breakneck

breakneck

1. Extremely fast, often excessively or recklessly so. If he can maintain that breakneck pace, I think he's going to win the race! You don't have to drive at such a breakneck speed—it's OK if we're a few minutes late.

2. Very extreme or dangerous. I'm not surprised that the train derailed at that spot where the tracks make a breakneck turn.

move at breakneck speed

To move extremely fast, especially to an excessive or reckless degree. We don't have to move at breakneck speed just to get there on time. It's OK if we're a few minutes late. The cars were moving at breakneck speed, barely managing to make each turn without crashing.

See also: breakneck, move, speed

Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2022 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.

break one's back

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.

See also: back, break

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.