Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Breakdown \Break"down`\, n.
   1. The act or result of breaking down, as of a carriage;
      downfall.

   2.
      (a) A noisy, rapid, shuffling dance engaged in
          competitively by a number of persons or pairs in
          succession, as among the colored people of the
          Southern United States, and so called, perhaps,
          because the exercise is continued until most of those
          who take part in it break down.
      (b) Any rude, noisy dance performed by shuffling the feet,
          usually by one person at a time. [U.S.]

                Don't clear out when the quadrilles are over,
                for we are going to have a breakdown to wind up
                with.                             --New Eng.
                                                  Tales.

Source : WordNet®

breakdown
     n 1: the act of disrupting an established order so it fails to
          continue; "the social dislocations resulting from
          government policies"; "his warning came after the
          breakdown of talks in London" [syn: {dislocation}]
     2: a mental or physical breakdown [syn: {crack-up}]
     3: a cessation of normal operation; "there was a power
        breakdown" [syn: {equipment failure}]
     4: an analysis into mutually exclusive categories [syn: {partitioning}]