From Middle English bresten, bersten, from Old English berstan, from Proto-West Germanic *brestan, from Proto-Germanic *brestaną, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰres-, enlargement of *bʰreHi- ("to snip, split").

See also Western Frisian boarste, Dutch barsten, Swedish brista; also Irish bris). More at brine. Also cognate to debris.

• (America) IPA: /bɝst/
• (British) IPA: /bɜːst/

burst (bursts, present participle bursting; simple past and past participle burst)

1. (intransitive) To break from internal pressure.

   I blew the balloon up too much, and it burst.

2. (transitive) To cause to break from internal pressure.

   I burst the balloon when I blew it up too much.

3. (transitive, obsolete) To cause to break by any means.
   • c. 1590–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act INDUCTION, scene i]:

     You will not pay for the glasses you have burst?

   • 1600, [Torquato Tasso], “(please specify |book=1 to 20)”, in Edward Fairefax [i.e., Edward Fairfax], transl., Godfrey of Bulloigne, or The Recouerie of Ierusalem. […], London: […] Ar[nold] Hatfield, for I[saac] Iaggard and M[atthew] Lownes, →OCLC ↗:

     He burst his lance against the sand below.

4. (transitive) To separate (printer paper) at perforation lines.

   I printed the report on form-feed paper, then burst the sheets.

5. (intransitive) To enter or exit hurriedly and unexpectedly.
   • 1913, Mariano Azuela, The Underdogs, translated by E. MunguÍa, Jr.

     Like hungry dogs who have sniffed their meat, the mob bursts in, trampling down the women who sought to bar the entrance with their bodies.

6. (intransitive) To erupt; to change state suddenly as if bursting.

   The flowers burst into bloom on the first day of spring.

   • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 6, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC ↗:

     ‘ […] I remember a lady coming to inspect St. Mary's Home where I was brought up and seeing us all in our lovely Elizabethan uniforms we were so proud of, and bursting into tears all over us because “it was wicked to dress us like charity children”. […] ’.

7. (transitive) To produce as an effect of bursting.

   to burst a hole through the wall

   • 1856, Eleanor Marx-Aveling (translator), Gustave Flaubert, Madame Bovary, Part III Chapter X

     He entered Maromme shouting for the people of the inn, burst open the door with a thrust of his shoulder, made for a sack of oats, emptied a bottle of sweet cider into the manger, and again mounted his nag, whose feet struck fire as it dashed along.

8. (transitive) To interrupt suddenly in a violent or explosive manner; to shatter.

• bust

• French: éclater
• German: platzen, zerplatzen, bersten
• Italian: scoppiare, esplodere
• Portuguese: arrebentar, estourar
• Russian: ло́паться
• Spanish: reventar

• French: faire éclater, rompre, briser
• German: sprengen
• Italian: far scoppiare, strappare, separare
• Portuguese: estourar
• Russian: разрыва́ть
• Spanish: reventar, romper

burst (plural bursts)

1. An act or instance of bursting.

   The bursts of the bombs could be heard miles away.

2. A sudden, often intense, expression, manifestation or display.

   Synonyms: spurt

   • 1860 December – 1861 August, Charles Dickens, Great Expectations […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Chapman and Hall, […], published October 1861, →OCLC ↗:

     "It's my wedding-day," cried Biddy, in a burst of happiness, "and I am married to Joe!"

3. A series of shots fired from an automatic firearm.
4. (military) The explosion of a bomb or missile.

   a ground burst; a surface burst

5. (archaic) A drinking spree.

• French: éclatement, explosion
• German: Bersten, Zerbrechen, Platzen
• Italian: scoppio, esplosione
• Portuguese: estouro, explosão
• Russian: взрыв
• Spanish: ráfaga, estallo, reventón, estallido, explosión