Example of use: Having the ocean-view apartment without breaking the bank is the dream.
Interesting fact about Break the Bank
Not surprisingly, the origin of the idiom “break the bank” is financial. Scholars believe the term “break the bank” originated sometime around 1600, when gamblers won more money than the house (bank) could afford to pay. Some place the term’s origin closer to 1873, when a roulette playing Englishman named Joseph Jagger won $350,000 (a huge sum for the day) at Monte Carlo.
