break one's neck (to do something)
and break one's back (to do something)Fig. to work very hard to accomplish something. I broke my neck to get here on time. There is no point in breaking your back. Take your time.
break one's neck
see under break one's back.
break (one's) neck
To make the utmost possible effort.
break one's neck, to
To hurry as fast as one can, to proceed with reckless speed. The same idea is conveyed by breakneck pace, the word breakneck dating from the sixteenth century. At that time, however, to break someone’s neck also meant to overpower or overwhelm them. This was Sir Geoffrey Fenton’s meaning when he wrote, “To breake the necke of the wicked purposes and plots of the French” (The History of Guicciardini, 1579).