Word Meanings - BREAKDOWN - Book Publishers vocabulary database

1. The act or result of breaking down, as of a carriage; downfall. A noisy, rapid, shuffling dance engaged in competitively by a number of persons or pairs in succession, as among the colored people of the Southern United States, and so called,

Additional info about word: BREAKDOWN

1. The act or result of breaking down, as of a carriage; downfall. A noisy, rapid, shuffling dance engaged in competitively by a number of persons or pairs in succession, as among the colored people of the Southern United States, and so called, perhaps, because the exercise is continued until most of those who take part in it break down. Any rude, noisy dance performed by shuffling the feet, usually by one person at a time. Don't clear out when the quadrilles are over, for we are going to have a breakdown to wind up with. New Eng. Tales.

Related words: (words related to BREAKDOWN)

• CALLOSUM
  The great band commissural fibers which unites the two cerebral hemispheres. See corpus callosum, under Carpus.
• COLORMAN
  A vender of paints, etc. Simmonds.
• CALLOW
  1. Destitute of feathers; naked; unfledged. An in the leafy summit, spied a nest, Which, o'er the callow young, a sparrow pressed. Dryden. 2. Immature; boyish; "green"; as, a callow youth. I perceive by this, thou art but a callow maid. Old Play .
• DANCER
  One who dances or who practices dancing. The merry dancers, beams of the northern lights when they rise and fall alternately without any considerable change of length. See Aurora borealis, under Aurora.
• STATESMANLIKE
  Having the manner or wisdom of statesmen; becoming a statesman.
• CALLE
  A kind of head covering; a caul. Chaucer.
• BREAKMAN
  See BRAKEMAN
• UNITERABLE
  Not iterable; incapable of being repeated. "To play away an uniterable life." Sir T. Browne.
• NUMBERFUL
  Numerous.
• BREAKABLE
  Capable of being broken.
• SOUTHERNLINESS
  Southerliness.
• PEOPLE
  1. The body of persons who compose a community, tribe, nation, or race; an aggregate of individuals forming a whole; a community; a nation. Unto him shall the gathering of the people be. Gen. xlix. 10. The ants are a people not strong. Prov. xxx.
• RAPID
  1. Very swift or quick; moving with celerity; fast; as, a rapid stream; a rapid flight; a rapid motion. Ascend my chariot; guide the rapid wheels. Milton. 2. Advancing with haste or speed; speedy in progression; in quick sequence; as, rapid growth;
• RAPIDNESS
  Quality of being rapid; rapidity.
• RESULTIVE
  Resultant. Fuller.
• UNITIVE
  Having the power of uniting; causing, or tending to produce, union. Jer. Taylor.
• COLORATE
  Colored. Ray.
• COLORIMETRY
  The quantitative determination of the depth of color of a substance. 2. A method of quantitative chemical analysis based upon the comparison of the depth of color of a solution with that of a standard liquid.
• CARRIAGEABLE
  Passable by carriages; that can be conveyed in carriages. Ruskin.
• CALL
  callen, AS. ceallin; akin to Icel & Sw. kalla, Dan. kalde, D. kallen 1. To command or request to come or be present; to summon; as, to call a servant. Call hither Clifford; bid him come amain Shak. 2. To summon to the discharge of a particular
• GYMNASTICALLY
  In a gymnastic manner.
• MAKE AND BREAK
  Any apparatus for making and breaking an electric circuit; a circuit breaker.
• HYPERCRITICALLY
  In a hypercritical manner.
• UNEMPIRICALLY
  Not empirically; without experiment or experience.
• SCALLION
  A kind of small onion , native of Palestine; the eschalot, or shallot. 2. Any onion which does not "bottom out," but remains with a thick stem like a leek. Amer. Cyc.
• LAWBREAKER
  One who disobeys the law; a criminal. -- Law"break`ing, n. & a.
• ASCENDANCY; ASCENDANCE
  See ASCENDENCY
• CONCOLOR
  Of the same color; of uniform color. "Concolor animals." Sir T. Browne.
• COUNTRY-DANCE
  See MACUALAY
• UNIVOCALLY
  In a univocal manner; in one term; in one sense; not equivocally. How is sin univocally distinguished into venial and mortal, if the venial be not sin Bp. Hall.
• REENGAGEMENT
  A renewed or repeated engagement.
• PARABOLICALLY
  1. By way of parable; in a parabolic manner. 2. In the form of a parabola.