English · Idiom Candidate

break one's back

Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Also seen as: break someone's back

Sense 1

Both English Tiếng Việt

Meaning · English

to work extremely hard

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

làm việc cực kỳ chăm chỉ

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Literally: to injure one's spine

Where it’s used: Used Widespread English

Examples

She breaks her back to meet the project deadline.

AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)

Sources & notes

Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-30; pending editor spot-check.

Sense 2

Meaning · English

Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.

Where it’s used: Used Widespread English

Sources & notes

Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review.

Sense 3

Meaning · English

a figurative expression, implying bankruptcy, or the crippling of a person’s means.

Era: ca. 1874 (Victorian)

Where it’s used: Origin British & Irish English

Sources & notes

Historical definition reproduced from Hotten’s The Slang Dictionary (1874, public domain; Project Gutenberg #42108, retrieved 2026-07-31). Reflects the attitudes of its era.

Equivalents & related

Near equivalent chân lấm tay bùn (verb) to toil bitterly; to labor arduously; to work one's fingers to the bone; to break one's back; to keep one's nose to the grindstone Tiếng Việt Near equivalent work one's fingers to the bone to work extremely hard English · via chân lấm tay bùn Near equivalent nose to the grindstone To work very hard and constantly English · via chân lấm tay bùn

Lighter cards are two steps away in the meaning graph — equivalents of equivalents, reached via the entry shown on the card.

Topics: Historical slang (1800s)

Common questions

What does “break one's back” mean?

to work extremely hard Literally: to injure one's spine

Is “break one's back” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.

What is the closest equivalent?

“chân lấm tay bùn” (Tiếng Việt) — near equivalent.