea) which burrows in sandy seabeaches. It is often used as bait by fishermen. See Illust.…

To take off the shell or coat of; to shell. Life, in its upper grades, was bursting its shell, or was shaling off its husk. I. Taylor.

To break at once into many pieces; to dash, burst, or part violently into fragments; to rend into splinters; as, an explosion shatters a rock or a bomb; too much steam shatters a boiler; an oak is shattered by lightning. A monarchy was shattered to pieces, and divided amongst revolted subjects. Locke.…

sive substance, ignited with a fuse or by percussion, by means of which the projectile is burst and its fragments scattered. See Bomb.

A loud burst of voice or voices; a vehement and sudden outcry, especially of a multitudes expressing joy, triumph, exultation, or animated courage. The Rhodians, seeing the enemy turn their backs, gave a great shout in derision. Knolles.

unnery), a projectile for a cannon, consisting of a shell filled with bullets and a small bursting charge to scatter them at any given point while in flight. See the Note under Case shot.

Like a spike; spikelike. These spiky, vivid outbursts of metallic vapors. C. A. Young.

Proof against the splinters, or fragments, of bursting shells.

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

lled with powder or combustible matter, to be thrown into the air while burning, so as to burst there with a crack. Lampoons, like squibs, may make a present blaze. Waller. The making and selling of fireworks, and squibs . . . is punishable. Blackstone.

To break in a stave or the staves of; to break a hole in; to burst; -- often with in; as, to stave a cask; to stave in a boat.

A heavy shower or fall, any adverse outburst of tumultuous force; violence. A brave man struggling in the storms of fate. Pope.

A whim, or burst of ill-humor; an affected air. [Colloq.] Thackeray.