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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Breach \Breach\ (br[=e]ch), noun [OE. breke, breche, AS. brice, gebrice, gebrece (in comp.), fr. brecan to break; akin to Dan. br[ae]k, MHG. breche, gap, breach. See {Break}, and cf. {Brake} (the instrument), {Brack} a break] .
1. The act of breaking, in a figurative sense.
2. Specifically: A breaking or infraction of a law, or of any obligation or tie; violation; non-fulfillment; as, a breach of contract; a breach of promise.
3. A gap or opening made made by breaking or battering, as in a wall or fortification; the space between the parts of a solid body rent by violence; a break; a rupture.
Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more; Or close the wall up with our English dead. --Shak.
4. A breaking of waters, as over a vessel; the waters themselves; surge; surf.
The Lord hath broken forth upon mine enemies before me, as the breach of waters. --2 Sam. v. 20.
{A clear breach} implies that the waves roll over the vessel without breaking.
{A clean breach} implies that everything on deck is swept away. --Ham. Nav. Encyc.
5. A breaking up of amicable relations; rupture.
There's fallen between him and my lord An unkind breach. --Shak.
6. A bruise; a wound.
Breach for breach, eye for eye. --Lev. xxiv. 20.
7. (Med.) A hernia; a rupture.
8. A breaking out upon; an assault.
The Lord had made a breach upon Uzza. --1. Chron. xiii. 11.
{Breach of falth}, a breaking, or a failure to keep, an expressed or implied promise; a betrayal of confidence or trust.
{Breach of peace}, disorderly conduct, disturbing the public peace.
{Breach of privilege}, an act or default in violation of the privilege or either house of Parliament, of Congress, or of a State legislature, as, for instance, by false swearing before a committee. --Mozley. Abbott.
{Breach of promise}, violation of one's plighted word, esp. of a promise to marry.
{Breach of trust}, violation of one's duty or faith in a matter entrusted to one.
Syn: Rent; cleft; chasm; rift; aperture; gap; break; disruption; fracture; rupture; infraction; infringement; violation; quarrel; dispute; contention; difference; misunderstanding.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Breach \Breach\, verb (used with an object) [imp. & p. p. {Breached}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Breaching}.] To make a breach or opening in; as, to breach the walls of a city.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Breach \Breach\, verb (used without an object) To break the water, as by leaping out; -- said of a whale.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
breach
noun
1: a failure to perform some promised act or obligation
2: an opening (especially a gap in a dike or fortification)
3: a personal or social separation (as between opposing factions); "they hoped to avoid a break in relations" [syn: {rupture}, {break}, {severance}, {rift}, {falling out}]
verb
1: act in disregard of laws and rules; "offend all laws of humanity"; "violate the basic laws or human civilization"; "break a law" [syn: {transgress}, {offend}, {infract}, {violate}, {go against}, {break}]
2: make an opening or gap in [syn: {gap}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
212 Moby Thesaurus words for "breach": abysm, abyss, alienation, arroyo, atrocity, bad faith, bore, box canyon, breach of contract, breach of faith, breach of friendship, breach of privilege, breach of promise, breach of trust, break, break in, break into, break open, break through, breakage, breaking, burst, burst in, bust, bust in, caesura, canyon, cave in, cavity, cessation, chap, chasm, check, chimney, chink, chip, cleavage, cleave, cleft, cleuch, clough, col, contravene, contravention, coulee, couloir, crack, cranny, crevasse, crevice, crime, crime against humanity, cut, cut apart, cwm, deadly sin, defile, delinquency, dell, dereliction, difference, dike, disaffection, discontinuity, discord, disfavor, disharmony, disobedience, disregard, disrupt, disruption, dissension, disunion, disunity, ditch, divergence, dividedness, division, donga, draw, enormity, error, estrangement, evil, excavation, exfoliate, failure, falling-out, fault, felony, fissure, flaw, flume, force open, fracture, furrow, gap, gape, gash, genocide, gorge, groove, guilty act, gulch, gulf, gully, heavy sin, hiatus, hole, impropriety, incise, incision, indiscretion, inexpiable sin, infract, infraction, infringe, infringement, iniquity, injury, injustice, interim, intermission, interruption, interval, invade, joint, kloof, lacuna, lapse, leak, letup, lull, malefaction, malfeasance, malum, minor wrong, misdeed, misdemeanor, misfeasance, moat, mortal sin, neglect, nonfeasance, nonobservance, notch, nullah, offend, offense, omission, open, open fire, open rupture, open up, opening, outrage, pass, passage, pause, peccadillo, peccancy, penetrate, prize open, quarrel, ravine, recall of ambassadors, rent, rift, rime, rip, rive, rupture, scale, schism, scissure, seam, secession, separation, severance, sin, sin of commission, sin of omission, sinful act, slash, slice, slip, slit, slot, snap, splinter, split, split open, stove in, strife, suspension, tear, tear open, tort, transgress, transgression, trench, trespass, trip, unutterable sin, valley, variance, venial sin, violation, void, wadi, withdrawal, wrong
From Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary [easton]:
Breach an opening in a wall (1 Kings 11:27; 2 Kings 12:5); the fracture of a limb (Lev. 24:20), and hence the expression, "Heal, etc." (Ps. 60:2). Judg. 5:17, a bay or harbour; R.V., "by his creeks."
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