noun

• 1A heavy sea wave that breaks into white foam on the shore.

  ‘In a split second all eyes turned eastward and there, at the end of Telescope Point, was the white sail barely visible as it competed with the white foam of the breakers.’

  More example sentences

  • ‘We went off quickly to the beach to look at the Baltic - walked through the forest from the car park, and then on to the very fine sand on an almost totally deserted beach, with heavy breakers rolling onto the shore.’
  • ‘The men heaved on the oars and the ship rolled and heaved through the white breakers.’
  • ‘But as I drew the curtains next morning, I could see white breakers crashing onto the beach.’
  • ‘It is only the white breakers that make me realise that it is the sea that now fills the cockpit windows.’
  • ‘The boys and I bodysurf and rent surfboards, plunging into happy white breakers.’
  • ‘The waves may be crashing hard around your ears and the harsh, white breakers stinging your eyes, but hope springs eternal.’
  • ‘The copper protecting her wooden frame was stripped off by breakers, but the ship herself burned before anything of use could be taken off her.’
  • ‘At the head of the bay it broke in a fearful line of white breakers, which rushed up to a height of 23 vertical feet above the highest spring-tides.’
  • ‘And you could see a wave of big breakers roll in off the coast.’
  • ‘You've seen them riding the bow wave of your boat, patrolling the beach just beyond the breakers or bursting from the briny to leap clear of the water, apparently just for the fun of it.’
  • ‘More than one contestant was pounded by a sneaker set out on the reef, or was caught unawares by an evil double up shore breaker as they struggled to extract themselves and their massive boards from the sea.’
  • ‘Finally, as they were closing in yet again, we veered toward shore and crossed a line of breakers onto the reef.’
  • ‘But New Plymouth's unsheltered coast produced some large breakers, often making the trip from ship to shore or vice versa a treacherous one.’
  • ‘On an afternoon in late spring the breakers that roll ashore on Cape Hatteras are a milky jade, a color that reminds me how far south we are, and how close to the Gulf Stream.’
  • ‘This tsunami, with breakers estimated at 10 metres, was small compared to the wave caused by the exploding volcano Krakatoa on August 23, 1883.’
  • ‘I felt swept under, the way a wave would take you unawares at the shore, and roll you down into the breakers, sucking you in and pulling you across the sand underneath.’
  • ‘The upper registers of the painting are slightly bluer, but lots of white mottles this very loose rendition of breakers and turbulent sky.’
  • ‘We're just 50 feet outside the breakers and headed on a quarter angle towards the shore.’
  • ‘But now that the sun was fully out, he could see beyond the breakers, way beyond the waves to the flat water at the back.’

  Synonyms

  wave, roller, comber, white horse, white cap

  View synonyms

• 2A person or thing that breaks something.

  in combination ‘a rule-breaker’

  More example sentences

  • ‘Add to that: vain, an inveterate breaker of promises, a gambler and a lover of alibis, and the picture becomes ever more confusing.’
  • ‘And if either of you break the pact the other person you shook with gets to hurt the promise breaker in some way.’
  • ‘Trips on the train and to the White House serve as tension breakers - and can only help keep the Coyotes together.’
  • ‘The 137 metre stretch of the road also has a couple of speed breakers with a blue and white paint marking.’
  • ‘Every fall the BNSF deploys a fleet of spreaders, icicle breakers and snow dozers such as this one to points along the line in order to keep the trains moving.’
  • ‘They have solid depth up front, but lack a true game breaker in the open ice, despite their overall skating skill.’
  • ‘Motorists whiz down the street and when the speed breaker suddenly looms ahead they swerve to avoid it.’
  • ‘But there are some drop dead deal breakers, absolute drop dead deal breakers and abuse is one of them.’
  • ‘Every day they flood in, albums full of talent, hard work and innovation: avant-garde hustlers, master musicians, rule breakers, inventors and brand-new-sound-makers.’
  • ‘Nicholas said the work - cutting through the remains of a huge concrete safe - had been strenuous and they had taken it in turns to operate the breaker.’
  • ‘Okta argues that this would be to apply the general rule that damages are to be assessed on the basis that the contract breaker would have performed the contract in the way that would have benefited it most.’
  • ‘At any time there are about 80 to 100 men involved and they only slightly outnumber the excavators, rock breakers, graders, dumper trucks and other machinery on the project.’
  • ‘The real deal maker or breaker will be the PS3's price though, too low and they are just going to lose too much money, which they certainly can't afford, and too high and they run the risk of reduced sales.’
  • ‘It is often the case that failure to perform one contract will lead to a series of consequent breaches of contracts to which the original contract breaker is not party.’
  • ‘What most striking is that this move is now not likely to be the deal maker or breaker.’
  • ‘Companies looking to acquire other businesses sometimes make customer service a deal breaker.’

  1. 2.1British A person who breaks up disused machinery.
     ‘those steam engines were now gone to the breaker's yard’
     More example sentences

     • ‘Having used small man-made objets trouvés in his early sculpture, from 1958 he began to incorporate parts of machines salvaged from breakers' yards.’
     • ‘A breakers yard has been operating from the land since 1950.’
     • ‘Doncaster police are also investigating an assault in a breakers yard on Greenfield Lane in the Balby area of Doncaster.’
     • ‘What with me being a Yorkshireman and Kev fancying himself as a bit of a mechanic we thought we'd throw caution to the wind and at least see if they had another 405 down at the breakers yard.’
     • ‘Four former US Navy vessels contaminated with toxic chemicals are heading to Hartlepool, Teesside, to be dismantled at a breakers yard.’
     • ‘More and more, it's looking like its time to trundle 'em off to the breakers yard.’
     • ‘We used to have a guy who would bring us in a bagful of coins, all scraped and bent, which he had got out of cars at the breaker's yard where he worked.’
     • ‘The question is simply this: should great passenger ships, when they come to the end of their working life, be saved and turned into a museum piece or consigned to the breaker's yard to be fondly remembered as they were in their heydays?’
     • ‘Trincomalee escaped the breaker's yard in 1897 when the philanthropist Wheatly Cobb bought her to replace his training ship HMS Foudroyant, which had been lost in a storm off Blackpool.’
     • ‘Funny, I've got the business sense of a machine breaker.’
     • ‘I had hoped to get the trim from a breaker's yard but have had no luck.’
     • ‘Villagers have lost their fight to halt plans to expand a breaker's yard in the open countryside.’
     • ‘One was trapped in a wrecked car supplied by a local breakers yard, while the other wandered around the square in a dazed state.’
     • ‘It looks like an act of vandalism, the equivalent of sending a collection of vintage cars to the breaker's yard just because they don't meet modern emission standards.’
     • ‘Some of the ships were old hulks that had been destined for the breakers' yard when pressed into service.’
     • ‘She was on her way to the breakers' yard carrying a cargo of coal that shifted in a fierce NNW gale, causing her to take on water and founder off Penzance on 29 December 1911.’
     • ‘UNTIL 1994 US ships were sent to breakers in countries like India, Bangladesh and China to be decommissioned.’
     • ‘Holland 1 was built in 1901 and sank off the Eddystone Lighthouse on her way to the breaker's yard in 1913.’
     • ‘In 1964 she was sold to Freeport Bahama Enterprises, becoming the floating hotel Imperial Bahama, but sailed off to the breakers the next year.’
     • ‘The 65 ft ‘Onward’ N.264 is the latest vessel to go under the breaker's hammer.’
  2. 2.2
     short for circuit breaker

• 3A person who interrupts a conversation on a Citizens' Band radio channel, indicating that they wish to transmit a message.

  1. 3.1Any CB radio user.

• 4A break dancer.

  ‘Bruises, sprained wrists and ankles, and dislocated shoulders are not uncommon for a breaker.’

  More example sentences

  • ‘A break-dancer is also known as a breaker.’
  • ‘They also feature some histories and definitions for new breakers.’