break in
Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
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English [edit]
Verb [edit]
break in (third-person singular simple present breaks in, present participle breaking in, simple past broke in, past participle broken in)
- (intransitive) To enter a place by force or illicit means.
- Someone broke in and stole his radio.
- (transitive, idiomatic) To cause (something, or someone, new) to function more naturally through use or wear
- These shoes will be more comfortable after I have broken them in.
- (transitive, of a horse) To tame; make obedient; to train to follow orders of the owner.
- 1877, Anna Sewell, Black Beauty
- Captain had been broken in and trained for an army horse; his first owner was an officer of cavalry going out to the Crimean war. He said he quite enjoyed the training with all the other horses, trotting together, turning together, to the right hand or the left, halting at the word of command, or dashing forward at full speed at the sound of the trumpet or signal of the officer.
- 1877, Anna Sewell, Black Beauty
Translations [edit]
to enter by force or illicitly
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to make sthg new function well through use
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to tame (a horse)
