break out

Verb

break out (third-person singular simple present breaks out, present participle breaking out, simple past broke out, past participle broken out)

1. (intransitive) To escape, especially forcefully or defiantly.
   • They broke out of prison in the middle of the night.
   • The brigade succeeded in breaking out of the pocket and reunited with friendly forces.

   Synonyms:

   bust out

2. (transitive) To rescue someone or aid their escape as in sense 1.
   • After Big Tony was sent to prison, his friends got together to break him out.

   Synonyms:

   bust out

3. (idiomatic, transitive) To bring out from storage, use, or present.
   • Break out the bubbly and celebrate.
   • Before you immediately break out calculus, consider that there might be a more elegant way to find the answer in this case.

   Synonyms:

   bust out

4. (transitive) To separate (something) from a bundle.
   • Break out the cables from the harness once they are inside the frame.

   Synonyms:

   sunder out

5. (transitive) To take or force out by breaking.
   • to break out a pane of glass
6. (intransitive) To begin suddenly; to emerge in a certain condition.
   • He broke out in sweat.
   • He broke out in song.
7. (intransitive) To suddenly get pimples or a rash, especially on one's face.
   • break out in hives
   • break out in a rash
8. (intransitive, especially recording industry or movies) (Of a record, film, product, or company): to achieve widespread success.
   • It wasn't until later that her album broke out and she hit the big time.
   • The record first happened a few years ago in Florida and had considerable sales. A year later, the record broke out again in Florida and again experienced considerable sales. Both times, it either made the chart or bubbled under.1971, Billboard, volume 83, number 13, page 31
9. (New-England, obsolete) To remove snow from a road or sidewalk.
   • Art. 24—To see what action the town will take in relation to breaking out highways and what portion of the road money, if any, shall be reserved for this purpose.1895, Judkins, Brawn & Eaton, "Town Warrant" in 79th Annual Report of the Municipal Officers of the Town of Dexter (Maine), Bunker & Warren, page 6