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View synonyms for break one's back

break one's back



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Idioms and Phrases

Also, break one's neck . Make a great effort, work very hard. For example, I've been breaking my back over this problem for the past week , or Don't break your neck to get there; we'll wait for you . Both versions of this expression, polite equivalents of break one's ass , transfer the literal fracture of one's back or neck to figurative exertion. However, break one's neck has the secondary connotation of proceeding with reckless speed, a sense also conveyed by the term breakneck pace . Originally this idiom alluded to literally breaking one's neck by rushing heedlessly along, but it has been used figuratively for the past 300 years. Also see break the back of .
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Example Sentences

Break Ones Back, a figurative expression, implying bankruptcy, or the crippling of a persons means.

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

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