Pa. t. and pple. burst. Forms: α. (type berst, burst) 1 berstan, 3 bersten, (bursten), 4–5 berst(e, 5–6 barst, 6– burst. β. (type brest, brast, brust) 3–5 bresten, 4–5 breste, 4–6 brest, briste, (4 brusten), 5 bruste, 5–6 brust, bryste, brast, 6 braste, 9 dial. and arch. brast. Pa. t. α. 1 bærst, 3 bearst, 4 berst, 3 barste, 5–6 barst, 6– burst, (8–9 incorrectly bursted). β. 3–7 brast, 4–6 braste, brest, 5 breste, (6 brust, brusted), 9 dial. and arch. brast. pl. α. 1 burston, 2–4 burste(n, 4–5 borsten, 5–6 barst, 6– burst. Pa. pple. α. 1 borsten, 4–5 borsten, -un, 5 burstyn, (borsen, 6 Sc. bursin), 6–8 bursten, 6– burst, (8–9 incorrectly bursted, 9 Sc. bursen). β. 4–5 brosten, brusten, (4 brost, brast), 6 brasten, 6–7 brast, brust, 9 arch. brast, (9 north dial. brossen, brosen. [(1) A Common Teut. strong vb.: OE. berstan (pa. t. bærst, burston, pple. borsten) = OFris. bersta, OS. brestan (brast, bruston; brostan), (MDu., Du. berstan, barsten, LG. barsten, basten), OHG. brestan (MHG. brestan, Ger. bersten from LG.), ON. bresta, (brast, brustum; brostinn), (Sw. brista, Da. briste):—OTeut. *brestan, possibly from *brek-st-an, a derivative (intensive) of brek-an to BREAK2.
(2) The earlier brest- of WGer. became by metathesis berst- in OE., Frisian, Du. and LG. (whence also it has passed into mod. Ger. in place of MHG. brest-). In Eng. this berst- mostly again became brest- in ME., partly perh. under Norse influence, whence the pa. pple. brosten still, in north. dial.; but this has since the 16th c. gone back to berst, changed by the disturbing influence of r to burst. So that we have the alternate series OTeut. and WGer. brest-, OE. berst-, ME. brest, mod.Eng. berst, burst. But the 15–16th c. had often brust and brast, barst in the present; and the north. dial. had brist, bryst, as in Danish.
(3) The original strong conjugation survived during the ME. period, with the typical forms, after metathesis, bresten, brast, brosten, but with much disturbance and mixture of forms in 14–15th c. In the 16th c. a very common form was brast for all the principal parts; but about the end of that century, burst (for all the parts) began to gain the ascendancy which it has since maintained, though the pa. t. was frequently brast in 17th and the pa. pple. bursten till 18th c. Various old forms survive dialectally, and in U.S. the pa. t. and pple. are frequently bursted, vulgarly busted.]
I. intr. To break or be broken suddenly.
† 1. To break suddenly, snap, crack, under violent pressure, strain or concussion. Chiefly said of things possessing considerable capacity for resistance and breaking with loud noise; often of cords, etc., snapping under tension; also of spears, swords, etc., shivered in battle. Obs.
α. a. 1000. Beowulf, 818. Burston ban locan.
a. 1000. Byrhtnoð, 284 (Gr.). Bærst bordes læriʓ.
1297. R. Glouc., 460. Atte laste þoru stronge duntes hys suerd berst atuo.
1413. Lydg., Pylgr. Sowle, V. xi. (1483), 102. Then enforcid hym soo sore to the weyght tyll the cordys borsten of the balaunce.
a. 1593. Marlowe, Dido, IV. iv. Was it not you [the tacklings of a ship] that hoised up these sails? Why burst you not?
1718. Pope, Iliad, XV. 545. As the tough string he drew, Struck by an arm unseen, it burst in two.
β. c. 1340. Richard Rolle of Hampole, Prick of Conscience, 7014. Als smyths strykes on þe yren fast, Swa þat it brekes and brestes at þe last.
c. 1430. Syr Generides, 4458. The helm went of also, The laces brast even a twoo.
1566. Adlington, Apuleius, 7. The rope being olde & rotten brast in the middle & I fell down.
1577. Holinshed, Chron., III. 809/1. There was good running and manie a speare brust.
1803. W. Rose, Amadis, 136. Brast each strong lance.
† b. Of ships: To go to pieces. Obs.
1513. Bradshaw, St. Werburgh (1848), 193. Incontinently the ship barst all in sondre.
1523. Ld. Berners, Froiss., I. ccclvi. 574. Thre of their shyppes brast and went to wrake.
† c. Of persons, in fig. phrase ‘it is better to bow than to burst.’ Also: To perish (by hunger).
a. 1440. Ipomydon, 1722. Thoughe he shulde for hungre brest.
c. 1450. in Babees Bk. (1868), 34. Often tyme it is betere to bow þan to berst.
c. 1450. Henryson, Mor. Fab., 65. To bow at bidding, and bide not while thou brest.
† d. fig. To cease, come to an end. Also (in OE.) said of an oath: To be broken. Obs.
a. 1100. Laws of K. Edw., § 3. Ȝif þæt ʓeswutelod wære oþþe him að burste.
2. Now chiefly of a surface or thing with extended surface: To break suddenly when in a state of tension, to fly asunder or in pieces; to be broken by expansion of the contents. Of persons or animals: often as an imagined consequence of excess in eating or drinking, or of violent exertion. Also fig. (chiefly with allusion to the bursting of a bubble); now often colloq. with up.
α. 1535. Coverdale, Bel. i. 27. This he put in ye Dragons mouth and so ye dragon barst in sonder.
1562. J. Heywood, Prov. & Epigr. (1867), 90. Thus drinke we … tyll we burst.
a. 1600. Hooker, Eccl. Pol., VII. xx. § 5. Lest the very entrails of some … should thereat haply burst in sunder.
1709. Steele, Tatler, No. 40, ¶ 10. By an Accident of Firing a piece of Ordnance, it burst, and kill’d 15 or 16 Men.
1713. Addison, Guardian, No. 159. His breast heaved as if it would have bursted.
1732. Pope, Ess. Man, I. 90. And now a bubble burst, and now a World!
1774. J. Bryant, Mythol., II. 406. If I burst I don’t care. I drink with a good will and a safe conscience.
1881. Daily News, 1 Sept., 3/5. The boilers had not burst.
β. a. 1300. Cursor M., 16505. He brest in tua his buels all, vte at his wambe þai wrang.
c. 1340. Gaw. & Gr. Knt., 1166. With such a crakkande kry, as klyffes haden brusten.
a. 1400. Cov. Myst. (1841), 232. Myn hed doth ake, as it xolde brest.
1430. Lydg., Chron. Troy, I. vi. This Bufo ryght anone Through myght ther of brusteth euen a twain.
1526. Skelton, Magnyf., 2186. For laughter I am lyke to brast.
1558. Knox, First Blast (Arb.), 40. Let them blowe til they brust.
1591. Spenser, Bellay’s Vis., vi. Poyson … Made him to swell, that nigh his bowells brust.
1865. B. Brierley, Irkdale, I. 12. Bring me another pint afore I brast wi’ thinking.
1865. Swinburne, Masque Q. Bersabe, 16. He [a bird] … suddenly woxe big and brast.
b. Said of boils, tumors, etc.: To break the outer covering and discharge the matter. Of a bud: To break the envelope, open out. Of a cloud: To disperse in heavy rain (often fig.).
c. 1000. Sax. Leechd., I. 272. [Leʓe þysse wyrte leaf] to þam sare hyt sceal berstan and halian.
1547–64. Bauldwin, Mor. Philos. (Palfr.), x. 5. Stop the beginning, so shalt thou be sure All doubtfull diseases to swage and to cure: But if thou be carelesse and suffer them brast, Too late commeth plaister.
1776. Withering, Bot. Arrangem. (1796), I. 360. Two stamens of the Bryum extinctorium … one ready to burst.
1807. Med. Jrnl., XVII. 9. The sac would go on increasing until it would burst.
1855. Tennyson, Maud, II. i. 42. The heavens … should burst and drown in deluging storms The feeble vassals of wine and anger and lust.
1885. Daily News, 16 July, 5/2. When the cloud bursts.
† c. To break up explosively. Obs. rare.
c. 1432–50. trans. Higden (1865), I. 319. White salte, contrary to the nature of other salte, whiche, beenge soluble in the fyre, brestethe and brekethe in the water.
3. Said hyperbolically, as a strong expression for ‘to be exuberantly full’ (cf. 12). Also with out.
1563. Homilies, II. Serm. Rogation Wk. (1859), 499. And thy presses shall brust with new wine.
1611. Bible, Prov. iii. 10. Thy presses shall burst out with new wine.
b. Of persons: To be unable to contain oneself. Chiefly in fut., or in phrases to be ready to burst, to be bursting. Const. with (information, envy, delight, etc.); also with inf. as ‘to be bursting to tell a secret,’ i.e., with desire to tell it. Cf. 3.
1633. Ford, Broken H., IV. ii. (1811), 305. Ere I speak a word I will look on and burst.
1649. Jer. Taylor, Gt. Exemp., II. xii. 45. The Pharisees could hold no longer, being ready to burst with envy.
1712. Steele, Spect., No. 533, ¶ 2. Ready to burst with shame and indignation.
1732. Berkeley, Alciphr., V. § 13. One of these tame bullies ready to burst with pride and ill-humour.
1789. Wolcott (P. Pindar), Subj. for Paint., 65. She bursted with th’ important secret soon.
1867. Froude, Short Stud. (1872), I. 2. Most of us when we have hit on something … original, feel as if we should burst with it.
1884. West. Morning News, 11 Sept., 4/4. Sir Richard … had been bursting … to let the news be known.
† 4. fig. Of the heart: To ‘break’ by the shock or pressure of grief or by the swelling of emotion.
α. a. 1225. Ancr. R., 80. Hu stout ham þæt beoð … wiðuten hope of vtcome, and heorte ne mei bersten.
1393. Gower, Conf., III. 311. Ha, herte, why ne wolt thou berst.
1593. Shaks., 3 Hen. VI., V. v. 59. No, no, my heart will burst, and if I speake.
β. a. 1300. Cursor M., 15956. Quen he himself it vnderstod, Almast his hert can brest.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Frankl. T., 31. Have here my trouthe, til that myn herte bruste.
1535. Fisher, Wks., I. 404. Hir harte … for very payne it myght haue brast.
1578. T. Proctor, Gorg. Gallery, Lover in Distress, &c. O heauy hart … If thou shouldest brast … Then should I dye without reward.
5. Said of a door. Now usually to burst open: to fly open suddenly.
1596. Spenser, F. Q., I. viii. 4. No gate so strong, no locke so firme and fast, But with that piercing noise flew open quite, or brast.
Mod. The door burst open, and a man rushed into the room.
II. intrans. fig. (With adverbial extension expressing the nature of the action.)
6. To break forth into sudden activity, or manifestation of an inward force. Of persons: To break out into sudden action or forcible expression of feeling. Usually with out, forth.
a. Const. in, with (a speech, a cry, or other mode of expression); also simply.
α. 1682. Dryden, Mac Fl., 138. Long he stood … At length burst out in this prophetick mood.
1711. Addison, Spect., No. 164, ¶ 5. She burst out in Tears.
1842. Tennyson, Dora, 155. And all at once the old man burst in sobs.
1848. W. K. Kelly, trans. L. Blanc’s Hist. Ten Y., I. 560. M. Henri Baud … burst out enthusiastically: ‘My father was a common man.’
β. c. 1450. Lonelich, Grail, lv. 317. Thanne with a swerd he owt braste, that in his hond he held wel faste.
1562. Pilkington, On Abdias, 284. They will brast out and declare their faith.
1596. Spenser, F. Q., III. iii. 19. The wisard … brusting forth in laughter, to her sayd.
1869. Waugh, Yeth-Bobs, ii. 33. He brast eawt again, as if his heart wur breighkin.
b. Formerly with on. Often with vbl. sb., To burst (out, forth) on weeping. Afterwards replaced by a, as To burst out (on) a-laughing, a-crying (now dial. or arch.); the prep. is now omitted in general use: To burst out laughing, etc.
c. 1370. Robt. K. Cicyle, 53. He smote hym … That mowthe and nose braste on blode.
1485. Caxton, Chas. Gt., 44. Hys nose breste a blood habundauntly.
1564. Haward, Eutropius, VI. 57. Cesar … braste forthe on weepinge to beholde the heade of so worthye a manne.
1711. Addison, Spect., No. 90, ¶ 7. One of the Ladies burst out a laughing.
1825. J. Neal, Bro. Jonathan, III. 375. He burst out a-crying.
1836. Marryat, Japhet, xxxiii. The remembrance … made us both burst out a laughing.
1875. Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), I. 84. The crew of his own trireme also burst out laughing.
c. Const. into; also, formerly, with infinitive. Often with out, forth, e.g., † To burst (out, forth) to weep. In same sense, To burst into tears (influenced by some notion of 2). So to burst (out) into laughter, song, speech; to burst (out) into flame; of plants, to burst (out) into blossom, etc.
α. 1630. [see 16].
1637. Milton, Lycidas, 74. When … we think to burst out into sudden blaze.
1709. Steele, Tatler, No. 58, ¶ 1. The Father burst into the following Words.
1716–8. Lady M. W. Montague, Lett., I. xxxi. 105. She could not forbear bursting into tears.
1727. Swift, Gulliver, II. viii. 163. Bursting at the same time into a flood of tears.
1802. Bloomfield, Soldier’s Home, ii. I … rose at once, and bursted into tears.
1832. Tennyson, Fatima, v. My heart … Bursts into blossom in his sight.
1853. Arab. Nts. (Rtldg.), 661. The courtiers … could not avoid bursting into a violent fit of laughter.
1878. Huxley, Physiogr., 78. The taper will burst again into full flame.
β. c. 1385. Chaucer, L. G. W., 1031. With that word he brast out for to wepe.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 9425. Deffibus … For bale of his brother brest out to wepe.
1528. More, Heresyes, IV. Wks. (1557), 255/2. Thei brast out in vyrulent and venimouse wordes.
1578. Timme, Calvine on Gen., 132. They bruste forth into manifest rage.
1611. Speed, Hist. Gt. Brit., IX. viii. (1632), 555. Heart-burnings betwixt the King and his Clergy, which … brast forth into a more fearfull flame.
1637. Valentine & O., 3. He … brast out into these speeches.
III. Transitive (causative). Not in OE.
† 7. To break, snap, shatter suddenly. Obs. in general sense.
α. 1297. R. Glouc., 437. Þe suerde hii nome … & barste mony a sselde.
1362. Langl., P. Pl., A. VII. 165. He beot so þe Boyes he barst neih heore Ribbes.
1590. Marlowe, 2nd Pt. Tamburl., V. i. 71. Whose chariot-wheels have burst the Assyrians’ bones.
1596. Shaks., Tam. Shr., I. Induct. 8. You will not pay for the glasses you haue burst.
1715. in Sc. Pasquils (1868), 393. Dee’l knock, Dee’l sink, Dee’l ryve and burst him.
β. c. 1340. Richard Rolle of Hampole, Prick of Conscience, 1787. Alle thyng it brestes in sonder.
c. 1385. Chaucer, L. G. W., 2413. And with a wawe brostyn was his stere.
1480. Robt. Devyll, 16. Tenne noble stedes backes he dyd brust.
1508. Fisher, Wks., I. 60. Whan he is ones fallen to the grounde he is brasten all to peces.
1509. Barclay, Ship of Fooles (1570), 170. God … geueth thee not his beard to draw and brast.
1563–87. Foxe, A. & M. (1684), II. 85. He … brast them [the images] all down in pieces.
1855. Singleton, Virgil, I. 192. Drear winter with its cold would brast the rocks.
a. 1881. Rossetti, Ballads & Sonn., 130. All the locks Had the traitor riven and brast.
† b. To burst down: to break down violently.
c. 1440. [see BURSTING vbl. sb.].
† c. fig. To break or violate (a law, a principle). Obs. rare.
1600. Fairfax, Tasso, V. lv. 85. If Rinaldo … haue the sacred lore of war so brust.
d. poet. To interrupt, put a sudden end to.
1842. Tennyson, St. Sim. Stylites, 175. With hoggish whine they burst my prayer. Ibid. (1859), Enid, 1120. Many a … heel against the pavement echoing burst their drowse.
8. To disrupt, shatter, cause to fly to pieces (a surface, or thing having extended surface).
In mod. use the tendency is to restrict the word to cases in which a containing envelope is ruptured by the expansion (or the too great size) of the contents.
1382. Wyclif, Dan. xiv. 26. He made gobettis, and ȝaue in to mouthe of the dragoun, and the dragoun is borstun.
1535. Coverdale, Luke v. 37. Ye new wyne barsteth ye vessels and runneth out.
1591. Shaks., 1 Hen. VI., I. i. 64. The losse of those great Townes Will make him burst his Lead, and rise from death.
1736. Butler, Anal., I. i. Wks. 1874, I. 14. Birds and insects bursting the shell their habitation.
1791. Smeaton, Edystone L., § 174. Nothing … but … gunpowder, could have burst and dispersed the materials of the spire in the manner it had done.
1775. Haffenden, in Phil. Trans., LXV. 340. The place where the leaden pipe is bursten.
1817–8. Cobbett, Resid. U.S. (1822), 42. The buds of a Lilac … are almost bursted, which is a great deal better than to say, ‘almost burst.’
b. To rupture (something) by internal force, or by pressure, a blow, etc., upon it when inflated or distended. To burst a blood-vessel: to cause its rupture by exertion, etc., or simply to suffer the rupture of a vessel. To burst one’s sides: imagined as a result of excessive laughter. To burst one’s buttons (through over-feeding or exertion).
1712. Arbuthnot, John Bull (1755), 47. You would have burst your sides to hear him talk of politicks.
1796. Pegge, Anonym. (1809), 354. We were ready to burst our sides.
1863. Kingsley, Water-bab., v. 185. He … played leap-frog with the town-clerk till he burst his buttons.
1865. Miss Lahee, Billy o’ Yeps T., 10. Lads laughin’ fit to brast their soides.
Mod. Take care you do not burst your gun.
† c. fig. To burst up: to shatter, destroy. Obs.
1597. Daniel, Civ. Wares, VII. ii. Who else had burst-up Right to come t’ his right.
† d. To ruin financially = BREAK v. 11. Obs.
1712. Arbuthnot, John Bull, II. iv. I therefore hold it advisable that you continue the Lawsuit, and burst him at once.
9. To burst bonds, barriers, etc. Now said only of the person or thing confined within; formerly with wider meaning as in 7. Now chiefly fig.
α. c. 1325. E. E. Allit. P., B. 963. Þe grete barrez of þe abyme he barst vp at onez.
1535. Coverdale, Jer. v. 5. These … haue … bursten the bondes in sonder.
1824–9. Landor, Imag. Conv. (1846), II. 3. My madness … would burst asunder the strong swathes.
18[?]. Hymns Anc. & Mod. ‘Come see the place,’ ii. Who burst the bands of death and hell.
β. c. 1340. Cursor M., 7203 (Fairf.). His bandis al he brest in twa.
c. 1440. York Myst., xxxvii. 196. And brosten are alle our bandis of bras.
1548. Udall, etc., Erasm. Par. Mark v. 4. To braste all his chaynes and fetters in pieces.
1596. Spenser, F. Q., I. v. 31. Furies which their chaines have brast.
b. Of a river or water: To burst its banks.
1860. Tyndall, Glac., I. § 8. 58. A subglacial lake had burst its boundary.
† c. transf. To force one’s way across (a frontier) Obs.; also, To burst (the enemy’s) ranks. poet. or rhetorical.
1652. C. Stapylton, Herodian, VIII. 67. The Frontiers they had brast.
1847. Tennyson, Princess, IV. 483. Clad in iron, burst the ranks of war.
† 10. To burst the heart: said of grief or violent emotions. Also of persons, To burst one’s heart. So To burst one’s brain: to take or occasion excessive thought. Obs.
c. 1385. Chaucer, L. G. W., 1298. Ffor which methynkyth brostyn is myn herte.
1555. Lett., in Strype, Eccl. Mem., III. App. l. 162. Though thou wouldest brast thine heart about it.
1587. Golding, De Mornay, xxiv. 373. Bookes which busteth not our braines about Mooneshine in the water.
1591. Spenser, Ruines of T., 518. Nigh with griefe … my heart was brust.
11. To cause (the body) to swell till it bursts. Chiefly as an imagined result of over-feeding or violent exertion; often refl.
1530. Palsgr., 757/1. I thruste out ones guttes, or burste one. Je accreue.
1667. Milton, P. L., X. 635. Cramm’d and gorged, right burst With suck’d and glutted offal.
1719. De Foe, Crusoe (1840), I. xiii. 227. Water, with which … he would have burst himself.
1839. Cumberl. & Westmoreland Dial., 31. He hed welly brosen his sel wie runnin.
b. causatively.
a. 1802. ‘Broomfield Hill,’ xiv. in Child, Ballads, II. (1884), 394/2. Ye need na burst your gude white steed Wi racing oer the howm.
a. 1822. ‘Fair Marjory,’ xvii. ibid., III. 121/2. It’s first he burst the bonny black, An syne the bonny broun.
12. hyperbolically. To fill to overflowing.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Georg., I. 74. That Crop … bursts the crowded Barns.
13. To burst a door, gate, etc.: to force it open by a violent thrust, so as to break the door or its fastenings. Also burst open.
1591. Shaks., 1 Hen. VI., I. iii. 28. Open the Gates … Or wee’le burst them open.
a. 1700. Dryden, Desp. Lover, Misc. Wks. 1760, II. 418.
| The bounce burst ope the door; the scornful fair | |
| Relentless look’d, and saw him beat his quivering feet in air. |
1721. De Foe, Mem. Cavalier (1840), 113. They burst open the gate.
1847. Tennyson, Princess, VI. 59. She spoke, and … Descending, burst the great bronze valves. Ibid. (1864), Boadicea, 64. Burst the gates and burn the palaces.
† 14. To cause to burst out, abroad. Obs.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 865. Sho brast out bright water at hir brode een.
a. 1593. Marlowe, Mass. at Paris, I. ii. To burst abroad those never-dying flames.
IV. Intransitive senses implying movement accompanied by the bursting of barriers.
These uses mostly correspond with those of BREAK, branch VII, but express more strongly the notion of sudden violence.
15. To issue forth suddenly and copiously by breaking an enclosure, or by overcoming resistance. Usually with out, forth, or other adv.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 11704. Vnder þe rote a well vte-brast.
1375. Barbour, Bruce, XV. 481. Blude brist out at voundis vyde.
1480. Caxton, Chron. Eng., ccxxii. 216. One of hem … smote the same hugh vpon the hede that the brayn brest out.
1563. Foxe, A. & M. (1684), I. 259/1. The blood brast incontinent out of the Nose of the King.
1578. Timme, Calvine on Gen., 199. The waters under the earth braste not up, nor the waters aboue the Heauens fall down upon us.
1847. Tennyson, Princess, IV. 453. A river level with the dam Ready to burst and fill the world with foam. Ibid. (1852), Elaine, 516. Half his blood burst forth.
b. transf. and fig. Of tears, cries, etc.: To issue suddenly in spite of repressive effort. Of light, sounds, etc.: To issue suddenly from a source; to become visible or audible with startling suddenness and clearness; often const. on (the eye, ear, etc.). Of the sun: To burst from, through (the clouds); often with out, forth. Also of news, events, sights, truths, etc.: To burst upon (a person): to be revealed with overwhelming suddenness to.
c. 1250. Gen. & Ex., 1808. Get held he wið ðis angel fast, Til ðe dauing up it brast.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 18916. Þar come a sune Vte o þe air al bristand dune.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Doctor’s T., 234. The teeres brast out of hir eyghen tuo.
1508. Fisher, Wks., I. 165. The sounde of a grete trumpe braste out.
1591. Spenser, Petrarch’s Vis., iii. Sudden flash of heavens fire out brast.
1678. Bunyan, Pilgr., I. 73. What sighs and groans brast from Christians heart.
1826. J. F. Cooper, Mohicans, xvii. Such a yell … as seldom bursted from human lips before.
1867. Lady Herbert, Cradle L., vii. 168. On turning a sharp corner, Hebron burst upon them.
¶ To burst upon a view. (rare.)
c. 1854. Stanley, Sinai & Pal., i. 69. The Israelites, coming down through that very valley, burst upon that very view.
c. fig. Of thoughts, emotions, latent forces, etc.: To find utterance or manifestation suddenly, esp. after long repression or concealment. Usually with out, forth; const. into (the result).
1542. Becon, Christm. Banq., Wks. (1843), 81. Charity … brasteth out into good works whensoever it seeth an occasion given.
1591. Shaks., 1 Hen. VI., IV. i. 183. For had the passions of thy heart burst out, I feare we should haue seene decipher’d there More rancorous spight.
a. 1603. in Liturg. Services Q. Eliz. (1847), 680. Defections in Ireland … in the end brast out into open rebellion.
1810. Scott, Lady of L., II. xxxiv. Anguish of despair Burst, in fierce jealousy, to air.
† d. Of an eruptive disease. Also of the body affected by it: To break out into sores or pimples.
The latter sense appears to have existed in OE., where however it probably originated from 1 or 2. Cf. quot. a. 1000 under BURSTING ppl. a.
1552. Huloet, Breake oute, or braste oute, as a mannes face doth with heate.
a. 1593. H. Smith, Wks. (1866), I. 301. The leprosy which brast out of the forehead.
e. To spring forth, as a plant, shoot, etc. (Usually implying the overcoming of restraint.)
a. 1300. Cursor M., 10723. Bath flour and frut suld þar-of brest [v.r. briste].
1578. Banister, Hist. Man, IV. 60. The fift [Muscle] likewise brusteth forth of Fibula.
1835–6. Todd, Cycl. Anat. & Phys., I. 120/2. The radicle that bursts from the fecundated seed of a plant.
† f. To emanate, originate from. Obs.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 10059. But o þe grace þat of hir brestes, Or al þis werld bett er þe brestes.
1567. Jewel, Def. Apol. (1611), 409. All these mischiefes brast out first from the High Throne of the Pope of Rome.
16. Of a tempest, conflagration, disease, or the like. Chiefly with out, forth.
1542. Henry VIII., Declar. Scots, 192. Things of suche enormitie do brest out and appere.
1546. Langley, Pol. Verg. De Invent., I. xvi. 29 a. Diseases, that brest furthe on euery syde.
1579. Tomson, Calvin Serm. Tim., 250/2. We do but heap vp wood, and the wrath of God brasteth out at a blow.
1630. Lord, Banians, 87. The windes in the bowels of the earth … brast forth into eruptions.
1792. Anecd. W. Pitt, I. x. 203. The flame of war … was preparing to burst out in Europe.
1808. R. Porter, Trav. Sk. Russ. & Swed. (1813), I. i. 11. War burst around him, and he fell in combat.
1848. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., I. 665. A tempest burst forth, such as had not been known since that great hurricane.
17. To make a sudden overwhelming assault on; to rush violently and suddenly over.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 21400. Brathli on his fas he brast.
1862. Stanley, Jew. Ch. (1877), I. ix. 180. Immense swarms of hornets burst upon the country with unusual force.
18. poet. To burst away: to rush away impetuously. Also (of a bird) To burst on the wing: to start off into flight.
1809. Campbell, Gert. Wyom., III. iii. Wild bird bursting on the wing.
1859. Tennyson, Elaine, 1237. The wild Queen … burst away to weep. Ibid. (1864), En. Ard., 635. A crew that landing burst away In search of stream or fount.
19. To force a passage impetuously through (a barrier, physical or moral, the enemy’s ranks, a crowd of people).
a. 1300. Cursor M., 12872. Opin he sau þe liftes seuen, þe fader steuen þar thoru it brast.
1837. Newman, Par. Serm. (ed. 3), I. xx. 305. There are times when a thankful heart bursts through all Forms of prayer.
1853. Kingsley, Hypatia, xxii. 288. Bursting desperately through the women who surrounded him, the monk vanished.
20. To break forcibly into, come suddenly and impetuously into (a room, a country, etc.); also with adv. in. Similarly to burst up (from below).
1563. Foxe, A. & M. (1684), I. 397/1. Thorow windows and doors … they brast in to the Pope.
1600. Fairfax, Tasso, II. xxvii. 25. He broke the throng, and into presence brast.
1742. Richardson, Pamela, III. 128. In burst the pert Slut, with an Air of Assurance.
1798. Coleridge, Anc. Mar., II. v. We were the first that ever burst Into that silent sea.
1813. Mar. Edgeworth, Patron., I. v. 98. The flames burst in from the burning trellis.
1835. Marryat, Jacob Faithf., i. My father burst up from the cabin.
Phrase-key:—To burst abroad, 14; b away, 18; b banks, 9; b a blood-vessel, 8 b; b bonds, 9; b one’s brains, 10; bud b, 2 b; b one’s buttons, 8 b; cloud b, 2 b; b a door, 13; b down, 7 b; b forth, 6 b, 6 c, 15, 15 b, 15 c, 16; b a frontier, 9 c; b from, 15 b, 15 f; b the heart, 10; b for hunger, 1 c; b into, 6 c, 15, 20; b on, 6 b, 15 b, 17; b on the wing, 18; b open, 5, 13; b out, 3, 6 b, 6 c, 14, 15, 15 b, 15 d, 16; b ranks, 9 c; b one’s sides, 8 b; b through, 15 b, 19; b up, 2, 8 c, 20; b upon, 15 b; b with, 5 b, 6 a.
