ankle-breakingadj.
/ˈaŋklˌbreɪkɪŋ/, U.S. /ˈæŋk(ə)lˌbreɪkɪŋ/ 1. In general use: that which causes, or is capable of causing a person to twist or break an ankle. Frequently hyperbolical.
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1847 Lit. Gaz. 31 July 553/3 There was nothing for it but to..descend, how we might, over ankle-breaking crags and banks of slippery clay.
1988 Sun Herald (Sydney) (Nexis) 24 July (Late ed.) 129 Only a few [French designers] have attempted to resurrect the ankle-breaking platform sole shoe.
2014 N. Davies Liberation of Worlds viii. 37 Ankle-breaking rubble littered the floor.
2. Basketball. Designating or relating to a dribbling technique in which a player suddenly changes direction by switching the ball rapidly from one hand to the other, causing the defender guarding the player to stumble or fall and enabling the player to shoot or pass the ball.
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1996 Vineland (New Jersey) Daily Jrnl. 26 Nov. b2/3 Breaking an opponent's ankles is a play-ground term to describe a defender being left in a heap after someone has put a killer move on him... Iverson is an ankle-breaking wizard.
2019 N.Y. Times (Nexis) 1 May (Late Final ed.) b/8 The N.B.A. has risen in popularity over the last decade, in part because of virality: poster dunks and ankle-breaking highlights spread at a moment's notice.
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, June 2022).
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adj.1847- synangiums
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