/kɹæk/
OriginFrom Middle English crakken, craken, from Old English cracian (“to resound, crack”), from Proto-West Germanic *krakōn, from Proto-Germanic *krakōną (“to crack, crackle, shriek”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gerh₂- (“to resound, cry hoarsely”).
Cognate with Scots crak (“to crack”), West Frisian kreakje (“to crack”), Dutch kraken (“to crunch, creak, squeak”), Low German kraken (“to crack”), German krachen (“to crash, crack, creak”), Lithuanian gi̇̀rgžděti (“to creak, squeak”), Old Armenian կարկաչ (karkačʻ), Sanskrit गर्जति (gárjati, “to roar, hum”).
Compare typologically English crevice (<< Latin crepō), Bulgarian пукнатина (puknatina) (akin to пу́кам (púkam)), Russian тре́щина (tréščina) (akin to треск (tresk)), щель (ščelʹ) (akin to щёлкать (ščólkatʹ)).
- intransitiveTo form cracks.
“It's been so dry, the ground is starting to crack.”
- intransitiveTo break apart under force, stress, or pressure.
“When I tried to stand on the chair, it cracked.”
- intransitiveTo become debilitated by psychological pressure.
“Anyone would crack after being hounded like that.”
- intransitiveTo break down or yield, especially under interrogation or torture.
“When we showed him the pictures of the murder scene, he cracked.”
- intransitiveTo make a cracking sound.
“The bat cracked with authority and the ball went for six.”
- intransitiveTo change rapidly in register.
“His voice cracked with emotion.”
- intransitiveTo alternate between high and low register in the process of eventually lowering.
“His voice finally cracked when he was fourteen.”
- intransitiveTo make a sharply humorous comment.
“"I would too, with a face like that," she cracked.”
- intransitiveTo realize that one is transgender.
“She cracked at age 22 and came out to her friends and family over the next few months.”
- transitiveTo make a crack or cracks in.
“The ball cracked the window.”
- transitiveTo break open or crush to small pieces by impact or stress.
“You'll need a hammer to crack a black walnut.”
- transitiveTo strike forcefully.
“She cracked him over the head with her handbag.”
“Watch your head, don't crack it on that beam.”
“Bedding provided for late session became ammunition—meet ended in riot when Labor man cracked leader on jaw.”
- transitiveTo open slightly.
“Could you please crack the window?”
- figuratively, transitiveTo cause to yield under interrogation or other pressure.
“They managed to crack him on the third day.”
- figuratively, transitiveTo solve a difficult problem.
“I've finally cracked it, and of course the answer is obvious in hindsight.”
“"[...] The key to battery trains is more the ability to charge quickly. If you can do that, you've cracked it."”
- transitiveTo overcome a security system or component.
“It took a minute to crack the lock, three minutes to crack the security system, and about twenty minutes to crack the safe.”
“They finally cracked the code.”
- transitiveTo cause to make a sharp sound.
“to crack a whip”
“Hershell cracked his knuckles, a nervous habit that drove Inez crazy[…]”
- transitiveTo tell (a joke).
“The performance was fine until he cracked that dead baby joke.”
- transitiveTo break down (a complex molecule), especially with the application of heat: to pyrolyse.
“Acetone is cracked to ketene and methane at 700°C.”
- transitiveTo circumvent software restrictions such as regional coding or time limits.
“That software licence will expire tomorrow unless we can crack it.”
“Nobody really knows how much actual damage cracking does to the software companies. But as the industry rolls apprehensively toward the uncertain future of an ever-more frictionless electronic marketp”
- informal, transitiveTo open a canned beverage, or any packaged drink or food.
“I'd love to crack open a beer.”
“Let's crack a tube and watch the game.”
“Old Bouvet was waiting in the passage when I entered, and he asked me whether we might not crack a bottle of wine together.”
- obsoleteTo brag; to boast.
“To whom the boaſter, that all knights did blot, / With proud diſdaine did ſcornefull anſwere make; […] And further did vncomely ſpeaches crake.”
“And Æthiopes of their ſweet complexion crack.”
“Stultitiam ſuam produnt &c. (ſaith Platerus) your very tradeſmen, if they be excellent, will crack and bragge, and ſhew their folly in exceſſe.”
- archaic, colloquialTo be ruined or impaired; to fail.
“The credit[…]of exchequers cracks, when little comes in and much goes out.”
- colloquialTo barely reach or attain (a measurement or extent).
“An underground band that never cracked the Hot 100”
“IQ (Intelligence Quotient), number said to measure an individual's intelligence that many experts who clearly didn't crack 125 say overlooks important attributes such as creativity and social skills.”
- To have sex with, especially penetrative sex.
“[…] they end up thinking that they can escape the pain of incel-dom by “cracking” a femboy […]”
- countable, uncountableA thin and usually jagged space opened in a previously solid material.
“A large crack had formed in the roadway.”
- countable, uncountableA narrow opening.
“We managed to squeeze through a crack in the rock wall.”
“Open the door a crack.”
“Dimitar Berbatov found the first cracks in the home side's resilience when he pulled one back from close range and Hernandez himself drew the visitors level with a composed finish three minutes later ”
- countable, uncountableA sharply humorous comment; a wisecrack.
“I didn't appreciate that crack about my hairstyle.”
- countable, slang, uncountableCrack cocaine, a potent, relatively cheap, addictive variety of cocaine; often a rock, usually smoked through a crack-pipe.
“crack head”
“And even as a crack fiend, Mama / You always was a black queen, Mama”
“There were times when she could tell the Washingtons were overwhelmed by Jahlil's difficult ways, and one time Jessie even had the nerve to ask Carmiesha if she had smoked anything like crack or ice w”
- countable, figuratively, humorous, slang, uncountableSomething good-tasting or habit-forming.
“kitty crack” — catnip
“When did naming foods after a powerful narcotic become a thing?[…]Now the mean streets of New York are rife with “salted crack caramel” ice cream, “pistachio crack” brittle, “crack steak” sandwiches, ”
- countable, onomatopoeic, uncountableThe sharp sound made when solid material breaks.
“The crack of the falling branch could be heard for miles.”
- countable, onomatopoeic, uncountableAny sharp sound.
“The crack of the bat hitting the ball.”
“She broke to love in the opening game, only for Bartoli to hit straight back in game two, which was interrupted by a huge crack of thunder that made Lisicki jump and prompted nervous laughter from the”
- countable, uncountableA sharp, resounding blow.
“Mrs. Perkins, who has not been for some weeks on speaking terms with Mrs. Piper in consequence for an unpleasantness originating in young Perkins' having "fetched" young Piper "a crack," renews her fr”
- countable, informal, uncountableAn attempt at something.
“I'd like to take a crack at that game.”
- countable, informal, uncountableThe space between the buttocks.
“Pull up your pants! Your crack is showing.”
- Ireland, Northern-England, Scotland, countable, uncountableConviviality; fun; good conversation, chat, gossip, or humorous storytelling; good company.
“The party was great crack.”
“He's good crack. [It's nice having him around]”
“But first I maun hae a crack wi' an auld acquaintance here.—Mr. Owen, Mr. Owen, how's a' wi' ye, man?”
- Cumbria, Northern-UK, countable, uncountableA chat.
“And when he come down in the evenings, he’d drop in every night to have a crack wi’ Old Bob.”
- Ireland, Northern-England, Scotland, countable, uncountableBusiness; events; news.
“What's the crack?”
“What's this crack about a possible merger?”
“But, aw see yo known him weel enough; an' so aw'll tell yo a bit of a crack abeawt him an' Owd Neddy.”
- countable, uncountableA program or procedure designed to circumvent restrictions or usage limits on software.
“Has anyone got a crack for DocumentWriter 3.0?”
- US, countable, dated, uncountableAn expanding circle of white water surrounding the site of a large explosion at shallow depth, marking the progress of the shock wave through the air above the water.
- Internet, countable, uncountableExtremely silly, absurd or off-the-wall ideas or prose.
- countable, uncountableThe tone of voice when changed at puberty.
“And let vs (Polidore) though now our voyces / Haue got the manniſh cracke, ſing him to'th'ground”
- archaic, countable, uncountableA mental flaw; a touch of craziness; partial insanity.
- archaic, countable, uncountableA crazy or crack-brained person.
“On the London Cries […] I have lately received a letter from some very odd fellow upon this subject […] ‘Sir, […], but I cannot get the parliament to listen to me ; who look upon me, forsooth, as a cr”
- countable, obsolete, uncountableA boast; boasting.
“Slaunderous reproches,and fowle infamies, / Leaſings,backbytings,and vaineglorious crakes”
“D'ye hear wha's coming to cow yere cracks?”
- countable, obsolete, uncountableBreach of chastity.
“But thinke her bond of Chaſtity quite crack'd, I hauing 'tane the forfeyt.”
- countable, obsolete, uncountableA boy, generally a pert, lively boy.
“The ſame Sir Iohn, the very ſame: I ſaw him breake Scogaan's Head at the Court-Gate, when hee was a Crack, not thus high: […]”
“Indeed la, tis a noble childe. / - A Cracke Madam.”
- UK, countable, dated, slang, uncountableA brief time; an instant; a jiffy.
“I'll be with you in a crack.”
- countable, dated, uncountableThe act of hitting on someone.
“The eyes of my sisters who fear my crack^*
[footnote] Before the popularization of the term "crack" as a drug, its common usage in the Black community referred to men publicly cruising and approaching”
- countable, obsolete, uncountableDry firewood.
- obsoleteOne who excels; the best, especially a winning racehorse.
“Stanton had at one time a reputation for inaccessibility, but that has long since become a thing of the past, […] So that the gallops of the cracks' can, in most cases, be regularly watched and their ”
“1st Gent. What dost think, Jockey? / 2nd Gent. The crack o' the field's against you.”
- not-comparableHighly trained and competent.
“Even a crack team of investigators would have trouble solving this case.”
- not-comparableExcellent, first-rate, superior, top-notch.
“She's a crack shot with that rifle.”
“Every scratch in the scheme was a gnarled oak in the forest of difficulty, and I went on cutting them down, one after another, with such vigour, that in three or four months I was in a condition to ma”
“Fortunately, it is unusual for the crack transatlantic liners to sail or dock on a Saturday, but it is the custom for most holiday cruises to start on that day, returning on Fridays a fortnight or thr”
Formscracks(present, singular, third-person) · cracking(participle, present) · cracked(participle, past) · cracked(past) · cracks(plural) · Cracks(plural)