Entry Word: break up

Function: verb

Meaning: 1 to cease to exist or cause to cease to exist as a group or organization <the band broke up when their arguments over money grew too stressful> — see disband 1
2 to come to an end <the meeting broke up when all the business for the day had been completed> — see cease 1
3 to set or force apart <he broke up the rocks in the old stone wall with a crowbar, sending them tumbling to the ground> — see separate 1