Noah Webster
Broke
BROKE, verb transitive [Latin fruor, for frucor, whence fructus, fruit. See Practice.]
To transact business for another in trade; to act as agent in buying and selling, and other commercial business; to transact business by an agent. [This word is Little Used, at least in America; and English writers seem to have used it in a low sense.]
BROKE, preterit tense and participle passive of break.