Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (US) to appear.

1885

Bulletin (Sydney) 20 Jun. 6/1: The Rev. J.F. Horsley, who has been playing the part of literary apostle of Barkerism this couple of years back in Victoria, has broken out in a fresh place.

2. to break open a package and remove its contents; to get an article or articles from a place of storage.

1840		R.H. Dana Two Years before the Mast (1992) 100: There is always a good deal to be done in the hold: goods to be broken out.
1849		N. Kingsley Diary (1914) 22: Broke out our chests to-day, found all our things in good order. [Ibid.] 73: They broke out the baggage room to-day to get iron for various purposes [OED].
1877		Fraser’s Mag. XV. 221: Afterwards the fish are broken out and washed, and then packed in wooden hogshead casks .
1929		A.J. Barr Let Tomorrow Come 228: These screws are all so chipper they would break out guns and make them crack after a running vic for the fun of it.
1946		Mezzrow & Wolfe Really the Blues 12: Professor Scott would break out his trombone and join in.
1958		E. Gilbert Vice Trap 41: Come. Break out a joint, jesus.
1965		H. Rhodes Chosen Few (1966) 58: Jim needed such a gathering to persuade him to break out his raisin brew.
1977		A. Brooke Last Toke 200: Break out one o’ them joints, bro.
1982		(con. 1970) J.M. Del Vecchio 13th Valley (1983) 81: Soldiers were breaking out bottles of hard liquor.
1991		M.B. ‘Chopper’ Read Chopper From The Inside 66: Now and then he would break out a small bottle of whisky.
1999		T. Dorsey Florida Roadkill 137: The ad exec broke out his stash immediately.

3. (also break over) to become socially or sexually wild.

1896		‘Army Slang’ in Regiment 8 Aug. 293/3: Staid old soldiers, many of whom had been ‘on the tack’ [...] ‘broke out’ and got ‘gloriously’ drunk.
1897		T.J. Henry Claude Garton 50: They had even broken out a little during the professor's song, and at ordinary times were so boisterous as to give rise to the suspicion that they had been devoting themselves too assiduously to the practical worship of Bacchus.
1924		‘Digit’ Confessions of a Twentieth Century Hobo 118: Your wife, too, is rather nice when she does not break out.
1930		K. Brush Young Man of Manhattan 89: Don’t be mean. Let Toby break over, just this once [...] let him have a couple of drinks.
1974		A. Pierrepoint Executioner 22: He signed the pledge, went teetotal for five weeks, met some friends and broke out again.
1995		Francis-Jackson Official Dancehall Dict. 7: Bruk-out to let loose, to become wild or promiscuous.

4. (US tramp) to become a tramp.

1899

J. Flynt Tramping with Tramps 387: The man who has ‘just broken out’ is [...] one who has newly joined the fraternity.

5. (UK milit.) to return to drinking after a period of abstention.

1900

Regiment 27 Jan. 288/1: [S]hould he happen to be induced by a chum to ‘have a wet,’ he is said to have ‘broke out,’ or ‘gone off the tack,’ or ‘broken the teapot’.

6. to wake someone.

1948

Heggen & Logan Mister Roberts I i: Why didn’t you break me out?

7. (US black) to leave.

1959		E. De Roo Young Wolves 53: Let’s break out of here. Steaks at the Highway Hangout.
1969		C. Brown Mr Jive-Ass Nigger 14: Reb had a mallet [. . . .] After Reb leveled on that nigger principal's head with that mallet, he broke out and ran.
1992		D. Burke Street Talk 2 34: This party’s played [...] I’m breakin’ out.
2002		‘Touré’ Portable Promised Land (ms.) 157: We Words (My Favorite Things) [...] Sho nuff. Bust this. Ass out. Break out. Bug out. Kick it.
2007		B. Coleman Check the Technique 335: ‘Culture didn’t really get along with GF, so me and Culture broke out’.

8. to free, e.g. from prison.

1969		H. Rap Brown Die Nigger Die! 103: They put me in the city jail in Alexandria and when the Black community got the word they came down to the jail. I heard a lot of noise and I didn’t find out until later that they had come down there and were willing to break me out.
1970		‘Red’ Rudensky Gonif 49: Two major outfits outside were in dire need of a box slugger and would collaborate to break me out.
1990		S. Morgan Homeboy 3: A biker called Sugarfoot broke her out of the Encino splitlevel.
2021		T. Pluck Boy from County Hell 172: ‘Thanks for bringing your papa’s hatchet. He’ll want it when we break him out’.