Definitions
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun idiomatic, vulgar A person or task which is excessively
demanding orpunishing .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a job or situation that is demanding and arduous and punishing
- noun a demanding woman who destroys men's confidence
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
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Examples
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Okay, maybe that model of a superwoman that rose to prominence in the 1980s was a myth think Sigourney Weaver's Wall Street ball-breaker in Working Girl.
Peg Aloi: Tough Gals: Do They Still Exist? Peg Aloi 2011
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"In three or four years' time, this will be a ball-breaker."
Styling Australia's Riesling Will Lyons 2011
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Okay, maybe that model of a superwoman that rose to prominence in the 1980s was a myth think Sigourney Weaver's Wall Street ball-breaker in Working Girl.
Peg Aloi: Tough Gals: Do They Still Exist? Peg Aloi 2011
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Gambon and Nighy were beautiful together in their spare, knowing banter, the pair of them bobbing agreeably in the turbulent company of the home secretary (the excellent Saskia Reeves) and department ball-breaker Jill Tankard (the outstandingly bossy Judy Davis).
Rewind TV: Page Eight; The Conspiracy Files: 9/11 Ten Years On; The Field of Blood 2011
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As I said, this one is a real ball-breaker. with no easy answers at all.
Archive 2010-04-01 Steven Barnes 2010
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As I said, this one is a real ball-breaker. with no easy answers at all.
SF and Immigration Thoughts Steven Barnes 2010
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Basically, Ernie is a creation of Senator Mitch McConnell; you know, the king-maker and ball-breaker who likes to work behind the scenes (read Craig, Stevens, and Vitter).
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Either that or ask Jacqui Smith's husband; he obviously married his ball-breaker for political purposes and needed a bit of help with the other conjugal entitlements.
On Thursday, the Legg report will be published along with... 2009
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Note that constructive criticism is the opposite side of an important dividing line from being an impossible ball-breaker or a nag.
The Appesat Diaries juliette 2009
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Either that or ask Jacqui Smith's husband; he obviously married his ball-breaker for political purposes and needed a bit of help with the other conjugal entitlements.
On Thursday, the Legg report will be published along with... 2009
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