ball-breaker

noun

ball-break·​er

variants or less commonly ball breaker

plural ball-breakers also ball breakers

1

: skull cracker

2

informal + sometimes offensive : ballbuster

When he was sober, he was an okay guy, but when he'd had a few too many Pabst Blue Ribbons, he was a major ball breaker.

—James O. Born, Field of Fire, 2007

Word History

First Known Use

circa 1906, in the meaning defined at sense 2

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