Etymology: In sense 1 representing Old English byrst (berst ) = Old High German brust < Old Germanic *brusti-z , < past participial stem of brestan to burst v. This seems to have become obsolete about the middle of 14th cent.; the modern noun was apparently < the verb in 16th cent. Compare the parallel brest n., brist n.

Etymology: past participle of burst v.; see bursten adj.

Etymology: (1) A Common Germanic strong verb: Old English berstan (past tense bærst , burston , participle borsten ) = Old Frisian bersta , Old Saxon brestan (brast , bruston ; brostan ), (Middle Dutch, Dutch berstan , barsten , Low German barsten , basten ), Old High German brestan (Middle High German brestan , German bersten from Low German), Old Norse bresta , (brast , brustum ; brostinn ), (Swedish brista , Danish briste ) < Germanic *brestan , possibly < *brek-st-an , a derivative (intensive) of brek-an to break v. (2) The earlier brest- of West Germanic became by metathesis berst- in Old English, Frisian, Dutch, and Low German (whence also it has passed into modern German in place of Middle High German brest- ). In English this berst- mostly again became brest- in Middle English, partly perhaps under Norse influence, whence the past participle brosten still, in northern dialect; but this has since the 16th cent. gone back to berst , changed by the disturbing influence of r to burst . So that we have the alternate series Germanic and West Germanic brest- , Old English berst- , Middle English brest , modern English berst , burst . But the 15–16th cent. had often brust and brast , barst in the present; and the northern dialect had brist , bryst , as in Danish. (3) The original strong conjugation survived during the Middle English period, with the typical forms, after metathesis, bresten , brast , brosten , but with much disturbance and mixture of forms in 14–15th cent. In the 16th cent. a very common form was brast for all the principal parts; but about the end of that century, burst (for all the parts) began to gain the ascendancy which it has since maintained, though the past tense was frequently brast in 17th and the past participle bursten till 18th cent. Various old forms survive dialectally, and in U.S. the past tense and participle are frequently bursted , informally busted (see also bust v.²).