break-in

[ breyk-in ]
See synonyms for break-in on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. an illegal entry into a home, car, office, etc.

Origin of break-in

1
First recorded in 1855–60; noun use of verb phrase break in

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use break-in in a sentence

  • But Lessard's a overbearin' son-of-a-gun all round, and he's always breakin' out in a new place.

    Raw Gold | Bertrand W. Sinclair
  • Thats the Gunners wire; dont you git breakin it, or they cant call up to git on with the shellin.

    Grapes of wrath | Boyd Cable
  • I'll walk forty times more, an' forty on top av that, ye shovel-futted clod-breakin' infantry lance-corp'ril.

    Soldier Stories | Rudyard Kipling
  • Jim said that was tough; he says it's back-breakin' work; that quarryin' an' cuttin' ain't nothin' to that—ten hours a day, too.

    Flamsted quarries | Mary E. Waller
  • "I ain't breakin' no law; this is yarb bitters," Jabe answered, with a pull at the bottle.

    The Village Watch-Tower | (AKA Kate Douglas Riggs) Kate Douglas Wiggin

British Dictionary definitions for break in

break in

verb(adverb)
  1. (sometimes foll by on) to interrupt

  2. (intr) to enter a house, etc, illegally, esp by force

  1. (tr) to accustom (a person or animal) to normal duties or practice

  2. (tr) to use or wear (shoes, new equipment, etc) until comfortable or running smoothly

  3. (tr) Australian and NZ to bring (new land) under cultivation

nounbreak-in
    • the illegal entering of a building, esp by thieves

    • (as modifier): the break-in plans

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Idioms and Phrases with break-in

break-in

Enter by force, as in The thieves broke in through the back door. [Mid-1500s] Also see break into.

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.