Verb

To rend (a solid material) by holding or restraining in two places and pulling apart, whether intentionally or not; to destroy or separate.

* 1856 : (Gustave Flaubert), (Madame Bovary), Part III Chapter XI, translated by Eleanor Marx-Aveling

He suffered, poor man, at seeing her so badly dressed, with laceless boots, and the arm-holes of her pinafore torn down to the hips; for the charwoman took no care of her.

To injure as if by pulling apart.

To cause to lose some kind of unity or coherence.

*

, title= Mr. Pratt's Patients, chapter=1 , passage=Then there came a reg'lar terror of a sou'wester same as you don't get one summer in a thousand, and blowed the shanty flat and ripped about half of the weir poles out of the sand. We spent consider'ble money getting 'em reset, and then a swordfish got into the pound and tore the nets all to slathers, right in the middle of the squiteague season.}}

To make (an opening) with force or energy.

To remove by tearing.

To demolish

To become torn, especially accidentally.

To move or act with great speed, energy, or violence.

To smash or enter something with great force.

Verb

(en verb)

To produce tears.

Her eyes began to tear in the harsh wind.