Meaning
Said to wish a performer good luck just before they go on stage, standing in for the words 'good luck', which theatre superstition treats as a jinx. Outside the theatre it is used playfully before any demanding attempt, such as an exam, an interview, or a first public speech. Light-hearted and informal, proper to the moment just before a performance or attempt. Regional use: General English.
Origin
The theatrical sense first appears in print in 1948, in the Charleston Gazette's 'Ask The Gazette' column, followed by a 1949 citation in the Bulletin of the National Theatre Conference; derivative sources suggest it was current in speech earlier (etymonline says the 1920s, Dictionary.com dates it to about 1900). A separate, earlier American slang sense, 'make a strenuous effort' or 'hurry', appears in US newspapers between 1915 and 1942 and may simply have been repurposed for the stage. The derivation is genuinely unsettled. The Phrase Finder ranks the theories: 'break' as bending the leg in a bow; bending to gather coins thrown by an audience; passing through the 'legs' (side curtains) for applause. The Sarah Bernhardt and John Wilkes Booth stories it dismisses as fanciful. The German 'Hals- und Beinbruch' (break your neck and leg) is older, possibly from a Hebrew blessing, and The Phrase Finder judges migration from German into English (perhaps via Yiddish-speaking theatre people) 'highly likely' - but no theory is proven.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- break a leg out there
- break both legs
- go break a leg
- I hope you break a leg
Usage Examples
- You're on in five minutes - break a leg!
- She whispered 'break a leg' to each finalist as they walked toward the stage.
- Break a leg in your exam tomorrow; you have revised thoroughly.