·noun The act or result of breaking down, as of a carriage; downfall.
II. Breakdown ·noun Any rude, noisy dance performed by shuffling the feet, usually by one person at a time.
III. Breakdown ·noun A noisy, rapid, shuffling dance engaged in competitively by a number of persons or pairs in succession, as among the colored people of the Southern United States, and so called, perhaps, because the exercise is continued until most of those who take part in it break down.