Crossword Genius

Break one's nose perhaps (8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

breather

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'nose perhaps' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both man-made objects as well as being singular nouns.
Perhaps you can see a link between them that I don't see?

'break one's' is the wordplay.
'break' becomes 'breath' (breath is a kind of break).
'one's' becomes 'er' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'breath'+'er'='BREATHER'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for breather that I've seen before include "A rest from work - rather be thus" , "One's probably not dying" , "state" , "Short pause for rest" , "lung, possibly?" .)

I've seen this clue in The Globe and Mail.
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