breaker

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English brekere, equivalent to break +‎ -er. Cognate with Dutch breker, German Brecher.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈbɹeɪkə/
• (US) enPR: brāʹkər, IPA^(key): /ˈbɹeɪkɚ/
• Rhymes: -eɪkə(r)

Noun

breaker (plural breakers)

1. Something that breaks.
2. A machine for breaking rocks, or for breaking coal at the mines
3. The building in which such a machine is placed.
4. A person who specializes in breaking things.
5. (chiefly in the plural) A wave breaking into foam against the shore, or against a sandbank, or a rock or reef near the surface, considered a useful warning to ships of an underwater hazard
   • 1919, W. Somerset Maugham, The Moon and Sixpence, chapter 53

     Now and then in the lagoon you hear the leaping of a fish [...]. And above all, ceaseless like time, is the dull roar of the breakers on the reef.

   • 1925, Ezra Pound, Canto I:

     And then went down to the ship,

     Set keel to breakers, forth on the godly sea

   • 1979, Stan Rogers, The Flowers of Bermuda:

     There came a cry: Oh, there be breakers dead ahead! / From the collier, Nightingale,

6. (colloquial) A breakdancer.
7. A user of CB radio.

Synonyms

• (something that breaks): destroyer, wrecker
• (machine for breaking rocks or coal):
• (building containing such a machine):
• (wave):
• (breakdancer): B-boy (male), B-girl (female), breakdancer

Derived terms

Terms derived from breaker

• backbreaker
• ball-breaker
• bead breaker
• breaker's yard
• brick breaker
• circuit breaker
• codebreaker
• combo breaker
• deal breaker
• groundbreaker
• heartbreaker
• homebreaker

• horsebreaker
• housebreaker
• icebreaker
• jailbreaker
• jawbreaker
• lawbreaker
• leg-breaker
• matchbreaker
• nutbreaker
• oathbreaker
• pathbreaker
• peacebreaker

• rulebreaker
• safebreaker
• shipbreaker
• slave breaker
• stonebreaker
• strikebreaker
• sword-breaker
• tiebreaker
• trucebreaker
• visbreaker
• water breaker
• windbreaker

Translations

something that breaks

• Finnish: murskaaja (fi), murskain
• French: casseur (fr) m

• Japanese: 破壊者 (hakaisha)

machine for breaking rocks or coal

• Bulgarian: трошачка (bg) f (trošačka)
• Finnish: murskain
• French: concasseuse (fr) f

• German: Brecher (de) m
• Japanese: 破砕機 (hasaiki)
• Romanian: concasor (ro) n

building containing such a machine

small cask of water in case of shipwreck

• Bulgarian: буренце n (burence)

wave

• Bulgarian: разбиваща се вълна (razbivašta se vǎlna)
• Finnish: hyökyaalto (fi)
• French: lame (fr) f
• German: Brecher (de) m
• Irish: maidhm f, maidhm thoinne f

• Italian: cavallone (it) m
• Maori: puhitai
• Russian: буру́н (ru) m (burún)
• Welsh: moryn m, beiston f

breakdancer — see breakdancer

Etymology 2

Probably from Spanish bareca (“barrel”).

Noun

breaker (plural breakers)

1. A small cask of liquid kept permanently in a ship's boat in case of shipwreck.
   • 1898, J. Meade Falkner, Moonfleet Chapter 4

     Then the conversation broke off, and there was little more talking, only a noise of men going backwards and forwards, and of putting down of kegs and the hollow gurgle of good liquor being poured from breakers into the casks.

Anagrams

• rebreak

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French

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bʁɛ.kœʁ/

Noun

breaker m (plural breakers)

1. circuit breaker

Synonyms

• disjoncteur

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bʁɛ.ke/

Verb

breaker

1. (tennis) To break (win a game when receiving)

Conjugation

  Conjugation of breaker (see also Appendix:French verbs)

		simple			compound
infinitive		breaker			avoir breaké
gerund		en breakant			en ayant breaké
present participle		breakant /bʁɛ.kɑ̃/
past participle		breaké /bʁɛ.ke/
person		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il	nous	vous	ils
simple tenses	present	breake /bʁɛk/	breakes /bʁɛk/	breake /bʁɛk/	breakons /bʁɛ.kɔ̃/	breakez /bʁɛ.ke/	breakent /bʁɛk/
	imperfect	breakais /bʁɛ.kɛ/	breakais /bʁɛ.kɛ/	breakait /bʁɛ.kɛ/	breakions /bʁɛ.kjɔ̃/	breakiez /bʁɛ.kje/	breakaient /bʁɛ.kɛ/
	past historic1	breakai /bʁɛ.ke/	breakas /bʁɛ.ka/	breaka /bʁɛ.ka/	breakâmes /bʁɛ.kam/	breakâtes /bʁɛ.kat/	breakèrent /bʁɛ.kɛʁ/
	future	breakerai /bʁɛ.kʁe/	breakeras /bʁɛ.kʁa/	breakera /bʁɛ.kʁa/	breakerons /bʁɛ.kʁɔ̃/	breakerez /bʁɛ.kʁe/	breakeront /bʁɛ.kʁɔ̃/
	conditional	breakerais /bʁɛ.kʁɛ/	breakerais /bʁɛ.kʁɛ/	breakerait /bʁɛ.kʁɛ/	breakerions /bʁɛ.kə.ʁjɔ̃/	breakeriez /bʁɛ.kə.ʁje/	breakeraient /bʁɛ.kʁɛ/
compound tenses	present perfect	Use the present tense of avoir followed by the past participle
	pluperfect	Use the imperfect tense of avoir followed by the past participle
	past anterior1	Use the past historic tense of avoir followed by the past participle
	future perfect	Use the future tense of avoir followed by the past participle
	conditional perfect	Use the conditional tense of avoir followed by the past participle
subjunctive		que je (j’)	que tu	qu’il	que nous	que vous	qu’ils
simple tenses	present	breake /bʁɛk/	breakes /bʁɛk/	breake /bʁɛk/	breakions /bʁɛ.kjɔ̃/	breakiez /bʁɛ.kje/	breakent /bʁɛk/
	imperfect1	breakasse /bʁɛ.kas/	breakasses /bʁɛ.kas/	breakât /bʁɛ.ka/	breakassions /bʁɛ.ka.sjɔ̃/	breakassiez /bʁɛ.ka.sje/	breakassent /bʁɛ.kas/
compound tenses	past	Use the present subjunctive tense of avoir followed by the past participle
	pluperfect1	Use the imperfect subjunctive tense of avoir followed by the past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
		—	breake /bʁɛk/	—	breakons /bʁɛ.kɔ̃/	breakez /bʁɛ.ke/	—
1literary tenses

Derived terms

• débreaker