break a leg

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To perform well in a theatrical production or comparable endeavor.

Etymology:

  • Unknown; many unproven and widely debated theories exist. One of the most plausible is that it comes from Yiddish הצלחה און ברכה through the heavy Ashkenazi Jewish influence in the American theater, via the misinterpretation in German as Hals- und Beinbruch. The Yiddish phrase itself comes from Hebrew הַצְלָחָה וּבְרָכָה.
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“

Go out there and break a leg tonight. Put on a great show!.

Submitted on September 01, 2009

Additional definitions for 'break a leg':

break a legA wish for a successful performance; primarily a valediction to an actor wishing him or her a successful theatrical stage performance.
break a leggood luck
Break a LegTo wish good luck for a great performance
See them all »

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Nearby phrases

Some more phrases from our dictionary similar to break a leg

break a lawbread and butterbreak a sweatbrave the raimbreak downbreak a sweatbreak awaybreak backbrassed offbreak downbreak a sweatbread-and-butterbread-and-butterbreak down

How to pronounce this phrase?

  1. Alex
    Alex
    US English
    Daniel
    Daniel
    British
    Karen
    Karen
    Australian
    Veena
    Veena
    Indian

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