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breaker

breaker

35 9.3
A person who splits large rocks to make blocks of stone
  • noun
  • /ˈbreɪkər/
  • Archaic
translation icon : cantero
  • As a breaker, he had to use special tools to carefully remove blocks of stone from the rock face.
  • stone breaker

Examples

  • I am Ajax, breaker of stones!

  • At dawn they took him from his cell and walked him down to the stone breaker's yard and stood him before a wall.

  • Socrates grabbed the skinny arms with his big hands—the rock breakers, as Joe Benz used to call them.

    Fiction book (1998)
  • The breaker skillfully split the large boulders into manageable pieces.

  • Every morning, the breaker arrived at the quarry to start working on the stone.

Synonyms

ledgeman
vsbreaker
  • Archaic
9.9

A man who splits stone blocks from a ledge in a quarry

is more general, splitting blocks from larger rock not only from ledges
stone breaker
vsbreaker
6.7

A person who smashes large hard rocks by hand for building or road work

is specific to quarry work, splitting blocks from larger rock not road construction

Compounds

deal-breaker
  • Informal
30 3.7

A problem that makes someone reject an offer or relationship

circuit breaker
  • Specialized
8 3.9

A device that automatically stops electric current to prevent overloads

deal-breaker
  • Informal
3 4.8

Causing an offer or plan to fail

A person or thing that beats a previous record

circuit breaker
  • Specialized
1 4.5

A way in software to stop contacting a failing service to prevent more failures

ball-breaker
  • Offensive
1 9.1

A very hard task or job that is tiring and difficult

1 9.9

A woman who is very strict and makes others feel afraid or unhappy

breaker point
  • Archaic
8.8

A small metal part in older car engines that opens and closes to send electricity to the spark plugs

9.9

An illegal drug that makes you see things that are not real

A person who destroys religious pictures or statues

A person or company that buys old ships and takes them apart to sell metal

A person who smashes large hard rocks by hand for building or road work

How Fine

pulverizer
  • US
1 7.2
disintegrator
  • Specialized
1 7.7
grinder
  • Specialized
27 2.5
shredder
23 3.0
crusher
  • Specialized
61 3.9
breaker
  • Archaic
35 9.3

Surface Forms

breaker singular
breakers plural

Morphology

breaker = break (transparent) = break + er

Clear agentive formation from the verb 'break' ('one who breaks'); learners who know 'break' and the suffix '-er' can infer this occupational sense.

Etymology

Breaker comes from the simple verb break, which means 'to separate or split', plus the ending -er that shows 'a person who' or 'something that' does the action. So a breaker was originally a person who breaks rock into blocks, which is why it names a quarry worker who splits stone.