Break-off

noun, verb

noun, verb ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    That which breaks off, or is broken off

    "Stable glacier advance and retreat Advancing glaciers may inundate land, override installations (e.g., hydropower installations), dam rivers and form lakes, cause ice break-offs when the glacier advances over a cliff, etc."

  2. 2
    A break, discontinuance, or interruption

    "All break-offs occur due to the deadline being reached or an occasional agent crash on a big domain."

  3. 3
    The first shot in a game of snooker or other cue-game
Verb
  1. 1
    Nonstandard form of break off (“to play the first shot in a frame of snooker, billiards or pool”). alt-of, nonstandard

Example

More examples

"Stable glacier advance and retreat Advancing glaciers may inundate land, override installations (e.g., hydropower installations), dam rivers and form lakes, cause ice break-offs when the glacier advances over a cliff, etc."

Etymology

Deverbal from break off.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.