1. Literally, to escape from physical restraints. The robber had tied me to a chair, but I was able to break away and flee the house.I had to chase my dog down the street after he broke away during our walk.Make sure she's securely fastened in there. Now that she's walking, you don't want her to be able to break away from the stroller.
2. By extension, to move away or separate from someone or something. I'm starting to break away from the religious tradition I was raised in.That 10-game win streak really helped them to break away from the other teams in the conference.Ultimately, she had to break away from her family and their dysfunctional ways in order to live a healthier life.
3. To leave or stop a particular activity. I know you have to finish this paper, but can you break away for a bit and talk to your grandparents?I'm sorry, George is on the phone with the Denver office right now and can't break away. Is there anything I can help you with?Well, dinner's ready, so you need to break away from your video game.
to break a part or piece of something away from the whole. She broke a bit away and popped it into her mouth.Todd broke away a piece from the bar of candy.
1.Lit. to get free of the physical hold of someone. I tried to break away from him, but he was holding me too tight.She broke free from him, at last.I broke free from the intruder.
2.Fig. to sever a relationship with another person, especially the parent-child relationship. He found it hard to break away from his mother.She was almost thirty before she finally broke free.
1. Leave hurriedly, escape, get loose. For example, The boy tried to break away, but his mother held onto his coat, or On the last lap the horse broke away from the pack. [First half of 1500s]
2. Sever connections with a group. For example, It was hard for me to break away from that organization, but I knew it was necessary.
3. Stop doing something, as in She broke away from work long enough to go out for lunch.
1. To separate or detach something in order to clear a space: It was easier to dig through the snow once we had broken the icy crust away.
2. To separate or detach oneself: Our politics began to change, so we broke away from the political party we had belonged to. The ice on the shore began to break away once the weather got warmer.
3. To move rapidly away from or ahead of a group: The cyclist broke away from the pack and was soon very far ahead.
But that same pitch would be difficult to drag-bunt because the hitter would be leaning the wrong way (away from first base) when he bunted the ball and thus get a slow break away from the plate.
Joe Connolly, chairman of Gowran Park, said yesterday: "We may be making ourselves unpopular, but we feel we have to put our heads on the block and break away from the AIR line.
Tremper also conducts a series of tests to see how much force is needed to make the snowpack shear and break away. For example, he isolates a column of snow and taps it progressively harder until the snow breaks away.
Only when NPR makes certain that it does "not have that commercial bent at all" (to return to the quote from Delano Lewis) can it truly be called "public" radio; and only when NPR rids itself of the twin perils of corporate money and government meddling can it possibly break away from the commercial pack and regularly air those "alternative points of view" so often rendered mute in our national dialogues.
Break Away Belize Travel has a limited number of slots for visitors who want to dive with whale sharks, and they offer special whale shark diving vacation packages at affordable rates.
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