break-neck, a. and n.
(ˈbreɪkˌnɛk)
[f. break v. 7 b + neck.]
A. adj. Likely to break the neck; endangering the neck or life; headlong (of speed, etc.); precipitous (of roads, rocks).
| 1562 J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 16 My..breakneck fall. 1618 Bolton Florus iii. i. 164 Break-neck clifs, and high over-hanging places. 1809 Edin. Rev. XV. 62 A break⁓neck road from Madrid to San Ildefonso. 1882 B. Ramsay Recoll. Mil. Serv. I. v. 131 To ride a breakneck pace round Jacko Hill. |
† B. n. Obs. ‘A fall in which the neck is broken; a steep place endangering the neck’ (J.); fig. destruction, ruin.
| 1563 Homilies ii. Idolatry (1859) 251 Such a stumbling-block for his own feet and others that may perhaps bring at last to breakneck. 1579 Tomson Calvin's Serm. Tim. 289/2 The question is not of any light fall, but it is a deadly breaknecke. 1624 F. White Reply Fisher 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 Gataker Vind. Annot. Jer. 137 To work the downfall and break-neck of mens souls. |
† b. One who risks breaking his neck. Obs.
| 1598 Florio, Scauezzacóllo, a breakeneck, a halter-sack, a wag. |