leg-breakingn.
/ˈlɛɡˌbreɪkɪŋ/, U.S. /ˈlɛɡˌbreɪkɪŋ/ The action or act of breaking a person's or animal's leg or legs; the act of breaking one's leg.
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1823 Belle Assemblée Jan. 22/2 His first idea was to bring his assailant down by attacking his legs, and then to break them... So exquisite was the delight he took in leg-breaking.
1944 M. B. Jacobs Chem. & Technol. Food & Food Products II. xxi. 658 The first step in the dressing of the carcass is that of leg breaking.
1988 E. Smith Take it... it's Good for You 79 She draws nearer and nearer until suddenly she trips up..and breaks her leg. At this point, the dream always comes to an abrupt halt. The legbreaking, I am sure, is a psychological mechanism to keep me faithful to my wife.
1992 G. A. Wells Did Jesus Exist? (rev. ed.) ii. 51 The story of the leg-breaking and the spear thrust is..absent from the synoptics.
2015 Guardian (Nexis) 2 Nov. Pondy..has set up shop as a strongman for hire, his prices set out in garish DayGlo on the walls of his underpopulated office: 10,000 rupees for leg-breaking, 15,000 for an arm.
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, June 2016; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
leg-breakingadj.
/ˈlɛɡˌbreɪkɪŋ/, U.S. /ˈlɛɡˌbreɪkɪŋ/ 1. That breaks or is liable to break a leg or legs. Also in extended use: arduous; treacherous.
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the world > action or operation > difficulty > [adjective] > difficult to do or accomplish
higheOE
grievousc1386
steep1598
arduous1718
leg-breaking1835
knobby1862
nut-cracking1982
1835 W. Colton Ship & Shore xi. 130 [We] were amply compensated in the end, for all our back and leg-breaking toils.
1923 ‘G. O. Baxter’ Long, Long Trail xxxiv. 252 There were two ways to Windville. One was a straight cut through the mountains... It was a leg-breaking short cut.
1966 Skiing Nov. 92 It also becomes apparent that proper installation [of a cable binding] is the key to its successful operation in a leg-breaking situation.
1995 Herald (Glasgow) (Nexis) 12 Oct. 5 A North-east football player was cleared at Peterhead Sheriff Court after the sheriff ruled that a leg-breaking tackle on an Aberdeen player did not amount to a criminal offence.
2002 F. Spufford Child that Bks. Built (2003) ii. 33 In leg-breaking gullies, on precipitous slopes, there are reservoirs of ancient vegetation perhaps a few feet square that have never been cleared.
2. Cricket. Of a ball: that breaks from the leg side. Cf. off-breaking adj. Now rare.
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society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > cricket > bowling > [adjective] > types of delivery or ball
wide1827
shooting1833
full-pitched1834
bumping1851
overpitched1855
hand over head1862
bumpy1864
right arm1877
breaking1881
fast-breaking1893
leg-breaking1896
hittable1898
off-breaking1904
inswinging1920
underpitched1927
outswinging1929
1896 Daily Mail 23 June 3/2 Trott with the leg-breaking ball.
1902 Country Life 10 May 383/1 Unfortunately, two of these—McDonell..and Buxton..—both bowl the slow leg-breaking ball.
1918 Chums 18 June 468/3 In delivering the leg-breaking ball the little finger comes to the top at the moment of releasing the ball.
1934 Daily Gleaner (Kingston, Jamaica) 22 Sept. 31/2 He failed to play an early slow leg-breaking delivery from the young University bowler.
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, June 2016; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1823adj.1835