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evous or trying; to overload; as, to burden a nation with taxes. My burdened heart would break. Shak.

Breaking and entering the dwelling house of another, in the nighttime, with intent to commit a felony therein, whether the felonious purpose be accomplished or not. Wharton. Burrill.

To fly apart or in pieces; of break open; to yield to force or pressure, especially to a sudden and violent exertion of force, or to pressure from within; to explode; as, the boiler had burst; the buds will burst in spring. From the egg that soon Bursting with kindly rupture, forth disclosed Their callow young. Milton.…

The process of breaking up the flat masses into which wrought iron is first hammered, in order that the pieces may be reheated and wrought into bar iron.

A metrical break in a verse, occurring in the middle of a foot and commonly near the middle of the verse; a sense pause in the middle of a foot. Also, a long syllable on which the cæsural accent rests, or which is used as a foot.

me of the bearer. Thus, the Castletons bear three castles, and Pope Adrian IV. (Nicholas Breakspeare) bore a broken spear.

A caprice; a freak; a fancy. Shak.

An abrupt change in feeling, opinion, or action, proceeding from some whim or fancy; a freak; a notion. "Caprices of appetite." W. Irving.

Governed or characterized by caprice; apt to change suddenly; freakish; whimsical; changeable. "Capricious poet." Shak. "Capricious humor." Hugh Miller. A capricious partiality to the Romish practices. Hallam.

n use, designed to throw a large projectile with small velocity, used for the purpose of breaking or smashing in, rather than piercing, the object aimed at, as the side of a ship. It has no trunnions, but is supported on its carriage by a bolt passing through a loop on its under side.

y arms (a) To bear weapons. (b) To serve as a soldier. -- To carry away. (a) (Naut.) to break off; to lose; as, to carry away a fore-topmast. (b) To take possession of the mind; to charm; to delude; as, to be carried by music, or by temptation. -- To carry coals, to bear indignities tamely, a phrase used by early dra…

is a gesture of aversion. Bacon. And let you see with one cast of an eye. Addison. This freakish, elvish cast came into the child's eye. Hawthorne.

and without being foreseen or expected; accidental; fortuitous; coming by chance. Casual breaks, in the general system. W. Irving.

A breaking asunder; disruption.

A kind of noseband used in breaking and training horses. [Written also caveson, causson.] White.

One whose business it is to cary a chair or sedan. Breaks watchmen's heads and chairmen's glasses. Prior.

one's tune, to become less confident or boastful. [Colloq.] -- To change step, to take a break in the regular succession of steps, in marching or walking, as by bringing the hollow of one foot against the heel of the other, and then stepping off with the foot which is in advance.

A void space; a gap or break, as in ranks of men. Memory . . . fills up the chasms of thought. Addison.

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.