BURST • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Burst

Add this Dictionary
to your website!
See more options...

/bərst/ Listen

verb

Burst v. t. (past & past part. burst; pres. part. bursting; the past participle bursten is obsolete)

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."

To break. (Obs.) "You will not pay for the glasses you have burst?" "He burst his lance against the sand below."

To produce as an effect of bursting; as, to burst a hole through the wall.

Bursting charge. See under Charge.

Burst v. i. (past & past part. burst; pres. part. bursting; the past participle bursten is obsolete)

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." Note: 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."

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." "And now you burst (ah cruel!) from my arms." "A resolved villain Whose bowels suddenly burst out." "We were the first that ever burst Into that silent sea." "To burst upon him like an earthquake."

noun

Burst n.

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."

Any brief, violent exertion or effort; a spurt; as, a burst of speed.

A sudden opening, as of landscape; a stretch; an expanse. (R.) "A fine burst of country."

A rupture or hernia; a breach.

See images of 'Burst'

Etymology of 'Burst'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

Share |

"Burst" Quotes from Famous Books

... was quite free from snow, and the weather continued all through March mild and pleasant, though not so warm as the preceding year, and certainly more variable. By the last week in April and the beginning of May, the forest-trees had all burst into leaf, with a brilliancy of green that was ...

— The Backwoods of Canada • Catharine Parr Traill

... speech my mind is in a tumult; thoughts rush wildly through my brain without my being able to follow one of them. I press her hands, I look at her, I laugh, while little cries of delight burst ...

— The Choice of Life • Georgette Leblanc

... single white tower. And suddenly another white tower, loftier than the first, had risen up! But even as I stared its substance seemed to change, to dissolve, and the tower was no longer to be seen. Not until then did I realize that a monster shell had burst beside the trenches in front of the city. Occasionally after that there came to my ears the muffed report of some hidden gun, and a ball like a powder-puff lay lightly on the plain, and vanished. But even the presence of these, oddly enough, did not rob ...

— The Crossing • Winston Churchill

... ideals became stereotyped from want of other ideals to compare with, and possibly modify, their own. Dignity of deportment and impassivity of demeanour were especially cultivated by the ruling classes. Then the foreign devil burst upon the scene—a being as antagonistic to themselves in every way as it is possible to conceive. We can easily see, from pictures, not intended to be caricatures, what were the chief features of the foreigner as viewed by the Chinaman. Red hair and blue eyes, almost without exception; ...

— The Civilization Of China • Herbert A. Giles

... done, the strikers locked the car-doors. They pulled the two cars into a shed full of freight, broke open a petroleum tank, and with it wet the cars and some others loaded with jute. They set fire to the cars and barricaded the shed doors. Of course we didn't know till the flames burst through the roof of the shed, when by the light, one of the superintendents found the bunk cars gone. The fire-department was useless, for the strikers two days before, had cut all the hose. So we were ordered up to get the cars ...

— The Honorable Peter Stirling and What People Thought of Him • Paul Leicester Ford

More quotes...