Rupture

(rŭpt'yur, 53), n. [Fr. rupture, Sp. rotura, It. rottura, L. Lat. ruptura, from Lat. rumpere, ruptum, to break.] 1. The act of breaking or bursting. I am clothed in steel: And, spite of all the rupture of the sea, This jewel holds its biding on my arm. Shak.

2. The state of being broken or violently parted; as, the rupture of the skin; the rupture of a vessel or fiber.
3. Breach of peace or concord, either between individuals or nations; between nations, open hostility or war; as, the parties or nations have come to an open rupture.

He knew that policy would disincline Napoleon from a rupture with his family. E. Everett.

4. (Med.) A preternatural opening in the walls of the abdomen, with protrusion of internal parts; hernia.
5. The bursting of a steam-boiler in its weakest place, to relieve over-pressure, in distinction from explosion. See EXPLOSION.

Syn.—Fracture; breach; break; burst; disruption; dissolution. See FRACTURE.