burst
/bɜːst/ verb, noun
Forms bursts bursting brast bursted bursten brust
- verb (intransitive) To break from internal pressure. “I blew the balloon up too much, and it burst.”
- verb (transitive) To cause to break from internal pressure. “I burst the balloon when I blew it up too much.”
- verb (transitive, obsolete) To cause to break by any means.
- verb (transitive) To separate (printer paper) at perforation lines. “I printed the report on form-feed paper, then burst the sheets.”
- verb (intransitive) To enter or exit hurriedly and unexpectedly.
- verb (intransitive) To erupt; to change state suddenly as if bursting. “The flowers burst into bloom on the first day of spring.”
- verb (transitive) To produce as an effect of bursting. “to burst a hole through the wall”
- verb (transitive) To interrupt suddenly in a violent or explosive manner; to shatter.
- noun An act or instance of bursting. “The bursts of the bombs could be heard miles away.”
- noun A sudden, often intense, expression, manifestation or display. “I read it in two bursts.”
- noun A series of shots fired from an automatic firearm.
- noun (military) The explosion of a bomb or missile. “a ground burst; a surface burst”
- noun (archaic) A drinking spree.
Synonyms
spurt explosion fusillade salvo volley fit outburst flare-up split break open break erupt explode abound bristle collapse bust
Etymology
From Middle English bresten, bersten, from Old English berstan, from Proto-West Germanic *brestan, from Proto-Germanic *brestaną, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰres- (“to burst, break, crack, split, separate”), enlargement of *bʰreHi- (“to snip, split”).
See also West Frisian boarste, Dutch barsten, Danish briste, Swedish brista; also Irish bris (“to break”)). More at brine. Also cognate to debris.
Webster’s 1913
- verb To fly apart or in pieces; of break open; to yield to force or pressure, especially to a sudden and violent exertion of force, or to pressure from within; to explode; as, the boiler had burst; the buds will burst in spring.
- verb To exert force or pressure by which something is made suddenly to give way; to break through obstacles or limitations; hence, to appear suddenly and unexpecedly or unaccountably, or to depart in such manner; --usually with some qualifying adverb or preposition, as forth, out, away, into, upon, through, etc. Tears, such as angels weep, burst forth. Milton.
- verb To break or rend by violence, as by an overcharge or by strain or pressure, esp. from within; to force open suddenly; as, to burst a cannon; to burst a blood vessel; to burst open the doors.
- verb To break. [Obs.]
Etymology [OE. bersten, bresten, AS. berstan (pers. sing. berste, imp. sing. bærst, imp. pl. burston, p.p. borsten); akin to D. bersten, G. bersten, OHG. brestan, OS. brestan, Icel. bresta, Sw. brista, Dan. briste. Cf. Brast, Break.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “burst”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details