Breaking | Webster's Dictionary of the English Language

breaking
Breaking out stores or cargo in the hold. The act of extricating casks or other objects from the hol...

The Sailor's Word-Book
breaking shins
Borrowing money; perhaps from the figurative operation being, like the real one, extremely disagreea...

Dictionary of The Vulgar Tongue by Francis Grose
breaking liberty
Not returning at the appointed time. ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
leave-breaking
A liberty man not being back to his time. ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
breaking-plate distance
The point within which iron-plated ships, under concentrated fire, may be damaged. ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
breaking the ey
See eyght. ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
breaking of a gale
Indications of a return of fine weather; short gusts at intervals; moaning or whistling of the wind ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
breaking-up of the monsoon
A nautical term for the violent storms that attend the shifting of periodical winds. ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
the crack, or all the crack. the fashionable theme, the go. the crack lay, of late is used, in the cant language, to signify the art and mystery of house-breaking.
Crust, sea biscuit, or ammunition loaf; also the backside. Farting crackers; breeches. ...

Dictionary of The Vulgar Tongue by Francis Grose