English
crack
Pronunciation Verb

crack (cracks, present participle cracking; past and past participle cracked)

  1. (intransitive) To form cracks.
    It's been so dry, the ground is starting to crack.
  2. (intransitive) To break apart under pressure.
    When I tried to stand on the chair, it cracked.
  3. (intransitive) To become debilitated by psychological pressure.
    Anyone would crack after being hounded like that.
  4. (intransitive) To break down or yield, especially under interrogation or torture.
    When we showed him the pictures of the murder scene, he cracked.
  5. (intransitive) To make a cracking sound.
    The bat cracked with authority and the ball went for six.
  6. (intransitive, of a voice) To change rapidly in register.
    His voice cracked with emotion.
  7. (intransitive, of a pubescent boy's voice) To alternate between high and low register in the process of eventually lowering.
    His voice finally cracked when he was fourteen.
  8. (intransitive) To make a sharply humorous comment.
    "I would too, with a face like that," she cracked.
  9. (transitive) To make a crack or cracks in.
    The ball cracked the window.
  10. (transitive) To break open or crush to small pieces by impact or stress.
    You'll need a hammer to crack a black walnut.
  11. (transitive) To strike forcefully.
    She cracked him over the head with her handbag.
  12. (transitive) To open slightly.
    Could you please crack the window?
  13. (transitive) To cause to yield under interrogation or other pressure. (Figurative)
    They managed to crack him on the third day.
  14. (transitive) To solve a difficult problem. (Figurative, from cracking a nut.)
    I've finally cracked it, and of course the answer is obvious in hindsight.
  15. (transitive) To overcome a security system or a 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.
  16. (transitive) To cause to make a sharp sound.
    to crack a whip
  17. (transitive) To tell (a joke).
    The performance was fine until he cracked that dead baby joke.
  18. (transitive, chemistry, informal) To break down (a complex molecule), especially with the application of heat: to pyrolyse.
    Acetone is cracked to ketene and methane at 700°C.
  19. (transitive, computing) To circumvent software restrictions such as regional coding or time limits.
    That software licence will expire tomorrow unless we can crack it.
  20. (transitive, informal) To 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.
  21. (obsolete) To brag, boast.
    • 1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Qveene. […], part II (books IV–VI), London: Printed [by Richard Field] for VVilliam Ponsonbie, OCLC 932900760 ↗, book V, canto III, stanza 16, page 216 ↗:
      To whom the boaſter, that all knights did blot, / With proud diſdaine did ſcornefull anſwere make; […] And further did vncomely ſpeaches crake.
    • c. 1595–1596, William Shakespeare, “Loues Labour’s Lost”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act IV, scene iii], line 268, page 134 ↗, column 2:
      And Æthiopes of their ſweet complexion crack.
    • 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, OCLC 54573970 ↗, partition I, section 2, member 3, subsection 14, page 126:
      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], “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, OCLC 54573970 ↗, partition II, section 4, member 1, subsection v:
      Cardan cracks that he can cure all diſeaſes with water alone, as Hippocrates of old did moſt infirmities with one medicine.
  22. (archaic, colloquial) To be ruined or impaired; to fail.
    • The credit […] of exchequers cracks, when little comes in and much goes out.
Related terms
  • crazed (exhibiting fine-line cracks)
Translations Translations Translations Translations
  • French: craquer
  • Russian: раска́лываться
Translations Translations Translations
  • French: muer
  • Italian: mutare
  • Russian: лома́ться
  • Spanish: soltar gallos
Translations
  • French: lâcher
  • Russian: остри́ть
Translations Translations
  • French: casser
  • Russian: раска́лывать
Translations Translations
  • French: entrouvrir
  • Russian: приоткрывать
Translations
  • Russian: коло́ть
Translations Translations Translations
  • Italian: fare una battuta
Translations Translations Translations Noun

crack

  1. A thin and usually jagged space opened in a previously solid material.
    A large crack had formed in the roadway.
  2. A narrow opening.
    We managed to squeeze through a crack in the rock wall.
    Open the door a crack.
  3. A sharply humorous comment; a wisecrack.
    I didn't appreciate that crack about my hairstyle.
  4. A potent, relatively cheap, addictive variety of cocaine; often a rock, usually smoked through a crack-pipe.
  5. (onomatopoeia) The sharp sound made when solid material breaks.
    The crack of the falling branch could be heard for miles.
  6. (onomatopoeia) Any sharp sound.
    The crack of the bat hitting the ball.
  7. A sharp, resounding blow.
    • 1853, Charles Dickens, Bleak House, ch 11:
      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.
  8. (informal) An attempt at something.
    I'd like to take a crack at that game.
  9. (vulgar, slang) Vagina.
    I'm so horny even the crack of dawn isn't safe!
  10. (informal) The space between the buttocks.
    Pull up your pants! Your crack is showing.
  11. (Northern England, Scotland, Ireland) Conviviality; fun; good conversation, chat, gossip, or humorous storytelling; good company.
    • 2001, William F. Gray, The Villain, iUniverse, p. 214:
      Being a native of Northumberland, she was enjoying their banter and Geordie good humour. This was what she needed — good company and good crack.
    • 2004, Bill Griffiths, Dictionary of North East Dialect, Northumbria University Press (quoting Dunn, 1950)
      "his a bit o' good crack — interesting to talk to"
    • 2006, Patrick McCabe, Winterwood, Bloomsbury 2007, p. 10:
      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!
    The crack was good.
    That was good crack.
    He/she is quare good crack.
    The party was great crack.
  12. (Northern England, Scotland, Ireland) Business; events; news.
    What's the crack?
    What's this crack about a possible merger.
  13. (computing) A program or procedure designed to circumvent restrictions or usage limits on software.
    Has anyone got a crack for DocumentWriter 3.0?
  14. (Cumbria, elsewhere throughout the North of the UK) a meaningful chat.
  15. (Internet slang) Extremely silly, absurd or off-the-wall ideas or prose.
  16. The tone of voice when changed at puberty.
    • a. 1611, William Shakespeare, Cymbeline, Act 4, Scene 2
      And let us, Polydore, though now our voices / Have got the mannish crack, sing him to the ground, …
  17. (archaic) A mental flaw; a touch of craziness; partial insanity.
    He has a crack.
  18. (archaic) A 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 crack and a projector […] I am, SIR, &c. / RALPH CROTCHET’
  19. (obsolete) A boast; boasting.
    • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Qveene. […], London: Printed [by John Wolfe] for VVilliam Ponsonbie, OCLC 960102938 ↗, book II, canto XI, stanza 10, page 350 ↗:
      Slaunderous reproches,and fowle infamies, / Leaſings,backbytings,and vaineglorious crakes
  20. (obsolete) Breach of chastity.
    • a. 1611, William Shakespeare, Cymbeline, Act 5, Scene 5
      But think her bond of chastity quite crack'd, I having ta'en the forfeit. …
  21. (obsolete) A boy, generally a pert, lively boy.
    • c. 1608–1609, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Coriolanus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act I, scene iii]:
      'Tis a noble child.
      - A crack, madam.
  22. (slang, dated, UK) A brief time; an instant; a jiffy.
    I'll be with you in a crack.
Synonyms
  • (vulgar: space between the buttocks) bum crack (UK), arse crack (UK), ass crack (US)
  • (cocaine that is heat-altered at the moment of inhalation) crack cocaine
  • (A crazy or crack-brained person) crackpot
Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations 1793 slang, of unk en origin Adjective

crack (not comparable)

  1. Highly trained and competent.
    Even a crack team of investigators would have trouble solving this case.
  2. Excellent, first-rate, superior, top-notch.
    She's a crack shot with that rifle.
Related terms Translations

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