Rupture, n.
Etymology: [L. ruptura, fr. rumpere, ruptum to break: cf. F. rupture. See Reave, and cf. Rout a defeat.]
1. The act of breaking apart, or separating; the state of being asunder; as, the rupture of the skin; the rupture of a vessel or fiber; the rupture of a lutestring. Arbuthnot. Hatch from the egg, that soon, Bursting with kindly rupture, forth disclosed Their callow young. Milton.
2. Breach of peace or concord between individuals; open hostility or war between nations; interruption of friendly relations; as, the parties came to a rupture. He knew that policy would desincline Napoleon from a rupture with his family. E. Everett.
3. (Med.)
Hernia. See Hernia.
2 more senses
4. A bursting open, as of a steam boiler, in a less sudden manner than by explosion. See Explosion. Modulus of rupture. (Engin.) See under Modulus.
Syn. -- Fracture; breach; break; burst; disruption; dissolution. See Fracture.
2 other Webster entries under this spelling
Rupture, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Ruptured; p. pr. & vb. n. Rupturing.]
1. To part by violence; to break; to burst; as, to rupture a blood vessel.
2. To produce a hernia in.
Rupture, v. i.
To suffer a breach or disruption.
Shades of meaning
Fernald has no entry of its own for rupture; he lists it under break, rend.
Where he writes about it:
To burst or rupture is to tear or rend by force from within, burst denoting the greater violence; as, to burst a gun; to rupture a blood-vessel; a steam-boiler may be ruptured when its substance is made to divide by internal pressure without explosion. — from rend