(~es, ~ing, ~ed)
Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English.
1.
If you ~ something or if it ~es, it breaks into many pieces, for example when it is hit or dropped.
Someone ~ed a bottle...
Two or three glasses fell off and ~ed into pieces.
= break
VERB: V n, V into n
2.
If you ~ through a wall, gate, or door, you get through it by hitting and breaking it.
The demonstrators used trucks to ~ through embassy gates...
Soldiers ~ed their way into his office.
VERB: V through n, V way prep/adv
3.
If something ~es or is ~ed against something solid, it moves very fast and with great force against it.
The bottle ~ed against a wall...
He ~ed his fist into Anthony’s face.
VERB: V prep/adv, V n prep
4.
To ~ a political group or system means to deliberately destroy it. (INFORMAL)
Their attempts to clean up politics and ~ the power of party machines failed.
VERB: V n
5.
see also ~ed , ~ing