breakneckadj.n.
/ˈbreɪkˌnɛk/ A. adj.
1. Likely to break the neck; endangering the neck or life; headlong (of speed, etc.); precipitous (of roads, rocks).
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the world > action or operation > harm or detriment > danger > [adjective] > likely to endanger health or life
breakneck1546
founderous1767
shark-toothed1935
1546 J. Heywood Dialogue Prouerbes Eng. Tongue i. viii. sig. C Before this my first foile or..breakneck fall.
1619 E. M. Bolton tr. Florus Rom. Hist. iii. i. 246 Break-necke clifs, and high ouer-hanging places.
1809 Edinb. Rev. 15 62 A break~neck road from Madrid to San Ildefonso.
1882 B. D. W. Ramsay Recoll. Mil. Serv. I. v. 131 To ride a breakneck pace round Jacko Hill.
2. figurative. Blundering or lumbering headlong.
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1887 G. Saintsbury Hist. Elizabethan Lit. i. 6 Wyatt's awkwardness is not limited to the decasyllable, for some of his most breakneck work is in shorter lines.
a. Obsolete. ‘A fall in which the neck is broken; a steep place endangering the neck’ (Johnson); figurative destruction, ruin.
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the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > downward motion > falling > [noun] > falling down or from erect position (animates) > severe fall
breakneck1563
plumper1810
purl1825
mucker1851
cropper1858
burster1863
smasher1875
crumpler1883
smeller1923
1563 2nd Tome Homelyes Idolatry, in J. Griffiths Two Bks. Homilies (1859) ii. 251 Such a stumbling-block for his own feet and others that may perhaps bring at last to breakneck.
1579 L. Tomson tr. J. Calvin Serm. Epist. S. Paule to Timothie & Titus 289/2 The question is not of any light fall, but it is a deadly breaknecke.
1624 Bp. F. White Replie to Iesuit Fishers Answere 527 They may..fall with a breake-necke, downe to Hell.
1649 W. Dell Way of Peace 115 The very break-neck of the Churches peace and unity.
1653 T. Gataker Vindic. Annot. Jer. 10.2 137 To work the downfall and break-neck of mens souls.
ΘΚΠ
the world > existence and causation > creation > destruction > [noun]
end832
bale-sithea1000
wrakea1275
wonderc1275
destroyingc1300
destruction1340
contritionc1384
stroying1396
undoing1398
tininga1400
ruinc1425
fatec1430
fordoingc1450
perishing?1523
shipwreck1526
pernicion?1530
ruining1562
ruinating1587
defeasance1590
defeature1592
breakneck1598
ruination1599
defeat1600
doom1609
planet-striking1611
mismaking1615
rasurea1616
destructa1638
perition1640
interemption1656
smashing1821
degrowth1876
uncreation1884
creative destruction1927
the world > action or operation > manner of action > carelessness > incautiousness > [noun] > rashness or recklessness > rash or reckless person
bayard1393
hotspur1403
hare-brain1542
young blood1557
hare-copa1566
madcap1589
rashling1594
breakneck1598
harum-scarum1784
wild cat1812
devil-may-care1839
firecracker1852
ripper1877
wild-catter1883
1598 J. Florio Worlde of Wordes Scauezzacóllo, a breakeneck, a halter-sack, a wag.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1888; most recently modified version published online September 2021).
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adj.n.1546