A dictionary of Confusable Phrases: More Than 10,000 Idioms and Collocations

break it down • break it up
break it down —
1
. explain smth.: Let me break it down for
you — when a dog shows its teeth, it’s about to attack you. 2.
(Austral., NZ sl.) stop it; come off it (used as an expression of
disbelief, disagreement or a plea for moderation): Let’s break it
down. I said I don’t know the man. Never met him.
brand-name dropping
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break it up —
1
. disperse; get moving: A policeman forced
his way through the crowd, shouting, “Stand aside! Break it
up!” 2. stop the fight or quarrel: All right you two, break it
up! Don’t make me get a hose on you…
break one’s silence • break the silence
break one’s silence —
1
. finally bring up a subject: Charlotte
described the telephone call with which the kidnappers had
broken their silence. 2. say smth. after a long pause in con-
versation: Enoch sat hunched and brooding, breaking his si-
lence only to pass the time of day with John Biffen.
break the silence — = break one’s silence 2: Everything was
quiet and time seemed to stand still until Jill broke the silence
saying that Dave had won.
break something away • break something off •
break something out
break something away —detach smth. completely by break-
ing: You’ll have to break the branches away to get through the
thick forest.
break something off —
1
. cause smth. to come apart from
smth. else: Mary broke off some of the chocolate to give to
the children. 2. = break something away: These are wonderful
plants and I definitely need advice on what to do after they
bloom. How far do you break the branches off? 3. (of an agree-
ment, association, etc.) end abruptly; discontinue: The talks
were broken off an hour ago and will not be resumed today.
4. stop doing smth. for a short time: Let’s break off work and
have a cup of tea now.
break something out—
1
. break smth. in an outward direction:
They had to break the door out to escape from the fire. 2. un-
fold or open smth.: We must break out a new case of wine for
his birthday.