What is to break into

The Collaborative International Dictionary

To break into

Break \Break\ (br[=a]k), v. i.

To come apart or divide into two or more pieces, usually with suddenness and violence; to part; to burst asunder.
To open spontaneously, or by pressure from within, as a bubble, a tumor, a seed vessel, a bag.

Else the bottle break, and the wine runneth out.
--Math. ix. 17.
To burst forth; to make its way; to come to view; to appear; to dawn.

The day begins to break, and night is fled.
--Shak.

And from the turf a fountain broke, and gurgled at our feet.
--Wordsworth.
To burst forth violently, as a storm.

The clouds are still above; and, while I speak, A second deluge o'er our head may break.
--Dryden.
To open up; to be scattered; to be dissipated; as, the clouds are breaking.

At length the darkness begins to break.
--Macaulay.
To become weakened in constitution or faculties; to lose health or strength.

See how the dean begins to break; Poor gentleman! he droops apace.
--Swift.
To be crushed, or overwhelmed with sorrow or grief; as, my heart is breaking.
To fall in business; to become bankrupt.

He that puts all upon adventures doth oftentimes break, and come to poverty.
--Bacn.
To make an abrupt or sudden change; to change the gait; as, to break into a run or gallop.
To fail in musical quality; as, a singer's voice breaks when it is strained beyond its compass and a tone or note is not completed, but degenerates into an unmusical sound instead. Also, to change in tone, as a boy's voice at puberty.
To fall out; to terminate friendship. To break upon the score of danger or expense is to be mean and narrow-spirited. --Collier. Note: With prepositions or adverbs: To break away, to disengage one's self abruptly; to come or go away against resistance. Fear me not, man; I will not break away. --Shak. To break down.
1. To come down by breaking; as, the coach broke down.
2. To fail in any undertaking; to halt before successful completion; as, the negotiations broke down due to irreconcilable demands.
3. To cease functioning or to malfunction; as, the car broke down in the middle of the highway. He had broken down almost at the outset. --Thackeray. To break forth, to issue; to come out suddenly, as sound, light, etc. ``Then shall thy light break forth as the morning.'' --Isa. lviii. 8; Note: often with into in expressing or giving vent to one's feelings. ``Break forth into singing, ye mountains.'' --Isa. xliv. 23. To break from, to go away from abruptly. This radiant from the circling crowd he broke. --Dryden. To break into, to enter by breaking; as, to break into a house. To break in upon, to enter or approach violently or unexpectedly. ``This, this is he; softly awhile; let us not break in upon him.'' --Milton. To break loose.
  1. To extricate one's self forcibly. ``Who would not, finding way, break loose from hell?''
    --Milton.
  2. To cast off restraint, as of morals or propriety. To break off.
    1. To become separated by rupture, or with suddenness and violence.
    2. To desist or cease suddenly. ``Nay, forward, old man; do not break off so.'' --Shak. To break off from, to desist from; to abandon, as a habit. To break out.
      1. To burst forth; to escape from restraint; to appear suddenly, as a fire or an epidemic. ``For in the wilderness shall waters break out, and stream in the desert.''
        --Isa. xxxv. 6
      2. To show itself in cutaneous eruptions; -- said of a disease.
  3. To have a rash or eruption on the akin; -- said of a patient. To break over, to overflow; to go beyond limits. To break up.
    1. To become separated into parts or fragments; as, the ice break up in the rivers; the wreck will break up in the next storm.
    2. To disperse. ``The company breaks up.'' --I. Watts. To break upon, to discover itself suddenly to; to dawn upon. To break with.
      1. To fall out; to sever one's relations with; to part friendship. ``It can not be the Volsces dare break with us.''
        --Shak. ``If she did not intend to marry Clive, she should have broken with him altogether.''
        --Thackeray.
      2. To come to an explanation; to enter into conference; to speak. [Obs.] ``I will break with her and with her father.''
        --Shak.

Usage examples of "to break into".

One boy, Aaron Jackson Jnr, aged nine, used to break into houses, but only for food and warmth.

Its tendency to break into balls when it reached a critical size, furthermore, meant that up on the surface it must travel with the winds when the summer air circulation set in—.

The unrest of the tribes was about to break into open warfare, and already there had been sporadic attacks on haying or woodcutting parties, and constant attacks were being made on the Missouri steamboats far to the north.

We helped ourselves to some of POPPA's profits, as well, using some sophisticated hacking to break into Jefferson's financial institutions.

Someone willing to break into a car in a public garage now had her home address.

The conclusion she reached didn't require much of a leap: someone had cut the lines, and the only reason for doing so would be to break into the house.

She managed not to break into Shin, but after a moment's spluttering, she launched over the seated Cord and grabbed the merchant by the horns.

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What is "to break into"

The Collaborative International Dictionary

Usage examples of "to break into".