/kɹæʃ/
OriginFrom Middle English crasshen, crasschen, craschen (“to break into pieces”), of uncertain origin. Perhaps from a variant of earlier *crasken, from crasen (“to break”) + -k (formative suffix); or from earlier *craskien, *craksien, a variant of craken (“to crack, break open”) (for form development compare break, brask, brash).
- A sudden, intense, loud sound, as made for example by cymbals.
“The piece ended in a crescendo, building up to a crash of cymbals.”
“After the lightning came the crash of thunder.”
- An automobile, airplane, or other vehicle accident.
“She broke two bones in her body in a car crash.”
“Nobody survived the plane crash.”
- A malfunction of computer software or hardware which causes it to shut down or become partially or totally inoperable.
“My computer had a crash so I had to reboot it.”
- A sudden large decline of business or the prices of stocks (especially one that causes additional failures).
- informalA comedown from a drug.
- collectiveA group of rhinoceroses.
“One of my favorites among the terms of groups of creatures is a crash of rhinoceros. I can imagine an African guide saying to his client, “Shoot, dammit, shoot! Here comes the whole bloody crash of rh”
“The largest group of black rhinos reported was made up of 13 individuals. A group of rhinos is called a crash.”
“Out in the water a crash of rhinoceros-like animals browse belly deep through a bed of aquatic plants.”
- A sudden decline in any living form's population levels, often leading to extinction.
- uncountableA type of rough linen.
“The yearly allowance of clothing on this plantation, consisted of two tow-linen shirts—such linen as the coarsest crash towels are made of[…]”
“Unlocking the door of her bath-room she went inside, and soon emerged, bringing a rug, which she spread upon the floor of the gallery, and two huge hair pillows covered with crash, which she placed ag”
- not-comparableQuick, fast, intensive, impromptu.
“crash course”
“crash diet”
- intransitiveTo collide with something destructively; to fall or come down violently.
“When the car crashed into a house, the driver was heavily injured.”
“After driving into a tree last week, grandpa's crashed into a deer this morning.”
- transitiveTo cause something to collide with something else, especially when this results in damage.
“I'm sorry for crashing the bike into a wall. I'll pay for repairs.”
- transitiveTo hit or strike with force.
“Roy Hodgson's side were dominant and fully merited the lead given to them when Eric Dier crashed a 20-yard free-kick high past keeper Igor Akinfeev with 17 minutes left.”
“Even the staid New York Times was gushing: “Rising to the glorious heights of his heyday, Babe Ruth, the Sultan of Swat, crashed out three home runs against the Pittsburgh Pirates Saturday afternoon b”
- To make a sudden loud noise.
“Thunder crashed directly overhead.”
- abbreviation, alt-of, ambitransitive, ellipsis, slangEllipsis of gatecrash.
“We weren't invited to the party so we decided to crash it.”
“Friday night I crashed your party
Saturday I said, "I'm sorry"
Sunday came and trashed me out again”
“"Anyway, sorry about crashing. I know you're doing a sort of 'talk freely about magic' thing, and I don't have any of my own, but..."”
- transitiveTo accelerate a project or a task or its schedule by devoting more resources to it.
“Using the project plan, the team started to work out different scenarios to crash the schedule and bring the date to the regulatory deadline.”
- intransitive, slangTo make or experience informal temporary living arrangements, especially overnight.
“Hey dude, can I crash at your pad?”
- slang, transitiveTo give, as a favor.
“'I been pissin' blood,' he said, grinning. Then frowning. 'Crash us a tenner, eh?'”
“Crash us a cancer stick, Fitz: I could bloody murder a fag, as I delight in telling Americans”
“'I'll show you what needs doing. But first..." She hesitated. 'I don't suppose you could crash me a ciggy, while you're here, could you?'”
- intransitive, slangTo lie down for a long rest, sleep or nap, as from tiredness or exhaustion.
- intransitiveTo experience a period of depression and/or lethargy after a period of euphoria, as after the euphoric effect of a psychotropic drug has dissipated.
“Falling from cloud nine / Crashing from the high / I'm letting go tonight / Yeah, I'm falling from cloud nine”
- intransitiveTo terminate or halt execution due to an exception.
“If the system crashes again, we'll have it fixed in the computer shop.”
- transitiveTo cause an exception that terminates or halts execution.
“Double-clicking this icon crashes the desktop.”
- To take a sudden and severe turn for the worse; to rapidly and catastrophically deteriorate.
“And the unvarying lesson of history is that all such balance of power peaces have crashed into new conflicts, as soon as the unstable equilibrium was disturbed, witness the Peace of Westphalia, the Co”
“In October 1929, the United States' stock market crashed, at the end of a buoyant decade in its domestic economy.”
“Despite the quotas determined by fisheries scientists, the Atlantic cod population crashed in the mid-1980s leading to a complete moratorium for fishing the species within Canadian waters.”
- Scotland, transitiveTo take a subject at higher level without having previously studied it.
“Joe's crashing Higher Physics, even after I told him it was a bad idea.”
Formscrashes(plural) · crashes(present, singular, third-person) · crashing(participle, present) · crashed(participle, past) · crashed(past)