breaking one's back
Working extremely hard
Breaking one's back means working extremely hard, usually at physical labor, to the point of exhaustion: I've been breaking my back all week on this renovation.
The phrase emphasizes grueling effort and sometimes implies the work is thankless or poorly compensated: She broke her back for that company and they laid her off anyway.
- toilingWorking strenuously, exhaustingly
- stressingEmphasizing or feeling anxious
- perseveringMaintaining effort despite difficulty
- strugglingExperiencing serious difficulty
- devotingGiving completely to
hauling · burning the midnight oil · committing · straining · busting a gut · persisting · exerting · grinding · nose to the grindstone · pulling out all the stops · laboring · sacrificing · blood sweat and tears · going the extra mile · plowing · enduring · lifting · overcoming
breaking one's backtaking it easy
Deliberately slowing down
slacking off · loafing · coasting · goofing off · relaxing
breaking one's backtaking one's time
puttering around · moseying · dawdling · meandering · ambling
break, breaks, broken, breaker, breakers, breaking, breakage, unbreakable, ones