▪ I. † perbreak, -brake, v.1 Obs.
Forms: 4–6 perbrake (4 pere-), 6 Sc. perbraik. Pa. pple. 6 Sc. perbrekit.
[perh. f. L. per through + break v.: cf. L. perfringĕre; but the early spelling -brake does not belong to the vb. break (cf. however brake v.1), and the compounding of a native vb. with a L. prefix is unexpected in the 14th c. App. not to be identified with parbreak v.]
a. trans. To make a breach in, break through, shatter. b. intr. To suffer a breach, to burst or break asunder.
| c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 7950 A strong castel..Þat non wyþ force mighte hit take, Ne wyþ engyns hit perebrake [v.r. non engine perbrake]. c 1420 Lydg. Story of Thebes iii. in Chaucer's Wks. (1561) 370/2 As he that hurteleth ayenst harde stones Broseth him self, and unwarly perbraketh. 1497 Bp. Alcock Mons Perfect. C iij, Thy door is open and the seale is not perbraked. 1513 Douglas æneis i. iv. 25 Perbrakit schippis but cabillis thair mycht ryde. Ibid. vi. vi. 63 Gan grane or geig ful fast the jonit barge.., and with lekkis perbraik, Scho suppit huge wattir of the laik. |
▪ II. † perˈbreak, perˈbrake, v.2
parallel form of parbreak v., to vomit, to spue.
| 1495 Trevisa's Barth. De P.R. xviii. xxvii. (W. de W.) 787 A hounde..etyth..ofte careyne so gredily that he perbrakyth [MSS. brakeþ] and castyth it vp. 1567 Golding Ovid's Met. vi. (1593) 148 To perbreake up his meat againe. 1601 Holland Pliny xx. iv. II. 40 For them that would perbreake or vomit, the best way to take it [radish], is at the end of a meale. |
Hence † perˈbreaker; † perˈbreaking vbl. n.
| 1495 Trevisa's Barth. De P.R. xviii. xxvii. (W. de W.) 787 A hounde gadryth herbes..by whom he purgyth hymself wyth perbrakynge [MSS. brakynge] and castynge. 1576 Newton Lemnie's Complex. (1633) 175 In vomiting and perbraking. 1620 Thomas Lat. Dict., Vomitor,..a vomiter, a spewer, a perbraker. |