breaker

English

Etymology 1

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbɹeɪkə/
• 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

• 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
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Japanese: 破壊者 (hakaisha)
• Sanskrit: दर्मन् (sa) m (darman)

machine for breaking rocks or coal

• Bulgarian: трошачка (bg) f (trošačka)
• Finnish: murskain
• French: concasseuse (fr) f
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• German: Brecher (de) m
• Japanese: 破砕機 (hasaiki)
• Romanian: concasor (ro) n

building containing such a machine

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

small cask of water in case of shipwreck

• Bulgarian: буренце n (burence)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

wave

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

  Ancient: ῥόθιον n (rhóthion), (Epic) ῥηγμῑ́ν f (rhēgmī́n)

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• 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 barrica (“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/ ~ /bʁe.kœʁ/

Noun

breaker m (plural breakers)

1. circuit breaker

Synonyms

• disjoncteur

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bʁɛ.ke/ ~ /bʁe.ke/

Verb

breaker

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

Conjugation

Conjugation of breaker (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	breaker
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	breakant /bʁɛ.kɑ̃/ or /bʁe.kɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		breaké /bʁɛ.ke/ or /bʁe.ke/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	breake /bʁɛk/	breakes /bʁɛk/	breake /bʁɛk/	breakons /bʁɛ.kɔ̃/ or /bʁe.kɔ̃/	breakez /bʁɛ.ke/ or /bʁe.ke/	breakent /bʁɛk/
	imperfect	breakais /bʁɛ.kɛ/ or /bʁe.kɛ/	breakais /bʁɛ.kɛ/ or /bʁe.kɛ/	breakait /bʁɛ.kɛ/ or /bʁe.kɛ/	breakions /bʁɛ.kjɔ̃/ or /bʁe.kjɔ̃/	breakiez /bʁɛ.kje/ or /bʁe.kje/	breakaient /bʁɛ.kɛ/ or /bʁe.kɛ/
	past historic2	breakai /bʁɛ.ke/ or /bʁe.ke/	breakas /bʁɛ.ka/ or /bʁe.ka/	breaka /bʁɛ.ka/ or /bʁe.ka/	breakâmes /bʁɛ.kam/ or /bʁe.kam/	breakâtes /bʁɛ.kat/ or /bʁe.kat/	breakèrent /bʁɛ.kɛʁ/ or /bʁe.kɛʁ/
	future	breakerai /bʁɛ.kʁe/ or /bʁe.kʁe/	breakeras /bʁɛ.kʁa/ or /bʁe.kʁa/	breakera /bʁɛ.kʁa/ or /bʁe.kʁa/	breakerons /bʁɛ.kʁɔ̃/ or /bʁe.kʁɔ̃/	breakerez /bʁɛ.kʁe/ or /bʁe.kʁe/	breakeront /bʁɛ.kʁɔ̃/ or /bʁe.kʁɔ̃/
	conditional	breakerais /bʁɛ.kʁɛ/ or /bʁe.kʁɛ/	breakerais /bʁɛ.kʁɛ/ or /bʁe.kʁɛ/	breakerait /bʁɛ.kʁɛ/ or /bʁe.kʁɛ/	breakerions /bʁɛ.kə.ʁjɔ̃/ or /bʁe.kə.ʁjɔ̃/	breakeriez /bʁɛ.kə.ʁje/ or /bʁe.kə.ʁje/	breakeraient /bʁɛ.kʁɛ/ or /bʁe.kʁɛ/
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle
	past anterior2	past historic of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que je (j’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ils, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	breake /bʁɛk/	breakes /bʁɛk/	breake /bʁɛk/	breakions /bʁɛ.kjɔ̃/ or /bʁe.kjɔ̃/	breakiez /bʁɛ.kje/ or /bʁe.kje/	breakent /bʁɛk/
	imperfect2	breakasse /bʁɛ.kas/ or /bʁe.kas/	breakasses /bʁɛ.kas/ or /bʁe.kas/	breakât /bʁɛ.ka/ or /bʁe.ka/	breakassions /bʁɛ.ka.sjɔ̃/ or /bʁe.ka.sjɔ̃/	breakassiez /bʁɛ.ka.sje/ or /bʁe.ka.sje/	breakassent /bʁɛ.kas/ or /bʁe.kas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	breake /bʁɛk/	—	breakons /bʁɛ.kɔ̃/ or /bʁe.kɔ̃/	breakez /bʁɛ.ke/ or /bʁe.ke/	—
compound		—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—
1 The French gerund is usable only with the preposition en.
2 In less formal writing or speech, these tenses may be found to have been replaced in the following way: past historic → present perfect past anterior → pluperfect imperfect subjunctive → present subjunctive pluperfect subjunctive → past subjunctive (Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).

Derived terms

• débreaker