burst
pronunciation
How to pronounce burst in British English:
UK [bɜːst]
How to pronounce burst in American English:
US [bɜːrst]
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- Noun:
- the act of exploding or bursting something
- rapid simultaneous discharge of firearms
- a sudden flurry of activity (often for no obvious reason)
- a sudden violent happening
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- Verb:
- break open or apart suddenly
- force out or release suddenly and often violently something pent up
- burst outward, usually with noise
- move suddenly, energetically, or violently
- be in a state of movement or action
- emerge suddenly
- cause to burst
- break open or apart suddenly and forcefully
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- Adjective:
- suddenly and violently broken open especially from internal pressure (`busted' is an informal term for `burst')
Word Origin
- burst
- burst: [OE] In Old English, burst meant simply ‘break suddenly and sharply’; the modern connotation of ‘breaking open owing to internal pressure’ developed in the 16th century. The word comes from a prehistoric West and North Germanic *brestan, which can be traced back to an Indo-European base *bhrest- (this has been linked with medieval Irish brosc ‘noise’).
- burst (v.)
- Old English berstan (intransitive) "break suddenly, shatter under pressure" (class III strong verb; past tense bærst, past participle borsten), from a West Germanic metathesis of Proto-Germanic *brest- (cognates: Old Saxon brestan, Old Frisian bersta, Middle Dutch berstan, Low German barsten, Dutch barsten, Old High German brestan, German bersten "to burst"), from PIE root *bhres- "to burst, break, crack." The forms reverted to brest- in Middle English from influence of Old Norse brestan/brast/brosten, from the same Germanic root, but it was re-metathesized late 16c. and emerged in the modern form, though brast was common as past tense through 17c. and survives in dialect. Of extended or distended surfaces from 1530s. Figuratively, in reference to being over-full of excitement, anticipation, etc., from 1630s. Transitive sense ("to cause to break") is from late 13c. Meaning "to issue suddenly and abundantly" is from c. 1300 (literal), mid-13c. (figurative). Meaning "break into sudden activity or expression" is from 1680s. Related: Bursting.
- burst (n.)
- 1610s, "act of bursting," from burst (v.). Meaning "a spurt" (of activity, etc.) is from 1862. The earlier noun berst (early Middle English) meant "damage, injury, harm."
Example
- 1. That bubble burst late last year .
- 2. The physicists assembled there burst into applause .
- 3. The construction industry was hit brutally hard when the housing bubble burst .
- 4. If the bubble did burst , the ramifications would be worldwide .
- 5. These bacteria soon burst open , spilling out enzymes and new phages .