# What is the origin of the term "Breaking News"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 19, 2003, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-origin-of-the-term-breaking-news/182952 "2003-06-19T16:48:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![HeartOfGold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/7ab992/32.png) [@HeartOfGold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeartOfGold)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2003, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-origin-of-the-term-breaking-news/182952/1 "2003-06-19T16:48:30Z")
What is the origin of the term _Breaking_ news? ---
**Author:** ![PatriotX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c4cdca/32.png) [@PatriotX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatriotX)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2003, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-origin-of-the-term-breaking-news/182952/2 "2003-06-19T16:57:41Z")
Get thee to General Questions and ye shall then know. ---
**Author:** ![HeartOfGold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/7ab992/32.png) [@HeartOfGold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeartOfGold)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2003, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-origin-of-the-term-breaking-news/182952/3 "2003-06-19T17:00:51Z")
sorry bout that, didn’t even notice. ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2003, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-origin-of-the-term-breaking-news/182952/4 "2003-06-19T18:29:49Z")
**Moderator’s Note:** Moving from GD to GQ. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2003, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-origin-of-the-term-breaking-news/182952/5 "2003-06-19T20:27:47Z")
The dictionary isn’t much help on this one; listing quite a number of different uses for the word break, but I would suggest that the usage here is related to the concept of ‘Break of day’ (i.e. sunrise) - the sun ‘breaks’ in or intrudes, likewise the news intrudes (breaks in) upon the routine. ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2003, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-origin-of-the-term-breaking-news/182952/6 "2003-06-20T08:19:36Z")
The [_Merriam-Webster Unabridged_](http://unabridged.merriam-webster.com/home.htm) has a pretty extensive set of definitions for the “break” (as a verb). The relevant ones seem to be (as a transitive verb): > [@](#): > > **8 a** _archaic_ : to reveal or impart a confidence harbored in or at **b** : to make known sometimes with caution and after hesitation : TELL, IMPART, REVEAL \<_break_ the news of his death to her\> **c** : to utter or crack (a jest) \<_break_ no jests that are sharp and biting – George Washington\> **d** : to make public or available for publication; _often_ : to publicize widely or permit wide publicity of sometimes after a period of withholding \ **e** : to initiate (a campaign or course of action) often with fanfare and publicity \ **f** : to find an explanation or solution for : SOLVE, UNRAVEL \ **g** (1) : to discover the essentials of (a code or cipher system) – often used with _down_ (2) : to solve (an encrypted message) without full knowledge of the keys (3) : DECRYPT \<_break_ a message\> with the most relevant I think being **8 b** and **d**. As an intransitive verb, there is: > [@](#): > > **1** … **h** (1) : to become public or available for publication \ (2) : to attain to wide publicity : become publicly known \ There seems to be a metaphor here of something breaking loose or breaking forth; other senses for intransitive verb **1** including everything from “breaking out of jail” to “the fish are breaking today” (leaping out of the surface of the water). A “breaking” news story is one which has just emerged or is just emerging into public view or attention. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2003, 9:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-origin-of-the-term-breaking-news/182952/7 "2003-06-20T09:45:44Z")
Jeez! You just scared the HELL outta me with that post title! :eek::smack: ---
**Author:** ![One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/838e76/32.png) [@One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/One_And_Only_Wanderers)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2003, 10:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-origin-of-the-term-breaking-news/182952/8 "2003-06-20T10:19:45Z")
This was the first question I asked in GQ (not sdo long ago actually) and I got the same answers. It was slightly disappointing somehow. I like my etomologies full of all sorts of ‘folkesy’ stuff ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2003, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-origin-of-the-term-breaking-news/182952/9 "2003-06-20T18:48:41Z")
Well, back in the Olden Days, the Town Criers used to carry wooden boards with the day’s headlines written on them (“Mongols Invade”; “Pope Launches Operation ‘Holy Land Freedom’”; “Everyone Dies from the Black Death”; etc). When the Town Criers heard a new story, they’d break their old boards and paint up new ones with the new story–hence the term “breaking news”. The practice was dropped when it was realized that almost no one at the time could read, including most of the Town Criers, making the whole process pretty useless. NOTE: The preceding was made up for **Carl\_A\_Norris** ’ benefit. I just made it up on the spot and it is completely bogus. Please do not spam it all over the Internet to the point that Snopes has to write up a web page for it. ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2003, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-origin-of-the-term-breaking-news/182952/10 "2003-06-20T18:53:24Z")
**Moderator’s Note:** I also edited the thread title slightly so that **Ranchoth** and other people will not have a heart attack when the thread pops back up to the top of GQ and think the Martians must have landed or they’ve come out with the Segway Mark II or Cecil Adams has publicly announced his conversion to Scientology or anything like that. ---
**Author:** ![One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/838e76/32.png) [@One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/One_And_Only_Wanderers)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2003, 10:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-origin-of-the-term-breaking-news/182952/11 "2003-06-23T10:16:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by MEBuckner \* > \*\*Well, back in the Olden Days, the Town Criers used to carry wooden boards with the day’s headlines written on them (“Mongols Invade”; “Pope Launches Operation ‘Holy Land Freedom’”; “Everyone Dies from the Black Death”; etc). When the Town Criers heard a new story, they’d break their old boards and paint up new ones with the new story–hence the term “breaking news”. The practice was dropped when it was realized that almost no one at the time could read, including most of the Town Criers, making the whole process pretty useless. > > NOTE: The preceding was made up for **Carl\_A\_Norris** ’ benefit. I just made it up on the spot and it is completely bogus. Please do not spam it all over the Internet to the point that Snopes has to write up a web page for it. \*\* Thanks for the effort **MEBuckner**. That is exactly the kind of stuff i like to see in an etymology 😃