破は算さん

noun

starting over; going back to square one; calling off

Used when a plan, calculation, or effort is abandoned and restarted from the beginning. Often appears as ご破算になる or ご破算にする.

See also: ご破算

• 計けい画かくがご破は算さんになった。

  The plan was called off and we had to start over.

• 最さい初しょからご破は算さんにしてやり直なおそう。

  Let's go back to square one and redo it from the beginning.

noun

clearing an abacus

Original literal meaning: resetting the beads of an abacus to zero. Now mostly historical or figurative; the derived sense of 'starting afresh' is far more common.

See also: ご破算

• そろばんの破は算さんは、珠たまをすべて払はらってゼロに戻もどすことです。

  Clearing an abacus means moving all the beads back to zero.