/kɹʌʃ/
OriginFrom Middle English cruschen (“to crush, smash, squeeze, squash”), from Old French croissir (“to crush”), from Late Latin *crusciō (“to crush”), from Frankish *krustijan (“to crush, squeeze, squash”), from Proto-Germanic *kreustaną (“to crush, grind, strike, smash”).
Cognate with Middle Low German tôkrosten (“to crush, shatter”), Swedish krysta (“to squeeze”), Danish kryste (“to squash”), Icelandic kreista (“to squeeze, squash”), Faroese kroysta (“to squeeze”), Gothic 𐌺𐍂𐌹𐌿𐍃𐍄𐌰𐌽 (kriustan, “to gnash”). Akin also to Middle Dutch crosen (“to bruise, crush”), Middle Low German krossen, krö̂sen, tôkrö̂sen (“to break, shatter”), Old Swedish krusa (“to crush”).
- countable, uncountableA violent collision or compression; a crash; destruction; ruin.
“The more highly the injured part is endowed with sensory nerves the more marked is the shock; a crush of the hand, for example, is attended with a more intense degree of shock than a correspondingly s”
- countable, uncountableViolent pressure, as of a moving crowd.
- countable, uncountableA violent crowding.
- countable, uncountableA crowd that produces uncomfortable pressure.
- countable, slang, uncountableA group or gang.
“Then there was another set who called themselves the "Ragged Thirteen"; and the account says "they looked it." And, like most diggers, this "crush," to quote my authority, could handle the cards a bit”
- countable, uncountableA crowd control barrier.
- countable, uncountableA drink made by squeezing the juice out of fruit.
“"Look," said Crabbe, warm orange crush in his hand.”
- countable, informal, uncountableAn infatuation with somebody one is not dating.
“I've had a huge crush on her since we met many years ago.”
“How did you know cause I never told / But you found out / I've got a crush on you”
“And I needed to get my schoolgirl crush under control. There was no way Brín felt anything anywhere near what I felt for him. He saw me as a friend.”
- broadly, countable, informal, uncountableThe human object of such infatuation or affection.
“He took his crush out for dinner.”
“It had taken nine years from the evening that Truman first showed up with a pie plate at her mother's door, but his dogged perseverance eventually won him the hand of his boyhood Sunday school crush.”
- countable, uncountableA standing stock or cage with movable sides used to restrain livestock for safe handling.
- countable, dated, uncountableA party or festive function.
“Two months ago I went to a crush at Lady Brandon's.”
- Australia, countable, uncountableThe process of crushing cane to remove the raw sugar, or the season when this process takes place.
- uncountableThe situation where certain colors are so similar as to be hard to distinguish, either as a deliberate effect or as a limitation of a display.
“black crush; white crush”
- uncountableA paraphilia involving arousal from seeing things destroyed by crushing.
“Just as they say that marijuana leads to harder drugs, Gallegly is claiming that crush is a "gateway fetish"—a term I've never heard before. He claims that if someone starts with bugs they'll end up e”
- To press between two hard objects; to squeeze so as to alter the natural shape or integrity, or to force together into a mass.
“to crush grapes”
“Ye shall not offer unto the Lord that which is bruised, or crushed, or broken, or cut”
- To reduce to fine particles by pounding or grinding.
“to crush quartz”
“With a wild scream he was upon her, tearing a great piece from her side with his mighty teeth, and striking her viciously upon her head and shoulders with a broken tree limb until her skull was crushe”
- figurativelyTo overwhelm by pressure or weight.
“After the corruption scandal, the opposition crushed the ruling party in the elections”
“We believe the invasion has reached its peak. The task remaining is to crush it. Our men are confident, the United Nations command is confident, that it will be crushed.”
“A stunning performance from the Republic of Ireland all but sealed progress to Euro 2012 as they crushed nine-man Estonia 4-0 in the first leg of the qualifying play-off tie in A Le Coq Arena in Talli”
- colloquial, figurativelyTo do impressively well at (sports events; performances; interviews; etc.).
“They had a gig recently at Madison Square—totally crushed it!”
- To oppress or grievously burden.
- To overcome completely; to subdue totally.
“The sultan's black guard crushed every resistance bloodily.”
“the prospect of the Duke's speedily overtaking and crushing the rebels”
- intransitiveTo be or become broken down or in, or pressed into a smaller volume or area, by external weight or force.
“an eggshell crushes easily”
- intransitive, transitiveTo feel infatuation or unrequited love.
“She's crushing on him.”
“Then walked in / The girl I'm crushin' / And the kid spilled juice / On my Mom's new cushion”
“... I could just let loose and be myself no holding back you know we just where to young kids in love, lust, crushing whatever you wanted to call it but we where living it up having fun when we where ”
- To give a compressed or foreshortened appearance to.
“He frames his subject in distant close-ups (we feel the distance, due mostly to the crushed perspective brought about by the telephoto lens).”
“They realise that trajectories, space expansion and crushing are different with different lenses, whether wide angle or telephoto, and that actors' eyelines will be altered.”
- transitiveTo make certain colors so similar as to be hard to distinguish, either as a deliberate effect or as a limitation of a display.
“My old TV set crushes the blacks when the brightness is lowered.”
Formscrushes(plural) · crushes(present, singular, third-person) · crushing(participle, present) · crushed(participle, past) · crushed(past)