Break-someone-s-serve
In tennis and related sports, win a game served by one’s opponent, as in The only way he’ll win the match is to break Bill’s serve. The use of serve, from the earlier service, meaning “starting play” in these sports, dates from the early 1600s.
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- Break-something-down
break something down Historical Examples Memoir of Fleeming Jenkin Robert Louis Stevenson
- Sound-barrier
Also called sonic barrier, transonic barrier. (not in technical use) a hypothetical barrier to flight beyond the speed of sound, so postulated because aircraft undergo an abruptly increasing drag force induced by compression of the surrounding air when traveling near the speed of sound. break the sound barrier, to travel faster than the speed of […]
- Break-statement
break statement
- Step
a movement made by lifting the foot and setting it down again in a new position, accompanied by a shifting of the weight of the body in the direction of the new position, as in walking, running, or dancing. such a movement followed by a movement of equal distance of the other foot: The soldier […]
- Break-the-back
break the back To do the hardest part, or most, of a job (1890+) To make ineffective; cripple: The UN’s mission is to break the back of the warlords in Somalia (1970s+)