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. Ballantyne
  • If the bombardment was ineffective, from whatever cause, then the men should not have been allowed to break cover.

  • Stationing 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 Woodcock
  • The 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 French
  • He was fairly run to earth, and did not break cover again that night, you may be sure.