n. any frame in which a bowler fails to make a strike or spare; "the break in the eighth frame cost him the match"

n. a sudden dash; "he made a break for the open door"

n. (tennis) a score consisting of winning a game when your opponent was serving; "he was up two breaks in the second set"

n. the opening shot that scatters the balls in billiards or pool

n. an abrupt change in the tone or register of the voice (as at puberty or due to emotion); "then there was a break in her voice"

n. some abrupt occurrence that interrupts an ongoing activity; "the telephone is an annoying interruption"; "there was a break in the action when a player was hurt"

n. breaking of hard tissue such as bone; "it was a nasty fracture"; "the break seems to have been caused by a fall"

n. a series of succesful strokes

n. the start of a race

n. a failure to knock down all ten pins in a single frame

n. an act of instance of stepping back or separating from a clinch

n. an interruption of any action on the computer

v. diminish or discontinue abruptly; "The patient's fever broke last night"

v. weaken or destroy in spirit or body; "His resistance was broken"; "a man broken by the terrible experience of near-death"

v. change suddenly from one tone quality or register to another; "Her voice broke to a whisper when she started to talk about her children"

v. crack; of the male voice in puberty; "his voice is breaking--he should no longer sing in the choir"

v. cause the failure or ruin of; "His peccadilloes finally broke his marriage"; "This play will either make or break the playwright"

v. terminate; "She interrupted her pregnancy"; "break a lucky streak"; "break the cycle of poverty"

v. interrupt the flow of current in; "break a circuit"

v. surpass in excellence; "She bettered her own record"; "break a record"

v. find a flaw in; "break an alibi"; "break down a proof"

v. force out or release suddenly and often violently something pent up; "break into tears"; "erupt in anger"

v. curl over and fall apart in surf or foam, of waves; "The surf broke"

v. emerge from the surface of a body of water; "The whales broke"

v. make a rupture in the ranks of the enemy or one's own by quitting or fleeing; "The ranks broke"

v. interrupt a continued activity; "She had broken with the traditional patterns"

v. fail to agree with; be in violation of; as of rules or patterns; "This sentence violates the rules of syntax"

v. to score frequently or win against someone

v. to step back or separate from a clinch

v. to stop temporarily any action on the computer