Break

Break or Breaks or The Break may refer to:

Time off from duties

• Recess (break), time in which a group of people is temporarily dismissed from its duties
• Break (work), time off during a shift/recess
  • Coffee break, a short mid-morning rest period in business
• Annual leave (holiday/vacation), paid time off work

Time off from school

• Holiday break, a U.S. term for various school holidays
• Christmas break or Winter break, a break in the winter, typically around Christmas and New Years
• Spring break, a recess in early spring at universities and schools in various countries in the northern hemisphere
• Summer break, a typical long break in the summertime

People

• Ted Breaks (1919–2000), English professional footballer
• Danny Breaks (active 1990s–), British drum and bass DJ, record producer and record label owner
• Jim Breaks (1940–2023), English professional wrestler

Sport

• Break, the first shot meant to break the balls in cue sports, also a series of shots in snooker
• Breaking ball, a pitch that does not travel straight like a fastball as it approaches the batter
• Surf break, place where a wave collapses into surf
• Horse breaking, the process of training a horse to be ridden
• Break (tennis), to win a tennis game as the receiving player or team, thereby breaking serve

Technology

Computing

• Break condition, in asynchronous serial communication
• Break key, a special key on computer keyboards
• break statement, a keyword in computer programming used for flow control
• Line break (computing), a special character signifying the end of a line of text
• To break (or "crack") an encryption cipher, in cryptanalysis

Other technologies

• Brake (carriage), a type of horse-drawn carriage used in the 19th and early 20th centuries
• Break (locksmithing), a separation between pins of a lock
• Breakover angle, a maximum possible supplementary angle of terrain
• Paradelta Break, an Italian paraglider design

Arts and media

Books

• The Break (Giovanni novel), 1957, by José Giovanni
• The Break (Vermette novel), 2016, by Katherena Vermette
• The Breaks (novel), 1983, by Richard Price

Film, television and theatre

To break character (or "corpse"), to lose composure during comedic scenes

• Break (2008 film), an American action film
• Break (2014 film), also known as Nature Law
• Break (2020 film), a British independent film
• The Break (1995 film), an American tennis film
• The Break (1963 film), a drama starring Tony Britton
• The Break (2003 film), a TV film featuring Kris Kristofferson
• The Break, alternative name for A Further Gesture, a 1997 film
• The Break (TV series), a 2016 Belgian crime drama, also known as La Trêve
• The Break with Michelle Wolf, a 2018 Netflix series
• The Breaks (1999 film), an American comedy
• The Breaks (2016 film), an American television hip-hop drama
  • The Breaks (TV series), a 2017 American drama and a continuation of the 2016 film
• "Break" (Bottom), a British television episode
• Break (Transformers), a fictional character
• The Break, a short film shown at the 2016 Dublin International Film Festival
• The Break (play), a 1962 play by Philip Albright

Music

• Break (music), a percussion interlude or instrumental solo within a longer work of music
• Breakbeat, a broad style of electronic or dance-oriented music

Albums

• Break (Enchant album), 1998
• Break (Mamoru Miyano album), 2009
• Break (One-Eyed Doll album), 2010
• Break (EP), 2006, by The Cinematics

Songs

• "Break", 1972, by Aphrodite's Child
• "The Breaks" (song), 1980, by Kurtis Blow
• "Break" (1984), by Play Dead
• "Break" (1996), by Staind from the album Tormented
• "Break" (1998), by Fugazi from the album End Hits
• "Break" (2002), by Jurassic 5 from the album Power in Numbers
• "Break" (2006), by Republic of Loose from the album Aaagh!
• "Break" (2006), by The Cinematics
• "Break" (2008), by Alanis Morissette from the album Flavors of Entanglement
• "Break" (Three Days Grace song) (2009)
• "Break" (2013), by Hostyle Gospel from the album Desperation
• "Break" (2015), by Katherine McPhee from the album Hysteria
• "Break" (2015), by No Devotion from the album Permanence
• "Break" (Kero Kero Bonito song), 2016

Other media

• Break.com, a humor website

Other uses

• Big break (jargon), a circumstance which allows an actor or musician to "break into" the industry and achieve fame
• Bone fracture, a medical condition in which there is a break in the continuity of the bone
• Commercial break, in television and radio
• Prison escape, the act of an inmate leaving prison through unofficial or illegal ways
• Section break, in type setting
• Break, an air combat maneuver; see Basic fighter maneuvers
• Breaks, Virginia
• Psychotic break

See also