the breaks

the breaks

The way things have unfolded that are beyond one's control. I'm pretty gutted about not getting into the grad school program I wanted, but I guess those are the breaks. The breaks were against us in this game, from poor decisions by the ref to a series of injuries that took our best players out of the match.
See also: break
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

the breaks

Pieces of luck, turns of events, as in No matter how well he pitches, the team always makes fielding errors-that's the breaks, I guess , or There's not much you can do if the breaks are against you. In the singular and modified forms, this term becomes good or bad or lucky break . In the plural form, only the context determines its favorable or unfavorable meaning. [Slang; early 1900s] Also see tough break.
See also: break
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
See also:
  • That’s the way the cookie crumbles
  • That’s the way the mop flops
  • that's how the cookie crumbles
  • that's how the mop flops
  • that's the way the cookie crumbles
  • that's the way the mop flops
  • the way the cookie crumbles
  • That’s the way the ball bounces
  • that's the way the ball bounces
  • that's how the ball bounces
References in classic literature
Again the latter commanded the break. Joe refused, keeping, as he well knew, within his rights.
The Game
There, in the back street he found one, the Break of Day.
The landlady having given her directions for the new guest's entertainment to her husband, who acted as cook to the Break of Day, had resumed her needlework behind her counter.
Even the two players at dominoes glanced up from their game, as if to protest against philosophical philanthropy being brought by name into the Break of Day.
The landlady's lively speech was received with greater favour at the Break of Day, than it would have elicited from certain amiable whitewashers of the class she so unreasonably objected to, nearer Great Britain.
If your philosophical philanthropy,' said the landlady, putting down her work, and rising to take the stranger's soup from her husband, who appeared with it at a side door, 'puts anybody at the mercy of such people by holding terms with them at all, in words or deeds, or both, take it away from the Break of Day, for it isn't worth a sou.'
The company might have had other engagements, or they might have felt their inferiority, but in any case they dispersed by degrees, and not being replaced by other company, left their new patron in possession of the Break of Day.
The landlady of the Break of Day looked at him again, and felt almost confirmed in her last decision.
This the landlady of the Break of Day chirpingly explained, calling between whiles, 'Hola, my husband!' out at the side door.
Little Dorrit
From the previous week, Mohammed Naeem and Gary Doughty of Crosland Moor Con A were both omitted from the breaks list.
Peaker produces a string of big breaks against Lib's Lawton
To avail of the SuperValu Getaway Breaks offers all you have to do is to collect 400 points on your SuperValu Real Rewards card (EUR1 = 1point) which can be used for any of the breaks outlined.
WIN A SUPERVALU GETAWAY BREAK
The breaks are based at Warner Leisure Hotels 13 properties across the UK, which include Thoresby Hall Hotel & Spa in Nottinghamshire, Littlecote House in Berkshire, Jane Seymour, Alvaston Hall in Cheshire and Lakeside seaside resort, Hayling Island, Hampshire.
Creativity and leisure
Although the magazine disagreed with some aspects of The Times' reporting, its editors conceded that some of the breaks given to religion may go too far.
New York Times series chronicles massive breaks for religion
Because the numbers of line breaks per print were small, Hedges totaled all the breaks per book--which ranged from about 100 apiece for the 1528 edition to about 300 apiece for the 1547 edition.
Mutant maps: borrowing an idea from biology to enrich history
The breaks ended and at the same time Sappi saw better paper quality and an acceptable ROI.
Good mixing makes the difference