Burst
Pronunciation
- US IPA: /bÉst/
- UK IPA: /bÉœËst/
- Rhymes: -ÉœË(r)st
Origin
Middle English bersten, from Old English berstan, from Proto-Germanic *brestanÄ… (compare West Frisian boarste, Dutch barsten, Swedish brista), from Proto-Indo-European *bÊ°re-s-t- (compare Irish bris ("to break")), enlargement of *bÊ°reHi- ("to snip, split"). More at brine.
Derived terms
Verb
- (intransitive) To break from internal pressure.
- 1963, Margery Allingham, The China Governess Chapter 6, ‘… I remember a lady coming to inspect St. Mary's Home where I was brought up and seeing us all in our lovely Elizabethan uniforms we were so proud of, and bursting into tears all over us because “it was wicked to dress us like charity childrenâ€. …’.
- I blew the balloon up too much, and it burst.
- (transitive) To cause to break from internal pressure.I burst the balloon when I blew it up too much.
- (transitive, obsolete) To cause to break by any means.
- ShakespeareYou will not pay for the glasses you have burst?
- FairfaxHe burst his lance against the sand below.
- (transitive) To separate formfeed at perforation lines.I printed the report on formfeed paper then burst the sheets.
- (intransitive) To enter or exit hurriedly and unexpectedly.
- 1856: Gustave Flaubert, Madame Bovary, Part III Chapter X, translated by Eleanor Marx-AvelingHe entered Maromme shouting for the people of the inn, burst open the door with a thrust of his shoulder, made for a sack of oats, emptied a bottle of sweet cider into the manger, and again mounted his nag, whose feet struck fire as it dashed along.
- 1913, Mariano Azuela, The Underdogs, translated by E. MunguÃa, Jr.Like hungry dogs who have sniffed their meat, the mob bursts in, trampling down the women who sought to bar the entrance with their bodies.
- (transitive) To produce as an effect of bursting.to burst a hole through the wall