/bɝst/, /bɜːst/
OriginFrom 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.
- intransitiveTo break from internal pressure.
“I blew the balloon up too much, and it burst.”
- transitiveTo cause to break from internal pressure.
“I burst the balloon when I blew it up too much.”
- obsolete, transitiveTo cause to break by any means.
“You will not pay for the glasses you have burst?”
“He burst his lance against the sand below.”
- transitiveTo separate (printer paper) at perforation lines.
“I printed the report on form-feed paper, then burst the sheets.”
- intransitiveTo enter or exit hurriedly and unexpectedly.
“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 b”
- intransitiveTo erupt; to change state suddenly as if bursting.
“The flowers burst into bloom on the first day of spring.”
“‘[…] 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 “i”
- transitiveTo produce as an effect of bursting.
“to burst a hole through the wall”
“1856, Eleanor Marx-Aveling (translator), Gustave Flaubert, Madame Bovary, Part III Chapter X
He entered Maromme shouting for the people of the inn, burst open the door with a thrust of his shoulder, m”
- transitiveTo interrupt suddenly in a violent or explosive manner; to shatter.
“The sharp report of a gun burst the silence, and a moment later the gate swung open.”
- An act or instance of bursting.
“The bursts of the bombs could be heard miles away.”
- A sudden, often intense, expression, manifestation or display.
“I read it in two bursts.”
“"It's my wedding-day," cried Biddy, in a burst of happiness, "and I am married to Joe!"”
“[…] and only at Barnet did Tappin give Empire of India a burst to bring us up to the 60 m.p.h. speed ceiling of the London area.”
- A series of shots fired from an automatic firearm.
- The explosion of a bomb or missile.
“a ground burst; a surface burst”
- archaicA drinking spree.
Formsbursts(present, singular, third-person) · bursting(participle, present) · burst(past) · brast(archaic, past) · bursted(nonstandard, past) · burst(participle, past) · brast(archaic, participle, past) · bursted(nonstandard, participle, past) · bursten(participle, past, rare) · brast(alternative) · brust(alternative) · bursts(plural)