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Webster 1913 Edition

Burst

Burst

,
Verb.
I.
[
imp. & p. p.
Burst
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Bursting
. The past participle bursten is obsolete.]
[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
.]
1.
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
.
From the egg that soon
Bursting
with kindly rupture, forth disclosed
Their callow young.
Milton.
Often used figuratively, as of the heart, in reference to a surcharge of passion, grief, desire, etc.
No, no, my heart will
burst
, an if I speak:
And I will speak, that so my heart may
burst
.
Shakespeare
2.
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 unexpectedly 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.
And now you
burst
(ah cruel!) from my arms.
Pope.
A resolved villain
Whose bowels suddenly
burst
out.
Shakespeare
We were the first that ever
burst

Into that silent sea.
Coleridge.
To
burst
upon him like an earthquake.
Goldsmith.

Burst

(bûrst)
,
Verb.
T.
1.
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
.
My breast I’ll
burst
with straining of my courage.
Shakespeare
2.
To break.
[Obs.]
You will not pay for the glasses you have
burst
?
Shakespeare
He
burst
his lance against the sand below.
Fairfax (Tasso).
3.
To produce as an effect of bursting;
as, to
burst
a hole through the wall
.
Bursting charge
.
See under
Charge
.

Burst

,
Noun.
1.
A sudden breaking forth; a violent rending; an explosion;
as, a
burst
of thunder; a
burst
of applause; a
burst
of passion; a
burst
of inspiration
.
Bursts
of fox-hunting melody.
W. Irving.
2.
Any brief, violent exertion or effort; a spurt;
as, a
burst
of speed
.
3.
A sudden opening, as of landscape; a stretch; an expanse.
[R.]
“A fine burst of country.”
Jane Austen.
4.
A rupture or hernia; a breach.

Webster 1828 Edition

Burst

BURST

,
Verb.
I.
pret. and pp. burst. The old participle bursten is nearly obsolete.
1.
To fly or break open with force, or with sudden violence; to suffer a violent disruption. The peculiar force of this word is, in expressing a sudden rupture, with violence, or expansion, or both. Hence it is generally used to signify the sudden rupture of a thing by internal force,and a liberation from confinement; as, to burst from a prison; the heart bursts with grief.
2.
To break away; to spring from; as, to burst from the arms.
3.
To come or fall upon suddenly or with violence; to rush upon unexpectedly; as, a sound bursts upon our ears.
4.
To issue suddenly, or to come from a hidden or retired place into more open view; as, a river bursts from a valley; a spring bursts from the earth.
5. To break forth into action suddenly; as, to burst into tears.
6.
To break or rush in with violence; as, to burst into a house or a room.
It is often followed by an intensive particle; as, out, forth, away, from, or asunder.

BURST

,
Verb.
T.
To break or rend by force or violence; to open suddenly; as, to burst a chain or a door; to burst a cannon.

BURST

,
Noun.
A sudden disruption; a violent rending; more appropriately, a sudden explosion or shooting forth; as a burst of thunder; a burst of applause, a burst of passion.
1.
A rupture, a hernia, or the unnatural protrusion of the contents of the abdomen.

BURST

, or BURST'EN,
pp.
or a. Affected with a rupture or hernia.

BURST

,
pp.
Opened or rent asunder by violence.

Definition 2024

burst

burst

English

Noun

burst ‎(plural bursts)

  1. An instance of, or the act of bursting.
    The bursts of the bombs could be heard miles away.
  2. A sudden, often intense, expression, manifestation or display.
    • 1860/1861, Charles Dickens, Great Expectations
      "It's my wedding-day," cried Biddy, in a burst of happiness, "and I am married to Joe!"
    • 1961, Kurt Vonnegut, Harrison Bergeron, page 1:
      It was tragic, all right, but George and Hazel couldn't think about it very hard. Hazel had a perfectly average intelligence, which meant she couldn't think about anything except in short bursts.
  3. A series of shots fired from an automatic firearm.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

burst ‎(third-person singular simple present bursts, present participle bursting, simple past burst or (archaic) brast or (nonstandard) bursted, past participle burst or (rare) bursten or (nonstandard) bursted)

  1. (intransitive) To break from internal pressure.
    • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 6, in The China Governess:
      ‘[…] 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 children”. […]’.
    I blew the balloon up too much, and it burst.‎
  2. (transitive) To cause to break from internal pressure.
    I burst the balloon when I blew it up too much.‎
  3. (transitive, obsolete) To cause to break by any means.
    • Shakespeare
      You will not pay for the glasses you have burst?
    • Fairfax
      He burst his lance against the sand below.
  4. (transitive) To separate formfeed at perforation lines.
    I printed the report on formfeed paper then burst the sheets.‎
  5. (intransitive) To enter or exit hurriedly and unexpectedly.
    • 1856: Gustave Flaubert, Madame Bovary, Part III Chapter X, translated by Eleanor Marx-Aveling
      He 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. MunguÍa, 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.
  6. (transitive) To produce as an effect of bursting.
    to burst a hole through the wall

Quotations

  • For usage examples of this term, see Citations:burst.

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Icelandic

Etymology

From Old Norse burst, from Proto-Germanic *burstiz.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /pʏr̥st/
  • Rhymes: -ʏr̥st

Noun

burst f ‎(genitive singular burstar, nominative plural burstir)

  1. bristle
  2. gable

Declension

Related terms

Old High German

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *burstiz. Akin to Old English byrst, Old Norse burst.

Noun

burst ?

  1. bristle

Descendants

Etymology

From Middle English bersten, from Old English berstan, from Proto-Germanic *brestaną (compare West Frisian boarste, Dutch barsten, Swedish brista), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰres- ‎(“to burst, break, crack, split, separate”) (compare Irish bris ‎(“to break”)), enlargement of *bʰreHi- ‎(“to snip, split”). More at brine.

Pronunciation

  • (US) IPA(key): /bɝst/
  • (UK) IPA(key): /bɜːst/
  • Rhymes: -ɜː(r)st

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