Definition of "crack"

crack¹

/kɹæk/

verb
third-person singular simple present cracks, present participle cracking, simple past and past participle cracked
1. (intransitive) To form cracks.
2. (intransitive) To break apart under force, stress, or pressure.
3. (intransitive) To become debilitated by psychological pressure.
4. (intransitive) To break down or yield, especially under interrogation or torture.
5. (intransitive) To make a cracking sound.
6. (intransitive, of a voice) To change rapidly in register.
7. (intransitive, of a pubescent boy's voice) To alternate between high and low register in the process of eventually lowering.
8. (intransitive) To make a sharply humorous comment.
9. (intransitive, LGBT, slang) To realize that one is transgender.
10. (transitive) To make a crack or cracks in.
11. (transitive) To break open or crush to small pieces by impact or stress.
12. (transitive) To strike forcefully.
  Quotations
  Bedding provided for late session became ammunition—meet ended in riot when Labor man cracked leader on jaw.
  1914 June 10, “Pillow Fight In Australian Parliament”, in Independence Daily Reporter
13. (transitive) To open slightly.
14. (transitive, figurative) To cause to yield under interrogation or other pressure.
15. (transitive, figurative) To solve a difficult problem.
  Quotations
  "[...] The key to battery trains is more the ability to charge quickly. If you can do that, you've cracked it."
  2021 November 17, Conrad Landin, “Network News: Vivarail goes forth with fast-charging batteries”, in RAIL, number 944, page 13
16. (transitive) To overcome a security system or component.
17. (transitive) To cause to make a sharp sound.
  Quotations
  Hershell cracked his knuckles, a nervous habit that drove Inez crazy […]
  2001, Doug McGuinn, The Apple Indians
18. (transitive) To tell (a joke).
19. (transitive, chemistry) To break down (a complex molecule), especially with the application of heat: to pyrolyse.
20. (transitive, computing) To circumvent software restrictions such as regional coding or time limits.
  Quotations
  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 marketplace, almost everyone thinks piracy will increase.
  1997 April 1, David McCandless, “Warez Wars”, in Wired‎
21. (transitive, informal) To open a canned beverage, or any packaged drink or food.
  Quotations
  Old Bouvet was waiting in the passage when I entered, and he asked me whether we might not crack a bottle of wine together.
  1894, The Strand, volume 8, page 569
22. (obsolete) To brag; to boast.
  Quotations
  To whom the boaſter, that all knights did blot, / With proud diſdaine did ſcornefull anſwere make; […] And further did vncomely ſpeaches crake.
  1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book V, Canto III”, in The Faerie Queene. […], part II (books IV–VI), London: […] [Richard Field] for William Ponsonby, stanza 16, page 216
  And Æthiopes of their ſweet complexion crack.
  c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Loues Labour’s Lost”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act IV, scene iii], page 134, column 2, line 268
  Stultitiam ſuam produnt &c. (ſaith Platerus) your very tradeſmen, if they be excellent, will crack and bragge, and ſhew their folly in exceſſe.
  1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], “Cauſes of Melancholy. Vaine-glory, Pride, Ioy, Praiſe, &c.”, in The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed by John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, partition I, section 2, member 3, subsection 14, page 126
  Cardan cracks that he can cure all diſeaſes with water alone, as Hippocrates of old did moſt infirmities with one medicine.
  1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], “Cure of Melancholy. Simple alternatives. Compound Alternatiues, Cenſure of Compounds and mixt Phyſick.”, in The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed by John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, partition II, section 4, member 1, subsection v
23. (archaic, colloquial) To be ruined or impaired; to fail.
  Quotations
  The credit […] of exchequers cracks, when little comes in and much goes out.
  1697, Virgil, “Dedications”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […]
24. (colloquial) To barely reach or attain (a measurement or extent).
  Quotations
  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.
  2012, The Onion Book of Known Knowledge, page 102
noun
countable and uncountable, plural cracks
1. A thin and usually jagged space opened in a previously solid material.
2. A narrow opening.
  Quotations
  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 as Bloomfield Road's earlier jubilation turned to despair.
  2011 January 25, Phil McNulty, “Blackpool 2 - 3 Man Utd”, in BBC‎
3. A sharply humorous comment; a wisecrack.
4. (slang) Crack cocaine, a potent, relatively cheap, addictive variety of cocaine; often a rock, usually smoked through a crack-pipe.
  Quotations
  And even as a crack fiend, Mama / You always was a black queen, Mama
  1995, “Dear Mama”, in Me Against the World, performed by 2Pac
  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 while she was pregnant with him.
  2006, Noire [pseudonym], Thug-A-Licious: An Urban Erotic Tale, New York, N.Y.: One World/Ballantine Books, page 122
  1. (figurative, humorous) Something good-tasting or habit-forming.
    Quotations
    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, and “tuna on crack.”]
    [2012 March 23, Rob Patronite, Robin Raisfeld, “Your Brain on Food”, in New York Magazine
5. (onomatopoeia) The sharp sound made when solid material breaks.
6. (onomatopoeia) Any sharp sound.
  Quotations
  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 15,000 spectators.
  2011 June 28, Piers Newbery, “Wimbledon 2011: Sabine Lisicki beats Marion Bartoli”, in BBC Sport‎
7. A sharp, resounding blow.
  Quotations
  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 friendly intercourse on this auspicious occasion.
  1852 March – 1853 September, Charles Dickens, chapter 11, in Bleak House, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1853
8. (informal) An attempt at something.
9. (vulgar, slang) The vagina.
  Quotations
  I rattled off more silly nonsense, all the while clutching her firmly, pushing my fingers into her gluey crack.
  1956, Henry Miller, Quiet Days in Clichy, Grove Press, published 1987, page 143
10. (informal) The space between the buttocks.
11. (Northern England, Scotland, Ireland) Conviviality; fun; good conversation, chat, gossip, or humorous storytelling; good company.
  Quotations
  Being a native of Northumberland, she was enjoying their banter and Geordie good humour. This was what she needed — good company and good crack.
  2001, William F. Gray, The Villain, iUniverse, page 214
  "his a bit o' good crack — interesting to talk to"
  2004, Bill Griffiths, Dictionary of North East Dialect, Northumbria University Press (quoting Dunn, 1950)
  By the time we've got a good drunk on us there'll be more crack in this valley than the night I pissed on the electric fence!
  2006, Patrick McCabe, Winterwood, Bloomsbury, published 2007, page 10
12. (Northern England, Scotland, Ireland) Business; events; news.
13. (computing) A program or procedure designed to circumvent restrictions or usage limits on software.
14. (hydrodynamics, US, dated) An 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.A nuclear explosion in shallow water; the crack is clearly visible on the water's surface.
15. (Cumbria, elsewhere throughout the North of the UK) a meaningful chat.
16. (Internet slang) Extremely silly, absurd or off-the-wall ideas or prose.
17. The tone of voice when changed at puberty.
  Quotations
  And let vs (Polidore) though now our voyces / Haue got the manniſh cracke, ſing him to'th'ground
  1611 April (first recorded performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act IV, scene ii], page 389, column 2
18. (archaic) A mental flaw; a touch of craziness; partial insanity.
19. (archaic) A crazy or crack-brained person.
  Quotations
  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 crack and a projector […] I am, SIR, &c. / RALPH CROTCHET’
  1711 December 29 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison; Richard Steele et al.], “TUESDAY, December 18, 1711”, in The Spectator, number 251; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume III, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, pages 251-256
20. (obsolete) A boast; boasting.
  Quotations
  Slaunderous reproches,and fowle infamies, / Leaſings,backbytings,and vaineglorious crakes
  1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto XI”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, stanza 10, page 350
21. (obsolete) Breach of chastity.
  Quotations
  But thinke her bond of Chaſtity quite crack'd, I hauing 'tane the forfeyt.
  1611 April (first recorded performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act V, scene v], page 396
22. (obsolete) A boy, generally a pert, lively boy.
  Quotations
  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: […]
  c. 1596–1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act III, scene ii], page 86, column 2
  Indeed la, tis a noble childe. / - A Cracke Madam.
  c. 1608–1609 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Coriolanus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act I, scene iii], page 4, column 2
23. (slang, dated, UK) A brief time; an instant; a jiffy.

crack²

/kɹæk/

adjective
not comparable
1. Highly trained and competent.
2. Excellent, first-rate, superior, top-notch.
  Quotations
  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 make an experiment on one of our crack speakers in the Commons.
  1849 May – 1850 November, Charles Dickens, chapter 38, in The Personal History of David Copperfield, London: Bradbury & Evans, […], published 1850
  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 three weeks later.
  1962 April, J. N. Faulkner, “Summer Saturday at Waterloo”, in Modern Railways, page 264
noun
plural cracks
1. (obsolete) One who excels; the best.
  Quotations
  1st Gent. What dost think, Jockey? / 2nd Gent. The crack o' the field's against you.
  1888 , James Shirley, Hyde Park, act IV, scene iii, page 236

Definition of "crack"

crack1

verb

Quotations

Quotations

Quotations

Quotations

Quotations

Quotations

Quotations

Quotations

noun

Quotations

Quotations

Quotations

Quotations

Quotations

Quotations

Quotations

Quotations

Quotations

Quotations

Quotations

Quotations

crack2

adjective

Quotations

noun

Quotations

crack¹

crack²