1
general::
Phrase(s): break even
for income to equal expenses. (This implies that money was not made or lost.) • Unfortunately, my business just managed to break even last year. • I made a bad investment, but I broke even.
McGrawhill's American Idioms And Phrasal Verbs
2
general::
Neither gain nor lose in some venture, recoup the amount one invested. For example, If the dealer sells five cars a week, he'll break even. This expression probably came from one or another card game (some authorities say it was faro), where it meant to bet that a card would win and lose an equal number of times. It soon was transferred to balancing business gains and losses. Novelist Sinclair Lewis so used it in Our Mr. Wrenn (1914). The usage gave rise to the noun break-even point, for the amount of sales or production needed for a firm to recoup its investment. [Late 1800s]
American Heritage Idioms