Word.ws English Dictionary

breaks gates

breaks gates is the third-person singular simple present indicative of break gates.

Meaning of break gates

Verb

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

  1. (UK, dated, idiomatic, universities) To enter an Oxford or Cambridge college enclosure after the hour to which a student has been restricted.
    • He broke gates to-day; and then there was something that Grove did'nt seem inclined to be very explicit about.1868, “Willowstoke”, in The Light blue, a Cambridge university magazine, volume 3, page 210
  2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see break, gates.
    • I have had horses break gates with me , and that both with and without getting a fall ; but candour must make me allow I never rode at one contemplating such a result ;1846, Harry Hieover, Stable Talk and Table Talk, Or, Spectacles for Young Sportsmen, page 32

Questions about breaks gates

What is breaks gates the third-person singular simple present indicative of?
Breaks gates is the third-person singular simple present indicative of break gates.

Words near breaks gates in the dictionary

  1. breaks edge
  2. breaks even
  3. breaks fast
  4. breaks free
  5. breaks from
  6. breaks gates
  7. breaks ground
  8. breaks in
  9. breaks into
  10. breaks into a run
  11. breaks it

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: breaks gates (page history and authors); break gates (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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