Expression referring to an instructor's frustration (literally: mechanical pencil lead breaking under excessive comment writing pressure) while marking a student paper which violates both instruction and Standard American English.
After having marked 42 essays that compared and contrasted two poems, nearly every one of them ignoring the pointed lesson of the previous class, by the 43rd I was breaking lead when the student wrote that the poets had "concocted imagery" and employed "religious illusions".
by Gemini Professor February 22, 2011
A wish of good luck offered to a writer. The term is to Break a Leg which is offered to an Actor. Break a Lead is rumored to stem from the ancient practice of breaking a piece of lead into a small chard suitable for writing.
by Sirius Caine July 21, 2011