fracture

Etymology

From Middle English fracture, from Old French fracture, from Latin fractūra (“a breach, fracture, cleft”), from frangere (“to break”), past participle fractus, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰreg-, from whence also English break. See fraction. Doublet of fraktur.

noun

1. An instance of breaking, a place where something has broken.
2. (medicine) A break in bone or cartilage.
3. (geology) A fault or crack in a rock.

verb

1. (transitive, intransitive) To break, or cause something to break.
2. (transitive, slang) To amuse (a person) greatly; to split someone's sides.
   “You fracture me, Frankie,” Patsy said. “You should take that act on the road. Howsabout now?” This is the way it would go whenever I showed up at Patsy's, a dual of digs and wisecracks with the disapproving groans of those within earshot. 2013, Frank De Blase, Pine Box for a Pin-Up