break cover
Suddenly emerge from a hiding place, as in The shots distracted our pursuers long enough so that we could break cover and make a run for it. This term originally alluded to animals being hunted, a frequent usage in the 16th century. Now that hunting is a less common pursuit, it is used for human beings.
Words Nearby break cover
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
How to use break cover in a sentence
This had the effect of causing the fourth lion to break cover and leap upon a rock as the first had done.
Hunting the Lions | R.M. BallantyneIf the bombardment was ineffective, from whatever cause, then the men should not have been allowed to break cover.
Gallipoli Diary, Volume I | Ian HamiltonStationing the men around where the bear was likely to break cover, I went in with the dogs to drive him out.
Fifty Years a Hunter and Trapper | Eldred Nathaniel WoodcockThe sergeant was hastily sending out our squad to investigate the birches, when a bunch of men were seen to break cover from them.
At Plattsburg | Allen FrenchHe was fairly run to earth, and did not break cover again that night, you may be sure.
Liverpool a few years since | James Aspinall
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