Etymology

ball-buster

Today it means: Synonym of ball-breaker. Full definition →

Yiddish בעל־הביתטע
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The story

  1. Yiddish · borrowed fromבעל־הביתטע“mistress, lady of the house”
  2. English todayball-buster

Unknown. By surface analysis, ball + buster. Possibly derived from Yiddish בעל־הביתטע (baleboste, “mistress, lady of the house”), in which case synonyms like ball-breaker and ball-wracker may be secondary derivations. See also Beelzebub for connotations of the same supposed first element. Any deverbal formation conflated with back-breaking may have reinforced the native development.

Words from the same roots

Yiddishבעל־הביתטע all →

baleboste

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.