break one's chops

verb

To give someone a hard time, harass, nag one to do something, bother.

Ask AI about this wordChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

Meanings

verbbreak one's chops (third-person singular simple present breaks one's chops, present participle breaking one's chops, simple past broke one's chops, past participle broken one's chops)

present singular third person breaks one's chops · participle present breaking one's chops · past broke one's chops · participle past broken one's chops

  1. idiomaticslangTo give someone a hard time, harass, nag one to do something, bother.

    “And why don’t you stop breaking my chops, eh?”

    1960, Lenny Bruce, 1:24 from the start, in The Palladium
Cite this entry
APA

break one's chops. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/break%20one's%20chops

MLA

“break one's chops.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/break%20one's%20chops. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “break one's chops,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/break%20one's%20chops.

Source: break one's chops on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.