▪ I. bursting, vbl. n.
(ˈbɜːstɪŋ)
[f. burst v.]
1. a. The process or action of breaking suddenly and violently, as under tension.
| 1375 Barbour Bruce xvi. 158 Thar wes of speris sic bristing. 1575 J. Still Gamm. Gurton i. iii, We would not greatly care For bursting of her huckle-bone. c 1600 Rob. Hood (Ritson) i. iv. 47 And it were not for bursting of my bowe, John, I thy head wold breake. 1611 Bible Isa. xxx. 14 There shall not be found in the bursting of it, a sheard. |
b. spec. by internal force or pressure.
| 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 291 b, The body is not able to receyue it all, without feare of brastynge. 1600 Shakes. A.Y.L. ii. i. 38 The wretched annimall heau'd forth such groanes That their discharge did stretch his leatherne coat Almost to bursting. 1885 Manchester Exam. 22 Sept. 5/2 The damage caused by the bursting of an embankment. |
† 2. spec. Rupture; hernia. Obs.
| 1544 Phaër Regim. Lyfe (1560) U viij b, To remove the swelling of the coddes proceding of ventositie, or of anye other cause (except brustyng). |
† 3. Explosion, explosive noise. Obs.
| 1771 Smollett Humph. Cl. (1793) II. 34 The bursting, belching, and brattling of the French horns in the passage. |
4. Rushing impetuously from restraint or rest.
| 1871 R. Ellis Catullus lxiii. 86 The lion..With a step, a roar, a bursting unarrested of any brake. |
5. comb. with various advbs. (cf. the vb)
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 50 Brestynge downe, prostracio. 1552 Huloet Aposthume, or brasting out. 1712 Steele Spect. No. 474 ¶2 The occasional burstings out into laughter. |
6. attrib. bursting charge, the charge of powder required for bursting a shell or case-shot; a small charge of fine powder placed in contact with a charge of coarser powder to ensure the ignition of the latter; bursting point, the internal pressure at which an enclosed vessel will explode; usu. transf.
| 1858 Greener Gunnery 134 The bursting charge is very small, but it suffices to break the shell into about 30 pieces. 1862 F. Griffiths Artil. Man. (ed. 9) 194 Loaded shells should never be fired with less than the authorized bursting charge. 1902 W. James Var. Relig. Exper. x. 236 The tension of subliminal memories reaching the bursting-point. 1931 E. Linklater Juan in Amer. ii. iv. 81 Their columns had been stuffed to bursting-point with superlatives. 1933 D. L. Sayers Murder must Advertise i. 9 A small, inconvenient cubicle, crowded at the moment to bursting-point. 1944 R. Lehmann Ballad & Source iii. 168 There came the bursting point of a complexity of hideous fears and pressures. |
▪ II. bursting, ppl. a.
(ˈbɜːstɪŋ)
[f. burst v. + -ing2.]
That bursts (see senses of the verb).
| a 1000 Sax. Leechd. I. 272 Untrumnissa ðæs lichoman þæt is berstende lic. 1667 Milton P.L. ix. 98 Bursting passion. 1714 Young Force Relig. ii. 210 Afar his bursting groans were heard. 1777 Sir W. Jones Palace of Fort. 15 As distant thunder breaks the bursting cloud. 1847 Longfellow Evan. i. ii. 99 From our bursting barns they would feed. 1863 Kinglake Crimea V. i. (1877) 245 Fragments..from a bursting shell. |