noun

• (masonry) A broad chisel for stone-cutting.
• (architecture, UK, dialect) A spire rising from a tower.

verb

• (transitive) To make a hole in, especially a cask of liquor, and put in a tap in order to draw the liquid.
  "How often has the broached barrel proved not to be for joy and heart effusion, but for duel and head-breakage."
• (transitive) To open, to make an opening into; to pierce.
  "French knights at Agincourt were unable to broach the English line."
• (transitive, figuratively) To begin discussion about (something).
  "I broached the subject of contraceptives carefully when the teenager mentioned his promiscuity."

verb

• (intransitive)To be turned sideways to oncoming waves, especially large or breaking waves.
  "The small boat broached and nearly sank, because of the large waves."
• (transitive) To cause to turn sideways to oncoming waves, especially large or breaking waves (usually followed by to; also figurative).
  "18th C, Thomas Dibdin, Tom Bowling Here a sheer hulk lies poor Tom Bowling ... for death hath broached him to."
• (nautical, intransitive, of a submerged submarine, torpedo, or similar) To break the surface of the water.
  "The Politovskiy soared through the surface of the Atlantic like a broaching whale, coming three quarters of her length out of the water before crashing back."