I. broke 1 /brəʊk $ broʊk/ BrE AmE
the past tense of ↑ break
II. broke 2 BrE AmE adjective [not before noun]
[ Date: 1700-1800 ; Origin: An old past participle of break ]
1 . having no money:
I’m fed up with being broke all the time.
flat/stony broke (=completely broke)
2 . go broke if a company or business goes broke, it can no longer operate because it has no money:
A lot of small businesses went broke in the recession.
3 . go for broke informal to take big risks when you try to achieve something:
At 2–0 down with ten minutes left, you have to go for broke.
4 . if it ain't broke, don't fix it informal used to say that you should not try to improve a system, situation etc that is satisfactory