tobreak

English

Alternative forms

• to-break, to break

Etymology

From Middle English tobreken (“to break apart, break in pieces, shatter”), from Old English tōbrecan, tebrecan (“to break in pieces, break apart”), from Proto-Germanic *tebrekaną (“to break apart”), equivalent to to- (“apart, in pieces”) +‎ break. Cognate with Old Saxon tebrekan (“to break apart”), Middle Dutch tebreken (“to break apart, shatter”), German zerbrechen (“to break apart, shatter, smash”).

Verb

tobreak (third-person singular simple present tobreaks, present participle tobreaking, simple past tobroke, past participle tobroken)

1. (transitive, intransitive, archaic) To break completely; crush.

   And a certain woman cast a piece of a millstone upon Abimelech's head, and all tobrake his skull. --Judges 9:53, KJV

2. (transitive, intransitive, obsolete) To break apart; break in pieces.

   And in the floor, with nose and mouth tobroke, They walwe as doon two pigges in a poke --Chaucer, The Reeve's Tale