(of a whale) to leap partly or completely out of the water, head first, and land on the back or belly with a resounding splash.
Origin: before 1000; Middle English breche,Old English bræc breaking; see break
Related forms
breach·er, noun
non·breach, noun
non·breach·ing, adjective
un·breached, adjective
Can be confused:breach, breech (see synonym note at the current entry).
Synonyms 1. fracture. 2.Breach,infraction,violation,transgression all denote in some way the breaking of a rule or law or the upsetting of a normal and desired state. Breach is used infrequently in reference to laws or rules, more often in connection with desirable conditions or states of affairs: a breach of the peace, of good manners, of courtesy. Infraction most often refers to clearly formulated rules or laws: an infraction of the criminal code, of university regulations, of a labor contract. Violation, a stronger term than either of the preceding two, often suggests intentional, even forceful or aggressive, refusal to obey the law or to respect the rights of others: repeated violations of parking regulations; a human rights violation. Transgression, with its root sense of “a stepping across (of a boundary of some sort),” applies to any behavior that exceeds the limits imposed by a law, especially a moral law, a commandment, or an order; it often implies sinful behavior: a serious transgression of social customs, of God's commandments. 3. crack, rent, opening. 4. alienation, split, rift, schism, separation; dissension.
O.E. bryce "breach, fracture, a breaking," from brecan (see break), influenced by O.Fr. breche "breach, opening, gap," from Frankish; both from P.Gmc. *brecho, *bræko "broken," from PIE base *bhreg- "to break" (see fraction). Figurative
sense of "a breaking of rules, etc." was in O.E. The verb is first recorded 1570s. Related: Breached; breaching. Breach of contract is at least from 1833.