brecan

Meaning

1. to break

   hringan hæfted, · hȳran ġeorne, mīn bed brecan, · breahtme cȳþan þæt mē halswriþan · hlāford sealde.

   Busy with time, I should keenly hearken my servant, grasped by rings, break my bed, make known by noise that lord gave me a neck collar.

   Iċ sċeal þrāgbysiġ · þeġne mīnum,

2. to break into a place

   Ġif þēof brece mannes hūs nihtes and hē weorðe þǣr ofslæġen, ne sīe hē nā mansleġes sċyldiġ. Ġif hē siþþan æfter sunnan upgange þis dēþ, hē biþ mansleġes sċyldiġ, and hē þonne self swelte, būtan hē nīeddǣda wǣre.

   If a robber breaks into someone's house at night and the homeowner kills them, the homeowner is not guilty of murder. But if they do this after sunrise, they are guilty of murder, and they will die too, unless they acted out of necessity.

   c. 893, Alfred the Great, Doom Book

Conjugation