Green’s Dictionary of Slang

to give change for a note or large-denomination coin.

1872		J.D. McCabe Lights & Shadows 219: [I] says to the Boss, ‘There’s a man ridin’ free on this line. All the fellows knows him; he gives ’em all a ten dollar note and they can’t break it’.
1874		‘A.P.’ [Arthur Pember] Mysteries and Miseries 339: ‘Fact; the nut broke the bill at Newark; I saw him; he ain’t drunk, and so can’t be bust yet’.
1899		E.W. Hornung Amateur Cracksman (1992) 115: I remember that I broke my last sovereign to get a box of Sullivan’s cigarettes for Raffles.
1938		J. Weidman I Can Get It For You Wholesale 151: I broke a five-dollar bill into quarters.
1947		F. Brown Fabulous Clipjoint (1949) 52: He broke a five.
2001		(con. 1964–8) J. Ellroy Cold Six Thousand 90: Pete broke three C-notes.