breaker

ball-breaker

Someone who deliberately gives others a hard time, is very demanding, or is insulting. Can be considered vulgar slang. John's boss, Mark, is quite the ball-breaker. After completing the project ahead of time and under budget, Mark ordered John to work through the weekend to finish up other meaningless tasks. My mother-in-law can be such a ball-breaker. To her, I never do anything right. Don't be a ball-breaker, all right? I'm only trying to help.

dealbreaker

A specific issue or thing that will cause an agreement, deal, or relationship to fail or be terminated. He told me he never wanted to have kids, which is a dealbreaker for me, so we decided to end the relationship then and there. The insurgency's insistence on maintaining a political presence was a dealbreaker for the truce negotiations. Before you start looking at houses, you guys should know what your dealbreakers are. One bathroom? No outdoor space? Stuff like that.

Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.

ball-breaker

and ball-buster

1. n. a difficult task; a difficult or trying situation requiring extremely hard work or effort. (Usually objectionable.) That whole construction job was a real ball-breaker. Why should moving furniture end up being such a ball-buster?

2. n. a hard taskmaster; a hard-to-please boss. (Usually objectionable.) Tom gets a day’s work for a day’s pay out of his men, but he’s no ball-breaker. My boss is a ball-buster, but he pays well.

3. n. a female who is threatening to males. (Usually objectionable.) Mrs. Samuels has a terrible reputation as a “ball-breaker.” Wholly deserved, I might add.

breaker

1. n. a break dancer. (Break dancing is a rhythmic and energetic impromptu performance usually done by untrained urban youths.) He is one of the best breakers in the city.

2. n. someone attempting to use a citizens band radio channel. There’s a breaker trying to use this channel. Let’s drop down to eleven.

McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions Copyright © 2006 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.