Join free

Crack

AI In plain words

Writing a short explanation…

Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.

crack¹

  • /kɹæk/ US, UK

Sounds like craic · Rhymes with -æk

Where it comes from

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *gerh₂-

Proto-Indo-European *gerg-der.

Proto-West Germanic *krakōn

Old English cracian

Middle English crakken

English crack

From Middle English crakken, craken, from Old English cracian (“to resound, crack”), from Proto-West Germanic *krakōn (“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)).

verb cracks · cracking · cracked

  1. intransitive To form cracks. It's been so dry, the ground is starting to crack.
  2. intransitive To break apart under force, stress, or 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 To change rapidly in register. His voice cracked with emotion.
  7. intransitive 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. intransitive To realize that one is transgender. She cracked at age 22 and came out to her friends and family over the next few months.
  10. transitive To make a crack or cracks in. The ball cracked the window.
  11. transitive To break open or crush to small pieces by impact or stress. You'll need a hammer to crack a black walnut.
  12. transitive To strike forcefully. She cracked him over the head with her handbag.
  13. transitive To open slightly. Could you please crack the window?
  14. figuratively, transitive To cause to yield under interrogation or other pressure. They managed to crack him on the third day.
  15. figuratively, transitive To solve a difficult problem. I've finally cracked it, and of course the answer is obvious in hindsight.
  16. transitive To 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.
  17. transitive To cause to make a sharp sound. to crack a whip
  18. transitive To tell (a joke). The performance was fine until he cracked that dead baby joke.
  19. transitive To break down (a complex molecule), especially with the application of heat: to pyrolyse. Acetone is cracked to ketene and methane at 700°C.
  20. transitive To circumvent software restrictions such as regional coding or time limits. That software licence will expire tomorrow unless we can crack it.
  21. informal, transitive To open a canned beverage, or any packaged drink or food. I'd love to crack open a beer.
  22. obsolete To 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.
  23. archaic, colloquial To be ruined or impaired; to fail. The credit[…]of exchequers cracks, when little comes in and much goes out.
  24. colloquial To barely reach or attain (a measurement or extent). An underground band that never cracked the Hot 100
  25. To have sex with a female or feminine person for the first time, especially penetrative sex. Did you hear about Josh cracking Stacy in the school hall?
  26. usually To have sex. i shifted to crack him. i cracked him real good in my dr.

noun cracks

  1. countable, uncountable A thin and usually jagged space opened in a previously solid material. A large crack had formed in the roadway.
  2. countable, uncountable A narrow opening. We managed to squeeze through a crack in the rock wall.
  3. countable, figuratively, slang, uncountable A sharply humorous comment; a wisecrack. I didn't appreciate that crack about my hairstyle.
  4. countable, figuratively, slang, uncommon, uncountable A flaw, weakness, setback, or insecurity. It’s a fact all those cracks they can hold you back / But there’s a better way (there’s a better way) / Just keep on pushing, keep on pushing, keep on pushing / For a brighter day
  5. countable, slang, uncountable Crack cocaine, a potent, relatively cheap, addictive variety of cocaine; often a rock, usually smoked through a crack pipe. crack head
  6. broadly, countable, figuratively, humorous, slang, uncountable Something pleasurable (good-tasting or appealing) and habit-forming. kitty crack
  7. countable, onomatopoeic, uncountable The sharp sound made when solid material breaks. The crack of the falling branch could be heard for miles.
  8. countable, onomatopoeic, uncountable Any sharp sound. The crack of the bat hitting the ball.
  9. countable, uncountable A 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 friendly intercourse on this auspicious occasion.
  10. countable, slang, uncountable An attempt at something. I'd like to take a crack at that game.
  11. countable, slang, uncountable, vulgar The vagina. I rattled off more silly nonsense, all the while clutching her firmly, pushing my fingers into her gluey crack.
  12. countable, slang, uncountable, vulgar The space between the buttocks. Pull up your pants! Your crack is showing.
  13. Ireland, Northern England, Scotland, countable, uncountable Conviviality; fun; good conversation, chat, gossip, or humorous storytelling; good company. The party was great crack.
  14. Cumbria, Northern UK, countable, uncountable A chat. And when he come down in the evenings, he’d drop in every night to have a crack wi’ Old Bob.
  15. Ireland, Northern England, Scotland, countable, uncountable Business; events; news. What's the crack?
  16. countable, uncountable A program or procedure designed to circumvent restrictions or usage limits on software. Has anyone got a crack for DocumentWriter 3.0?
  17. US, countable, dated, uncountable 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.
  18. Internet, countable, uncountable Extremely silly, absurd or off-the-wall ideas or prose.
  19. countable, uncountable The 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
  20. archaic, countable, uncountable A mental flaw; a touch of craziness; partial insanity. He has a crack.
  21. archaic, countable, uncountable 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’
  22. countable, obsolete, uncountable A boast; boasting. Slaunderous reproches,and fowle infamies, / Leaſings,backbytings,and vaineglorious crakes
  23. countable, obsolete, uncountable Breach of chastity. But thinke her bond of Chaſtity quite crack'd, I hauing 'tane the forfeyt.
  24. countable, obsolete, uncountable A 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: […]
  25. UK, countable, dated, slang, uncountable A brief time; an instant; a jiffy. I'll be with you in a crack.
  26. countable, dated, uncountable The 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 women.
  27. countable, obsolete, uncountable Dry firewood.

crack²

  • /kɹæk/ US, UK

Sounds like craic · Rhymes with -æk

Where it comes from

Slang first attested 1793, perhaps from the verb in the sense of doing something quickly or with intelligence, or in the sense of "speaking boastingly" and having something to be proud of.

adjective

  1. not comparable Highly trained and competent. Even a crack team of investigators would have trouble solving this case.
  2. not comparable Excellent, first-rate, superior, top-notch. She's a crack shot with that rifle.

noun cracks

  1. obsolete One 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 daily doings truthfully chronicled.

Crack³

proper noun Cracks

  1. A surname

Talk about this word