• (RP) enPR: brōk, IPA: /bɹəʊk/
• (America) enPR: brōk, IPA: /bɹoʊk/

1. simple past tense of break
2. (archaic, nonstandard or poetic) past participle of break#English|break
   • 1999 October 3, J. Stewart Burns, "Mars University", Futurama, season 2, episode 2, Fox Broadcasting Company

     Guenther: I guess the hat must have broke my fall.

broke (not comparable)

1. (informal) Financially ruined, bankrupt.
   • 1665 July 6, Samuel Pepys, Vol. VI, p. 150:

     It seems some of his Creditors have taken notice of it, and he was like to be broke yesterday in his absence.

2. (informal) Without any money, penniless.

   ''dead broke; flat broke

3. (informal) Broken.

   If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

4. Emotionally shattered, humbled or crushed.
5. (nautical) Demoted, deprived of a commission.

   He was broke and rendered unfit to serve His Majesty at sea.

• (without money) See Thesaurus:impoverished

• French: fauché, à sec (invariable), (formally) désargenté
• German: pleite, abgebrannt
• Italian: al verde (invariable), in bancarotta, fallito
• Portuguese: quebrado, duro, liso
• Russian: разориться
• Spanish: pelado, sin un duro, sin un peso, sin blanca, tieso

broke (plural brokes)

1. (papermaking) Paper or board that is discarded and repulped during the manufacturing process.
   • 1914, The World's Paper Trade Review ↗, Volume 62, page 204:

     Presumably, most of the brokes and waste were used up in this manner, and during the manufacture of the coarse stuff little or no attention was paid to either cleanliness or colour.

   • 2014 September 25, Judge Diane Wood, NCR Corp. v. George A. Whiting Paper Co. ↗:

     These mills purchase broke from other paper mills through middlemen and use it to make paper.

2. (obsolete) A fragment, remains, a piece broken off.

broke (brokes, present participle broking; past and past participle broked)

1. To act as a broker; to transact business for another.
2. (obsolete) To act as procurer in love matters; to pimp.
   • c. 1604–1605, William Shakespeare, “All’s VVell, that Ends VVell”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act III, scene v]:

     And brokes with all that can in such a suit / Corrupt the tender honour of a maid.

broke

1. (slang) Broke off, rich, wealthy