break, n.² — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

break n.²

1. (orig. US) an escape, from prison or custody.

1865		A.J.H. Duganne Camps and Prisons 346: Six officers were in the party, but this number grew to fifteen before the ‘break’ was made.
1882		Ford County Globe 18 July in Miller & Snell Why the West was Wild 216: They had prepared for this break for weeks before hand.
1888		T. Roosevelt in Century Mag. (N.Y.)May 49: The slightest attempt at a break would result in their being shot down.
1898		Coconino Sun (FLagstaff, AZ) 23 Apr. 6/1: All three [...] have finally been recaptured and returned to the penitentiary where they will [...] repent the bad break they made.
1908		J. Kelley Thirteen Years in Oregon Penitentiary 84: He was giving his companion a gam, and trying to learn if there was going to be a break.
1912		D. Lowrie My Life in Prison 147: The mess hall guards imagined that some kind of a riot or ‘break’ was in progress in the yard.
1915		J. London Star Rover (1963) 10: He claimed that he could dope the guards the night of the break.
1935		D. Lamson We Who Are About to Die 79: The effect on the rest of the prison of a break or a disturbance is hard to describe.
1947		N. Algren ‘Depend on Aunt Elly’ in Texas Stories (1995) 100: For that much [money] you can get a real break — with the car, of course.
1953		I. Hamilton Till Human Voices Wake Us 115: A jail break’s a hell of a thing.
1960		P. Rabe My Lovely Executioner (2006) 25: This wasn’t my break [...] a break I knew nothing about, a break I didn’t need.
1999		E. Bunker Mr Blue 337: Folsom has had bloodbath breaks.

2. (UK Und.) a building with two entrances/exits, used by con men to disappear from their victim or pursuer.

1929

C.G. Gordon Crooks of the Und. 128: A ‘break’ is any building where one can enter by one door and leave by another without being in direct view of a person standing in the door of entry. [Ibid.] 206: These double-exit premises are known to grafters as ‘breaks,’ or ‘threwers,’ and are used by them for the purpose of ‘shaking off a tail’.

In compounds

break (man) (n.)

(Aus. und.) that member of a pickpocket team to whom the stolen object is passed and who promptly disappears with it.

1919

V.J. Marshall World of Living Dead (1929) n.p.: [T] ‘break’ man received the ‘pogue’ from the swift fingers of the ‘hook’, and falls [...] away.

In phrases

do a break (v.)

(Aus.) to run off, to depart.

1910		Bulletin (Sydney) 15 Dec. 25/3: He is ‘doing a break’ shortly. His is a ‘rotten job’ – too much blanky work; too many blanky beltings with the leg-rope.
1915		C.J. Dennis ‘A Spring Song’ in Songs of a Sentimental Bloke 13: A feelin’ like I want to do a break, / An’ stoush creation for some woman’s sake.
1918		Aussie (France) 5 June 4/2: I remembers what you told me about them girls, who take a bloke down and do a break with his dough.

get the break (v.)

to be dismissed from employment; thus breaker n., one who has been dismissed.

1900–10

Stephens & O’Brien Materials for a Dict. of Aus. Sl. [unpub. ms.] 26: BREAK: to get the break, to be dismissed, analogous to military practise of breaking an officer’s sword when expelled; a defaulter is a breaker.

make a break (v.) (also make a break for it)

(orig. US) to escape or attempt to escape, usu. from prison.

1882		Ford County Globe 18 July in Miller & Snell Why the West was Wild 216: They [...] were only waiting for an opportunity when they could find the principal officer absent, to make the break.
1899		J. Flynt Tramping with Tramps 370: He bellered out, ‘Make a break, anyhow, ’n’ perhaps we’ll give ’em the slip.’.
1927		(con. 1917–18) J.M. Saunders Wings (1928) 201: Now if we’re going to make a break we’ve got to do it quick.
1927		D. Hammett ‘The Big Knockover’ Story Omnibus (1966) 318: He made a break, grabbed Houston’s gat with both hands.
1931		O. Strange Law O’ The Lariat 119: Foller my tracks, an’ if you feel like makin’ a break, just remember there’s a coupla chaps behind yu with orders to shoot.
1938		Press (Canterbury) 2 Apr. 18: To ‘make a break’ is to escape the police.
1947		W.D. Overholser Buckaroo’s Code (1948) 70: No use of you getting an idea about making a break ’cause it won’t get you nothing but a slug.
1957		R. Prather Always Leave ’Em Dying 58: Two cops, even half-drunk ones, were bad enough, but three would reduce my chances nearly to zero. If I were going to make a break, it would have to be right now.
1967		P. Thomas Down These Mean Streets (1970) 49: Make a break for it down the basement steps and through the back yards—get away in one piece!
1970		‘Red’ Rudensky Gonif 3: I had plotted and made good a break at Elmira’s correctional institution.
1987		(con. 1920s) L. Redmond Emerald Square 105: When the bell went, we made a break for it and together were over the gate just in front of the pack.
1988		McGill Dict. of Kiwi Sl. 72/1: make a break run away from the police, c.1932.
2003		McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. [as cit. 1988].

make a break for (v.)

to head towards (not necessarily an escape).

1846		in Saint Louis (MO) Reveille in Oehlschlaeger (1990) 132: I made a break for home.
1933		W.R. Burnett Dark Hazard (1934) 216: He wanted to make a break for the door.
1979		‘Iceberg Slim’ Airtight Willie and Me 38: She swirled on her stool like she was making a country break for the door.
1994		N. McCall Makes Me Wanna Holler (1995) 184: I’m gonna make a break for the fence.

break n.2

In compounds

In phrases

break n.²