wreck

check yourself before you wreck yourself

slang You need to reconsider the way you are speaking or acting before you end up causing real trouble for yourself. Primarily heard in US. Yo, are you talking trash about my girl? You better check yourself before you wreck yourself, fool. A: "I'm going to go in there and give the boss a piece of my mind. He can't treat us like this!" B: "Hey, you're going to get yourself fired! Check yourself before you wreck yourself, Tom."
See also: before, check, wreck

go under the wrecking ball

To be destroyed or demolished. My old elementary school used to be here but, as you can see, it's gone under the wrecking ball since I graduated. Look, if we don't get people to sign this petition, that beautiful old building will go under the wrecking ball!
See also: ball, go, wreck

nervous wreck

Someone who is overcome with anxiety, apprehension, or nervousness. Where have you been all night? I've been a nervous wreck waiting for you to come home! I'm going to be a nervous wreck waiting to hear back from the doctor about the test results.
See also: nervous, wreck

train wreck

1. A major or total failure, disaster, or catastrophe. This project has become an absolute train wreck. We've wasted so much time and money already, I don't know how we'll make up the losses. Despite a stellar cast, the film turned out to be a real train wreck.
2. A person whose life is a complete mess or is in total disarray. I don't know about my relationship with Kevin. He's a bit of a train wreck, between you and me.
See also: train, wreck
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

go under the wrecking ball

Fig. to be wrecked or torn down. That lovely old building finally went under the wrecking ball. I hate to see good architecture go under the wrecking ball.
See also: ball, go, wreck
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.

nervous wreck

An individual suffering from extreme agitation or worry, as in Pat was a nervous wreck until her mother arrived at the wedding. This expression is nearly always used hyperbolically. [Colloquial; c. 1900] Also see basket case.
See also: nervous, wreck
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
See also:
  • check yourself before you wreck yourself
  • work (oneself) up
  • work oneself up
  • work up
  • worked up
  • don't strain yourself
  • help (oneself) to
  • help to
  • back/paint somebody/yourself into a corner
References in classic literature
The next day, ten or twelve canoes came alongside, but roamed round the wreck like so many sharks, and would render no aid in towing her to land.
The crew were now so worn down by famine and thirst, that the captain saw it would be impossible for them to withstand the breaking of the sea, when the ship should ground; he deemed the only chance for their lives, therefore, was to get to land in the canoes, and stand ready to receive and protect the wreck when she should drift ashore.
In the course of the night, the wreck came drifting to the strand, with the surf thundering around her, and shortly afterwards bilged.
Astoria or Anecdotes of an enterprise beyond the Rocky Mountain
After a day or two they lighted on another part of the wreck, where they found a great many bags of silver dollars.
But though it was now an old story, and the most aged people had almost forgotten that such a vessel had been wrecked, William Phips resolved that the sunken treasure should again be brought to light.
Grandfathers Chair
But D'Entrecasteaux, ignoring this communication-- rather uncertain, besides--directed his course towards the Admiralty Islands, mentioned in a report of Captain Hunter's as being the place where La Perouse was wrecked.
Captain Dillon, a shrewd old Pacific sailor, was the first to find unmistakable traces of the wrecks. On the 15th of May, 1824, his vessel, the St.
20000 Leagues Under The Sea
- Went to the wreck, and with the crow made way into the body of the wreck, and felt several casks, and loosened them with the crow, but could not break them up.
- Went every day to the wreck; and got a great many pieces of timber, and boards, or plank, and two or three hundredweight of iron.
Robinson Crusoe
The wreck, even to my unpractised eye, was breaking up.
And now he made for the wreck, rising with the hills, falling with the valleys, lost beneath the rugged foam, borne in towards the shore, borne on towards the ship, striving hard and valiantly.
David Copperfield
"No, David," I admitted, "I can't do it, but of course I know that all wrecked boys do it quite easily.
David was now firmly convinced that he had once been wrecked on an island, while Oliver passed his days in dubiety.
The Little White Bird
In this emergency, the passenger in the wrecked vessel (whose life Dermody had saved) came forward with a proposal which took father and daughter alike by surprise.
He possessed a share in a fishing establishment on the shores of the Zuyder Zee; and he was on his way to establish a correspondence with the fisheries in the North of Scotland when the vessel was wrecked. Mary had produced a strong impression on him when they first met.
The Two Destinies