breaker

English

Etymology 1

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

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈbɹeɪkə/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

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

Noun

breaker (plural breakers)

1. Something that breaks (something else).

   Synonyms: destroyer, wrecker

   a breaker of men's souls

2. A machine for breaking rocks, or for breaking coal at the mines.

   Coordinate terms: crusher, dresser

3. The building in which such a machine is placed.

   at the coal breaker

   A: Is John at the tipple? B: No, he's at the breaker today.

4. (often plural) A person or company that specializes in breaking things; their yard.

   Synonyms: (often synonymous) scrapper, wrecker, knacker; (their yard) breaker's yard, more at wreck yard

   1. (primarily plural) Ellipsis of shipbreaker; a shipbreaking company or its yard.
   2. (primarily plural) Ellipsis of car breaker; a car breaking company or its yard.
   3. Ellipsis of horsebreaker.
      • 1831-1850, William Youatt, On the Structure and the Diseases of the Horse:

        A hasty and passionate breaker will often make a really goodtempered young horse an inveterate gibber

      • 1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:

        My beauty endures even as I endure; still, if thou wilt, oh rash man, have thy will; but blame not me if passion mount thy reason, as the Egyptian breakers used to mount a colt, and guide it whither thou wilt not.

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[illiam] Somerset Maugham, chapter 53, in The Moon and Sixpence, [New York, N.Y.]: Grosset & Dunlap Publishers […], →OCLC, pages 279–280:

     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 (lyrics and music), “The Flowers of Bermuda” (track 6), in Between the Breaks ... Live!, Dundas, Ontario: Fogarty's Cove Music:

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

7. (colloquial) A breakdancer.

   Synonyms: B-boy (masculine), B-girl (feminine)

8. (US, dated) A user of CB radio.
   • 2015, Dave Wise, Stuart Wise, Like A Summer With A Thousand Julys:

     Their radios had been blocked by a breaker calling himself Yankee Bucket Mouth.

10. (electrical engineering) Ellipsis of circuit breaker.

    breaker panel

Derived terms

• backbreaker
• ball-breaker
• bead breaker
• bladebreaker
• breaker bar
• breaker boy
• breaker-inner
• breakerless
• breaker's yard
• breaker-up
• brick breaker
• circuit breaker
• circuit-breaker
• codebreaker
• combo breaker
• deal breaker
• faithbreaker
• gaolbreaker
• groundbreaker
• heart breaker
• heartbreaker
• homebreaker
• horsebreaker
• horse-breaker
• housebreaker
• house-breaker
• house breaker
• ice breaker
• ice-breaker
• icebreaker
• jailbreaker
• jaw-breaker
• jawbreaker
• lawbreaker
• law-breaker
• leg-breaker
• leg breaker
• matchbreaker
• middlebreaker
• nutbreaker
• oathbreaker
• pathbreaker
• peacebreaker
• rulebreaker
• Sabbath-breaker
• safebreaker
• shipbreaker
• shopbreaker
• slave breaker
• stonebreaker
• strawbreaker
• strikebreaker
• sword-breaker
• tie-breaker
• tie breaker
• tiebreaker
• trailbreaker
• trucebreaker
• visbreaker
• water-breaker
• water breaker
• wedbreak
• wind breaker
• windbreaker

 

Translations

something that breaks

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

  Ancient: θραύστης m (thraústēs)

• Japanese: 破壊者 (ja) (hakaisha)
• Marathi: तोडणारा m (toḍṇārā), तोडणारे n (toḍṇāre), तोडणारी f (toḍṇārī)
• Polish: coś, co łamie n
• Russian: please add this translation if you can
• Sanskrit: दर्मन् (sa) m (darman)

machine for breaking rocks or coal

• Bulgarian: трошачка (bg) f (trošačka)
• Finnish: murskain (fi)
• French: concasseuse (fr) f
• German: Brecher (de) m
• Japanese: 破砕機 (hasaiki)
• Marathi: भंजक m (bhañjak)
• Polish: maszyna łamiąca kamienie f
• Romanian: concasor (ro) n
• Russian: please add this translation if you can

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)
• Danish: styrtsø c
• Faroese: brotasjógvur m
• Finnish: hyökyaalto (fi)
• French: brisant (fr) m, lame (fr) f
• German: Brecher (de) m
• Greek:

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

• Icelandic: brotsjór (is) m
• Irish: maidhm f, maidhm thoinne f
• Italian: cavallone (it) m
• Maori: puhitai, tūātea
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: brottsjø, styrtsjø

  Nynorsk: brottsjø, styrtsjø

• Polish: grzywacz m, bałwan (pl) m
• Russian: буру́н (ru) m (burún)
• Scottish Gaelic: bodha m, garbh-thonn m, stuagh f, bàirlinn f
• Spanish: cachón (es) m,
• Swedish: brottsjö (sv) c
• Ukrainian: прибій m (prybij), бурун (uk) m (burun)
• Welsh: moryn m, beiston f

breakdancer — see breakdancer

Interjection

breaker

1. (US, dated) Used to open a conversation or call for a response on CB radio.

   breaker one nine

   • 1977, Smokey and the Bandit, spoken by Sheriff Buford T. Justice (Jackie Gleason):

     Breaker to the Bandit

See also

• spring breaker

Etymology 2

Probably from Spanish barrica (“barrel”). Doublet of barrique.

Noun

breaker (plural breakers)

1. A small cask of liquid kept permanently in a ship’s boat in case of shipwreck.
   • [1898], J[ohn] Meade Falkner, Moonfleet, London; Toronto, Ont.: Jonathan Cape, published 1934, →OCLC:

     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

French

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bʁɛ.kœʁ/ ~ /bʁe.kœʁ/

Noun

breaker m (plural breakers)

1. circuit breaker

   Synonym: 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

Spanish

Noun

breaker m (uncountable)

1. breaker; circuit breaker