▪ I. crack, n.
(kræk)
Forms: 4–6 crak, 4 krakke, 5 krak, 6 crakke, crake, 6–7 cracke, 6– crack.
[Goes with crack v. The n. is not known in OE., but corresponding forms occur early in the cognate langs.: OHG. chrac, dial. G. krack, Du. krak, and OHG. *chrah, MHG. and G. krach, MDu. crak (dat. crāke), mod.Du. kraak, E.Fris. krak and krâk. Cf. also F. crac (in Cotgr. 1611), similarly related to craquer.]
orig. An imitation of the sharp sound caused by the sudden breaking of anything hard; whence, I. any sharp dry sound, II. a break or breaking of various kinds, with III. sundry transferred applications.
I. Of sound.
* inarticulate.
1. a. A sudden sharp and loud noise as of something breaking or bursting; e.g. the crack of a rifle, a whip, of breaking ice, bones, etc. Formerly applied also to the roar of a cannon, of a trumpet, and of thunder; the last is still common dial., and in the archaic phrase the ‘crack of doom’, i.e. the thunder-peal of the day of judgement, or perh. the blast of the archangel's trump.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 18953 (Gött.) All carpand of þat grisli crack. c 1325 E.E. Allit. P. B. 1210 Cler claryoun crak cryed on-lofte. 1460 Lybeaus Disc. 962 Gyffrounys legge to-brak, That men herde the krak. c 1489 Caxton Blanchardyn liv. 218 Huge and horible crakes of thuunder. 1549 Compl. Scot. vi. 60 The euyl that the thondir dois..is dune or ve heir the crak of it. 1557 Tottell's Misc. (Arb.) 127 Cannons with their thundryng cracks. 1605 Shakes. Macb. iv. i. 117 What will the Line stretch out to th' cracke of Doome? 1626 Bacon Sylva §210 In Thunder, which is far off..the Lightning precedeth the crack, a good space. 1718 Gay Let. to Mr. F. 9 Aug., There was heard so loud a crack, as if heaven had split asunder. 1803 Med. Jrnl. IX. 203, I made the necessary extension until the joint gave a crack. 1832 H. Martineau Life in Wilds viii. 100 The crack of his whip. 1867 Parkman Jesuits N. Amer. xvi. (1875) 219 The deadly crack of the rifle. |
b. A cannon-shot (obs.); a rifle-shot (colloq.).
gynis [i.e. engines] for crakkis, crakkis of wer: cannon.
| 1375 Barbour Bruce xvii. 250 Bot gynis for crakkis had he nane. Ibid. xix. 399 Twa novelreis that day thai saw..The tothir crakkis war of wer, That thai befor herd neuir eir. 1605 Shakes. Macb. i. ii. 37 As Cannons ouer-charg'd with double Cracks. 1849 W. S. Mayo Kaloolah (1887) 23, I thought I'd take a crack at him. 1855 Smedley H. Coverdale i. 3, I mean to carry you off..for a crack at the rabbits. |
c. A sharp, heavy, sounding blow. (colloq.)
| 1836 Dickens in Morning Chron. 26 Oct. 3/5 Green eid jist fetch him a crack over the head with the telescope. 1838 ― O. Twist xxii, I'll do your business myself with a crack on the head. 1855 Smedley H. Coverdale ii. (Rtldg.) 11 You hit him an awful crack! 1882 J. Sturgis Dick's Wand. iii. iv. xlvi. 156 To..hit him a crack over the sleek head. |
d. In phr.: to have (or take or give) a crack, to make an attempt, or trial; to ‘have a shot’ or ‘go’. colloq. (orig. U.S.).
| 1836 Hill Yankee Story Bk. (Weingarten). 1885 C. M. Yonge Two Sides of Shield II. i. 2 Uncle Regie, will you have a crack at the rabbits to-morrow? 1918 H. C. Witwer Baseball to Boches iv. 164 The medico says I'll be all right..to take another crack at them Germans. 1922 E. Wallace Flying 55 xxxix. 236 I'd take a crack at some of them with Fifty and even with Meyrick, who is a smashing good horse. 1939 ‘N. Shute’ What happened to Corbetts iv. 110 I'll have a crack at going on board. 1947 ― Chequer Board vii. 168 He said they wanted me, so I said I'd give it a crack. 1955 M. E. B. Banks Commando Climber viii. 146 Are you having a crack at the Slav Route? 1959 M. Hastings Hour-Glass to Eternity ii. i. 148 We'd like to have a crack at climbing the peak. 1959 J. Thurber Years with Ross vii. 131 I'm going to give Bergman a crack at that job. 1966 Sunday Mail Mag. (Brisbane) 2 Jan. 11/5 He returned to Australia determined to take another crack at the land. |
2. a. The time occupied by a crack or shot; a moment, instant. in a crack: in a moment, immediately (cf. in a twinkle). colloq.
| 1725 Ramsay Gentle Shepherd i. i, I trow, when that she saw, within a crack, She came with a right thieveless errand back. 1764 Foote Mayor of G. i. Wks. 1799 I. 161 They..will be here in a crack. 1834 A. W. Fonblanque Eng. under 7 Admin. (1837) III. 162 He was a Reformer in the crack of a whip. 1883 Stevenson Treasure Isl. iv. xxi. (1886) 171 He was on his feet again in a crack. |
b. The break (of dawn, of day). colloq. (orig. dial. and U.S.).
| 1887 Outing (U.S.) X. 7/1 At ‘crack of day’ as the sergeant of the guard expressed it, the stir of camp was started by waking up the cook. 1899 Dickinson & Prevost Gloss. Cumberland 146/2 Crack o' day, the first dawning before sunrise. 1923 C. E. Mulford Black Buttes ii. 27 You boys git what sleep you can. We'll round 'em up at the crack of dawn. 1929 J. B. Priestley Good Compan. ii. v. 375 ‘And when will it arrive at Middleford?’.. ‘About the crack of dawn, I suppose.’ 1948 W. S. Maugham Catalina xxix. 185 He had slipped away at crack of dawn. |
3. The breaking of wind, ventris crepitus. Obs. exc. dial.
| 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) I. 409 A crak of þe neþer ende. c 1425 Wyntoun Cron. viii. xxvi. 47, Lattand a crak, þat men mycht here. 1610 Holland Camden's Brit. i. 464 That he should..let a cracke downwards. 1611 Cotgr. s.v. Soubchantre. |
** vocal.
4. Loud talk, boast, brag; hence, sometimes, exaggeration, lie. arch. or dial. (In this sense there was a tendency in 16th c. to use crake as a distinctive form. Cf. crack v. 6.)
| c 1450 Harding Map of Scotl. (National MSS. Scotl. ii. lxx.), Wher Pluto..regneth in wo In his palais of pride with boste and crak [rime lak]. 1523 St. Papers Hen. VIII, VI. 122 Notwythstondynge the Frenchemennys crakes. 1550 J. Coke Eng. & Fr. Heralds iii. (1877) 92 Crackes, lyes, vauntes, bostes and fables. 1590 Spenser F.Q. ii. xi. 10 Leasinges, backbytinges and vain-glorious crakes. 1621–51 Burton Anat. Mel. i. ii. iii. xiv. 122 Out of this fountain [conceit] proceed all those cracks and brags. 1773 Goldsm. Stoops to Conq. ii. Wks. (Globe) 657/2 Tony. That's a damned confounded—crack. [1892 Still heard from schoolboys, though cracker is more common.] |
5. a. Brisk talk, conversation; pl. news. Sc. and north. dial. b. A sharp or cutting remark. colloq. (orig. U.S.). Cf. wisecrack.
| 1725 Ramsay Gentle Shepherd ii. i, Come sit down And gie's your cracks. What's a' the news in town? 1785 Burns Holy Fair xxvi, They're a' in famous tune For crack that day. a 1810 Tannahill Poems (1846) 55 Gossips ay maun hae their crack. 1865 Thoreau Cape Cod v. 92 Having had another crack with the old man. 1880 Besant & Rice Seamy Side xxviii. 243 To have a crack with the boatman on the beach. 1896 G. Ade Artie ii. 14 After that first saucy crack with the half [dollar] I laid low three or four hands. 1903 A. H. Lewis The Boss 120 This is exec'tive session, an' that crack about bein' a taxpayer is more of a public utterance. 1923 R. D. Paine Comr. Rolling Ocean viii. 129 Do you remember the day before that when he made that crack at you in front of Miss Crozier? 1924 W. M. Raine Troubled Waters xviii. 197 Make another crack like that and there'll be trouble right here in Cell Fifteen. 1930 Wodehouse Very Good, Jeeves! v. 127 Just one crack like that out of him..and I should infallibly have done his upper maxillary a bit of no good. 1958 Manch. Guardian 7 June 4/6 An anti-British crack gets as greedy a laugh as an anti-American gibe in London. 1967 Listener 28 Dec. 846/3 Mr Davis's book..is devoid of ‘personalities’ in the malign sense, except for one snide (and unworthy) crack at Pope Paul VI on page 114. |
c. Anglo-Ir. Fun, amusement; mischief. Freq. in phr. for the crack, for fun.
| a 1966 ‘M. na Gopaleen’ Best of Myles (1968) 93 You say you'd like a joke or two for a bit of crack. 1977 Cork Examiner 4 June 1/6 It was my first time entering a beauty competition. I only entered for the crack when we were at a function at the South County in Dublin. 1982 Sunday Times (Colour Suppl.) 5 Dec. 30/1 They came to Lisdoonvarna only for ‘the crack’... ‘Crack’ has several ingredients, of which two are merriment and mischief, but the word is really defiant of precise definition. Ibid. 30/3 The younger set, cheerfully opportunistic, loving ‘the crack’. |
II. Breaking; fissure.
6. Thieves' slang. House-breaking.
| 1812 J. H. Vaux Flash Dict. s.v., The crack is the game of house-breaking; a crack is a breaking any house or building for the purpose of plunder. 1838 Dickens O. Twist xxii, ‘Here’, said Toby..‘Success to the crack!’ |
7. a. A fissure or opening formed by the cracking, breaking, or bursting of a hard substance.
| 1530 Palsgr. 210/2 Cracke, breakyng, fente. 1694 Coll. Sev. Late Voy. ii. (1711) 30 A Mountain..full of craks all filled up with Snow. 1863 F. A. Kemble Resid. in Georgia 37 Centipedes..come out of the cracks..of the walls. |
b. A break in which the parts still remain in contact; a partial fracture.
| 1590 Sir J. Smyth Disc. Weapons 21 In case their peeces by overcharging..or crackes, or rifts, doo breake. 1665 Hooke Microgr. 43, I have very often been able to make a crack or flaw, in some convenient pieces of Glass, to appear and disappear at pleasure. 1758 Handmaid to Arts (1764) II. 347 The surface will appear covered with..a net-work of an infinite number of cracks. 1854 Ronalds & Richardson Chem. Technol. (ed. 2) I. 86 The most porous pieces [of charcoal], and such as are full of cracks. Mod. A crack in the bell so minute as to be with difficulty distinguished. |
c. spec. An opening between floor-boards or in a floor; esp. in phr. to walk a (or the) crack; also fig. U.S.
| 1825 J. K. Paulding J. Bull in Amer. vii. 81 When I had qualified myself by being able to walk a crack after swallowing half a gallon of whiskey. 1869 Mrs. Stowe Oldtown Folks xxxvii. 483 Your minister sartin doos slant a leetle towards the Arminians; he don't quite walk the crack. 1875 ― We & Neighbors ix. 100 They don't come it round Jim. Any boy that don't toe the crack gets it. 1902 W. N. Harben Abner Daniel 73 He could walk a crack with a gallon sloshin' about in 'im. |
d. A slight opening between a door and the door-post; similarly of a window.
| 1892 J. C. Harris Uncle Remus & his Friends 143 When he got little nigher, he tuck notice dat de front door wuz on de crack. 1898 M. Deland Old Chester Tales 237, I always think the door was open a little crack, and you could see out. 1911 R. D. Saunders Col. Todhunter xi. 161 Then the front door was opened on the crack. 1969 Gish & Pinchot Lilian Gish vi. 62 The panel was lowered a crack, and the morning light Griffith had so adroitly created touched her face. |
e. Mountaineering. A vertical fissure, too narrow to admit the whole body.
| 1923 G. D. Abraham First Steps to Climbing v. 57 At times the way may lie up narrow clefts or cracks which only give room for the jamming of an arm or a leg. 1957 Clark & Pyatt Mountaineering in Brit. ii. 42 The party found itself at the foot of the upper pitch, which was tackled by means of a thin crack which widened into a chimney. |
f. Phr. to paper over the cracks: to use a temporary expedient; to create a mere semblance of order, agreement, etc.
| [1865 Bismarck Let. 14 Aug. (1876) 65 Wir arbeiten eifrig an Erhaltung des Friedens und Verklebung der Risse im Bau.] 1910 Encycl. Brit. XI. 871/2 Neither power was quite prepared for war, and..the convention of Gastein, to use Bismarck's phrase, ‘papered over the cracks’. 1952 Ann. Reg. 1951 56 Mr. Bevan agreed to paper over the cracks for the period of the election. 1958 Listener 7 Aug. 213/3 Sir Malcolm did not succeed in papering over the cracks in the First Symphony. |
8. Of things immaterial: A flaw, deficiency, failing, unsoundness.
| 1570 Dee Math. Pref. 46 Such, as so vse me, will finde a fowle Cracke in their Credite. 1588 Shakes. L.L.L. v. ii. 415 My loue to thee is sound, sans cracke or flaw. 1611 ― Wint. T. i. ii. 322, I cannot Beleeve this Crack to be in my dread Mistresse. 1862 Burton Bk. Hunter (1863) 7 The man who has no defect or crack in his character. |
9. The breaking of the voice; cracked or broken condition of voice.
| 1611 Shakes. Cymb. iv. ii. 236 Though now our voyces, Have got the mannish cracke. |
10. A flaw of the brain; a craze, unsoundness of mind.
| 1601 ? Marston Pasquil & Kath. iii. 9 Here they come reeling..hauing a cracke in their heads. 1631 T. Powell Tom All Trades 143 A man most subject to the most wonderfull Crack. 1710 Steele Tatler No. 178 ¶2 The Upholsterer, whose Crack towards Politicks I have heretofore mention'd. 1891 Month LXXII. 494 The crack in Laurence Oliphant's mind was growing wider. |
III. Transferred and doubtfully derived senses.
† 11. A lively lad; a ‘rogue’ (playfully), a wag.
[Conjectured by some to be short for crack-hemp, crack-halter, crack-rope, used playfully. Cf. also mod.Icel. krakki ‘urchin’.]
| 1597 Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, iii. ii. 34 When hee was a Crack, not thus high. 1607 ― Cor. i. iii. 74 Val. Tis a Noble childe. Virg. A Cracke Madam. 1599 B. Jonson Cynthia's Rev. ii. i, Enter Cupid and Mercury, disguised as Pages. Mer... Since we are turn'd cracks, let's study to be like cracks; practise their language and behaviours. 1615 Heywood Four Prentises Wks. 1874 II. 253 It is a rogue, a wag..A notable dissembling lad, a Cracke. 1649 W. M. Wand. Jew (1857) 44 Who is it, Joculo? A melancholy Hee-cat (sir) said the cracke, a wilde man. 1673 R. Head Canting Acad. 76 An arch Crack..had observed what counterfeit Rogues the major part of these were. |
† 12. [from 4] A boaster, braggart, liar. Obs.
| c 1600 Day Begg. Bednall Gr. (1659) F, If I snip not off their purses then call me crack. 1681 W. Robertson Phraseol. Gen. 405 A crack or boasting fellow, gloriosus. |
13. [from 5] One full of conversation. Sc.
| 1827 Scott Jrnl. (1890) I. 349 A bauld crack that auld papist body. 1829 ― Antiq. Advt., To be a gude crack, that is, to possess talents for conversation. |
† 14. [? from 8] A woman of broken reputation; a wench, a prostitute. Obs.
| 1676 D'Urfey Mad. Fickle v. ii, He that you quarrel'd with about your Crack there. 1706 Collier Refl. Ridic. 379 Her Beauty, Wealth and Birth, could not secure her from being consider'd as a Crack. 1715 Vanbrugh Country Ho. ii. v, My Sister was with me, and it seems he took her for a Crack. 1719 D'Urfey Pills V. 27 Cracks that Coach it now. 1785 Grose Dict. Vulgar T., Crack, a whore. |
† 15. [from 10] A crack-brain, a crazy fellow.
| a 1701 Sedley Grumbler ii, Is not that the Crack you turn'd away yesterday? 1711 Addison Spect. No. 251 ¶2, I cannot get the Parliament to listen to me, who look upon me, forsooth, as a Crack, and a Projector. |
16. That which is the subject of boast or eulogy; that which is ‘cracked up’; a horse, player, ship, regiment, etc. of superior excellence: see crack a.
| 1637 Shirley Hyde Park iv. iii, 1st Gent. What dost think, Jockey? 2nd Gent. The crack o' the field's against you. 1673 Dryden Marr. à la Mode v. i. 1703 English Spy 255 (Farmer) Most noble cracks and worthy cousin trumps. 1843 (title), Cracks of the Day [with engravings of celebrated race-horses]. 1868 Daily Tel. 16 Apr., They were the ‘cracks’ of the regulars, as the Scottish and the London were the ‘cracks’ of the volunteers. 1881 Daily News 9 July 2 (Cricket) When the Harrow crack had made 90, he was badly missed at mid-off. 1886 Blackw. Mag. Aug. 227 Our leading counsel—we had engaged a couple of cracks—began to state our case. |
17. [from the vb. 11] Thieves' slang. A burglar; = cracksman.
| 1749 Goadby Life Bampfylde-M. Carew (Farmer), No strange Abram, ruffler crack. 1857 Punch 31 Jan. 49/2 (Slang Song) The High-toby, mob, crack and screeve model-school. |
18. slang. Dry wood (from its sound in breaking, or burning). (Cf. crackmans.)
| 1851 Mayhew Lond. Labour I. 328 The next process is to look for some crack (some dry wood to light a fire). |
19. Phr. half a crack: half a crown; two shillings and sixpence. slang.
| 1933 R. A. Knox Body in Silo xxiii. 237 So I hired the coat and hat and the rest of the outfit for half a crack from one of the artists. 1948 C. Day Lewis Otterbury Incident 85 A simple, ordinary coin of the realm, vulgarly known as half a crack or a demi-dollar. |
20. [from 1] A potent, crystalline form of cocaine made by heating a mixture of it with baking powder and water until it is hard, and breaking it into small pieces which are inhaled or smoked for their stimulating effect. slang (orig. U.S.).
| 1985 San Francisco Chron. 6 Dec. 3/4 The cocaine freebase, the purest and most dangerous form of coke, goes by a number of street names—crack, rock, pasta, basa—and is smoked in a pipe rather than snorted. 1986 N.Y. Times 9 Mar. 50/2 John Pettinato..found used syringes in the church entryway. ‘People are doing crack in our hallways,’ he said, referring to a purified form of cocaine. 1986 Daily Tel. 28 May 1/4 Police found a plastic rubbish bag containing another handbag and a glass pipe used for smoking ‘crack’. 1986 U.S. News & World Rep. 11 Aug. 16/3 Crack..has rocketed from near obscurity to national villainy in the past six months. |
Add: IV. 21. attrib. and Comb. (in sense 20), as crackhead slang (orig. U.S.) [head n.1 7 e], a person who habitually takes or is addicted to crack cocaine.
| 1986 Time 2 June 17/1 A recent survey..indicates that..more than half the nation's so-called *crackheads are black. 1988 Observer 24 July 15/1 Charlie and two fellow ‘crackheads’ took me to a vast concrete housing estate in south London where crack is on sale for between {pstlg}20 and {pstlg}25 a deal. 1991 P. J. O'Rourke Parliament of Whores (1992) 139 The crack-heads had their pockets emptied; their drugs, pipes, needles and paraphenalia given the bootheel and their money torn up in front of their faces. |
crack house chiefly U.S., a place where crack is bought and sold.
| 1985 San Francisco Chron. 6 Dec. 3/6 In New York and Los Angeles drug dealers have opened up drug galleries called ‘*crack houses’. 1989 Times 7 Sept. 16/6 Will they still be behind the campaign when in their electoral districts..drug-pushing single mothers..are thrown out of their crack-houses on to the streets? 1993 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 17 June a1/6 [He] was hauled out of his car outside a suspected crack house on Nov. 5. There was an argument over what he was holding. |
▸ crack whore n. (also crack ho) slang (orig. in African-American usage) a prostitute addicted to crack cocaine.
| 1990 M. McAlary Cop Shot iii. 67 A *crack whore nicknamed Princess from the Forties Houses in South Jamaica had turned up dead. 1991 Washington Post (Nexis) 17 Nov. c3 The chaste, tender gesture towards the ‘crack ho’ at the end of that film cuts against the grain of everything that preceded it. 2003 Sunday Times (Nexis) 24 Aug. 12 That crack whore on the corner was not the former Madame Curie, driven to a life of prostitution by the evils of drugs. |
▪ II. crack, v.
(kræk)
Forms: 1 cracian, 3 craky, chrakien, 3–4 craken, (4 cracche), 4–7 crake, crak, 5–6 crakke, 6–7 cracke, 6– crack.
[Common Teutonic: OE. cracian (:—*krakôjan) = OHG. krachôn, chrahhôn, MHG. and mod.G. krachen, MDu. crāken, mod.Du. and Low G. kraken. Mod.Du. has also a by-form krakken, dial. HG. kracken:—OLG. krakkôn. Cf. also Fr. craquer, cracquer in same sense (16th c.), perh. from German. The regular phonetic descendant of OE. cracian is crake (cf. macian make, wacian wake), which showed a tendency in 16th c. to become a distinct form (in sense 6), and is now actually so used dialectally, e.g. in Essex. The form with short vowel has probably prevailed through the influence of the n., and the continuous tendency to keep the word echoic, as in cuckoo; the mod.Du. and dial. Germ. parallel form goes back to an early date.]
orig. To make a dry sharp sound in breaking, to break with this characteristic sound; hence, in branch I, mainly or exclusively of the sound; in II, of the act of breaking.
I. Referring mainly to the sound.
1. a. intr. To make a sharp noise in the act of breaking, or as in breaking; to make a sharp or explosive noise (said of thunder or a cannon (chiefly dial.), a rifle, a whip, etc.).
| c 1000 Ags. Ps. xlv[i]. 3 Us þuhte for þam ᵹeþune, þæt sio eorþe eall cracode. c 1205 Lay. 1875 Banes þer crakeden. a 1300 Cursor M. 3568 (Gött.) His heued bigines for to schake..And his bonis for to crac. c 1300 K. Alis. 4438 The speris craketh swithe thikke. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvi. xciv. (1495) 585 Comyn salt cracketh and sperkleth in fyre. c 1400 Ywaine & Gaw. 370 The thoner fast gan crak. 1535 Coverdale Ezek. xxi. 6 Mourne therfore y{supt} thy loynes crack withall. 1563 Fulke Meteors (1640) 23 b, Moist wood that cracketh in the fire. 1621–51 Burton Anat. Mel. ii. ii. iv. 285 Aurum fulminans which shall..crack lowder then any gunpowder. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) VII. 174 At every twist the bones of the buffalo were heard to crack. 1788 Trifler No. xxiv. 309 The whips of the postillions again cracked. 1871 B. Taylor Faust (1875) II. 26 Trees..That tumble cracking. |
b. colloq. To shoot (with fire-arms), fire. Also with down (trans. and intr.).
| 1835 J. H Ingraham South-West I. xix. 202 He would reload.., cock his beaver, take aim, and crack again. 1871 Standard 23 Jan., Skirmishers went forward and cracked at the retreating foemen. 1938 M. K. Rawlings Yearling iv. 31 I've helt back my shot... It goes agin me to crack down at sich a time. 1943 Hunt & Pringle Service Slang 25 Crack down, to shoot down (a Hun plane). |
2. trans. To cause (anything, e.g. a whip, one's thumb) to make a sharp noise.
| 1647 Stapylton Juvenal 45 The carter cracks his whip. 1696 tr. Du Mont's Voy. Levant 275 Waiting-Women..who..crack all the Joynts of their Arms. 1820 W. Irving Sketch Bk. II. 55 The post boy cracked his whip incessantly. 1877 Besant & Rice Son of Vulc. i. viii. 96 Flourishing his stick, and cracking scornful fingers. |
3. a. To strike with a sharp noise; to slap, smack, box. Now dial. and colloq.
| c 1470 Harding Chron. cv. iii, [The] Danes all were..Without mercie cracked vpon the croune. 1850 Mrs. Stowe Uncle Tom's C. iv. 21 ‘She oughter cracked me over de head for bein' so sarcy.’ 1936 N. Coward To-night at 8.30 I. 96 Get out of here before I crack you one. Ibid II. 71 I should like to crack you over the head with a bottle. 1954 F. Sargeson in C.K. Stead N.Z. Short Stories (1966) 8 Good Lord... And did he crack you? |
b. Cricket slang. To hit (a ball) hard with the bat.
| 1882 Daily Tel. 19 May, Ulyett let out at Morley and cracked him hard to the on for a brace of 4's. |
c. crack down: to repress, to take strong measures against. Const. on, upon. colloq.
| 1940 Graves & Hodge Long Week-end xiv. 225 The police had ‘cracked down hard’ on the London night-clubs. 1942 D. Gilbert Lost Chords 94 She would crack down upon him with all the force of a woman unjustifiably scorned. 1942 J. B. Priestley Black-out in Gretley iv. 56 Our people have cracked down rather severely on it just lately. 1947 ‘N. Shute’ Chequer Board 68 Keep them smart, 'n crack down on them if they're not dressed right. 1955 A. L Rowse Expans. Eliz. Eng. i. 25 Rewarding good service..cracking down on negligence. 1968 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 17 Feb. 1/1 The Unemployment Insurance Commission will try to crack down on chisellers. |
† 4. intr. To break wind, crepitum reddere. Obs.
| 1653 Urquhart Rabelais i. xxi, Then he..belched, cracked, yawned, etc. a 1693 Ibid. iii. v. 54. |
5. trans. To utter, pronounce, or tell aloud, briskly, or with éclat; formerly in crack a boast, word, jest; and still in crack a joke.
| c 1315 Shoreham 99 Wordes that he craketh. c 1386 Chaucer Reeve's T. 81 He crakked boost, and swor it was nat so. 1402 Hoccleve Let. of Cupid 328 Kepe thyn owne what men clappe or crake! a 1420 ― De Reg. Princ. 3092 Not a worde dar he crake. 1508 Fisher Wks. (1876) 83 Myn enemyes craked and spake many grete wordes. 1596 Spenser F.Q. v. iii. 16 And further did uncomely speeches crake [rime take]. a 1637 B. Jonson Horace's Art of P. Wks. (Rtldg.) 733/2 Or crack out bawdy speeches, and unclean. 1721 Bolingbroke in Swift's Lett. (1766) II. 17 He cracked jests. 1753 Smollett Ct. Fathom (1784) 211/1 [He] would fain have cracked a joke upon their extraordinary dispatch. 1767 Babler I. 265 He..will..even..crack his indelicate ambiguities upon his children. 1860 Thackeray Round. Papers, Thorns in Cush. (1876) 47 Whilst the doctor..cracked his great clumsy jokes upon you. |
6. a. intr. To talk big, boast, brag; sometimes, to talk scornfully (of others). Now Obs. or dial.
| c 1460 Towneley Myst 111 Hard I never none crak so clere out of toyne. c 1470 Harding Chron. Ded. viii, Y⊇ Scottes will aye bee bostyng & crakyng. a 1553 Udall Royster D. i. i. (Arb.) 12 All the day long is he facing and craking Of his great actes in fighting and fraymaking. 1621–51 Burton Anat. Mel. ii. iii. ii. i, What is it they crake so much of? 1633 T. Adams Comm. 2 Peter ii. 1 Thus the ringleaders begin..to crack of their forces. 1702 C. Mather Magn. Chr. iii. i. i. (1852) 277 One that would much talk and crack of his insight. 1716 Addison Drummer i. i, Thou art always cracking and boasting. 1852 Carlyle Let. in Froude Life in Lond. (1884) II. xx. 107 My sleep was nothing to crack of. 1855 E. Waugh Lanc. Life (1857) 24 That's naut to crack on. |
† b. with obj. clause. To boast. Obs.
| 1545 Joye Exp. Dan. ii. C vij b, Thei bosted and craked religiouslye dreames to be shewed and declared of God. 1548 Hall Chron. (1809) 181 Lorde how the Flemines bragged, and the Hollanders craked, that Calice should be wonne and all the Englishemen slain. 1621–51 Burton Anat. Mel. ii. v. i. iii, Which he..crackes to be a most soveraigne remedie. 1677 Gale Crt. Gentiles III. 38 [The Stoics] crack that the duties of Virtue are therefore honest and desirable. |
† c. trans. (with simple obj.) To boast of. Obs.
| 1653 Brevis Disq. in Phenix (1708) II. 318 They continually crake the perpetual Consent of the Fathers. |
d. Phr. to crack hardy (or crack hearty), to put a good face on, to assume or maintain a bold bearing; see also quot. 1916. Austral. and N.Z.
| 1916 C. J. Dennis Songs Sentim. Bloke 120 Crack hardy, to suppress emotion; to endure patiently; to keep a secret. 1926 J. Doone Timely Tips for New Australians, To ‘crack hardy’, to simulate courage. 1929 K. S. Prichard Coonardoo xv. 142 He smiled gratefully to her for ‘cracking hardy’, pretending she was not tired. 1949 F. Sargeson I Saw in Dream i. xiv. 177 Daley's got a big family to keep... So he cracks hearty. |
7. a. intr. To converse briskly and sociably, chat, talk of the news (see the trans. ‘crake a word’ in 5). Sc. and north. dial.
| c 1450 Henryson Mor. Fab. 37 As they were crackand in this case..In came the Ȝow, the mother of the Lam. 1529 Lyndesay Complaynt 235 Bot sum to crak, and sum to clatter. a 1605 Montgomerie Navigatioun 201 They tuik some curage, and begouth to crak. 1787 Burns Twa Dogs 135 The cantie auld folks crackin crouse. 1821 Clare Vill. Minstr. II. 115 He'd many things to crack on with his ale. 1887 Stevenson Underwoods ii. iv. 88 ‘Twa o' them walkin' an' crackin' their lane.’ |
b. quasi-trans., with spoken words as object. To utter a crack (crack n. 5), to joke.
| 1957 H. Roosenburg Walls came tumbling Down (U.S. ed.) iii. 78 ‘I may be home before you,’ she cracked. ‘Just tell the Red Cross to come for me with an airplane.’ 1958 Woman's Own 4 June 23/1 ‘Hello, Sister,’ he cracked. ‘What do you want to know about me? Name? Religion? Size in socks?’ |
8. trans. crack up: to praise, eulogize (a person or thing). So to crack into (repute, etc.) Also (in pass.), to be reputed (usu. in negative sentences). colloq.
| 1829 Kentuckian 28 May, He is not the thing he is cracked up for. 1835 Crockett Van Buren 175 Great men..are not the things they are cracked up for. 1836 Knickerbocker VIII. 51 New-Orleans is not..half so bad a place as it is ‘cracked up to be’. 1844 Dickens Mart. Chuz. xxxiii. 392 ‘Our backs is easy ris. We must be cracked up or they rises, and we snarls..You'd better crack us up, you had!’ 1857 Hughes Tom Brown i. vi, Then don't object to my cracking up the old School House, Rugby. 1884 American VII. 334 Mexico..is not what it has been cracked up to be. 1892 Standard 1 Jan. 3/3 Unfortunate individuals who are for a time ‘cracked’ into reputation by ill-advised patrons. 1939 War Illustr. 14 Oct. p. ii/2 An article from a Paris correspondent cracking up the blue-lit nights of Paris. 1951 E. Bagnold Loved & Envied 234 The emotions have been found by then to be not all they are cracked up to be. 1969 ‘A. Gilbert’ Missing from Home vii. 97 It's not always all it's cracked up to be. |
II. Referring mainly to the breaking indicated by the sound.
9. trans. a. To break anything hard with a sudden sharp report; now chiefly of things hollow, a skull, a nut, etc.
| c 1300 Havelok 568 Hise croune he ther crakede Ageyn a gret ston. Ibid. 914 Stickes kan ich breken and kraken. 1393 Langl. P. Pl. C. xxi. 76 Quikliche cam a cacchepol and craked a-two here legges. 1483 Cath. Angl. 80 To Crakk nuttes, nucliare. 1553 Eden Treat. Newe Ind. (Arb.) 42 To cracke the nutte, he must take the payne. 1599 Greene Alphonsus i. 7 Every coward that durst crack a spear..for his lady's sake. 1631 Weever Anc. Fun. Mon. 50 They crackt a peeces the glasse-windowes. 1859 Tennyson Geraint & Enid 573 Who heaved his blade aloft, And crack'd the helmet thro', and bit the bone. 1863 Draper Intell. Devel. Europe v. (1865) 111 [Diogenes] taking a louse from his head, cracked it upon her altar. |
b. (from fig. use of phr. to crack a nut: see nut) To puzzle out, make out, solve, discuss.
| 1622 Fletcher Sp. Curate ii. ii, I'll come sometimes, and crack a case [at law] with you. 1712 Swift To Dr. Sheridan, When with much labour the matter I crackt. 1768 Wesley Wks. (1872) XII. 409 Logic you cannot crack without a tutor. 1937 R. Stout Red Box i. 4 It's a tough one, and I doubt if anyone could crack it but you. 1955 E. Hillary High Adv. viii. 148 If we didn't crack the route to the South Col pretty soon, we might as well go home. 1960 Analog Science Fact & Fiction Nov. 19/1 When the case of the Teleporting Juvenile Delinquents had come up he'd been assigned to that one too, and he'd cracked it. 1962 Listener 29 Nov. 931/2 A code message that will clear everything up when it is cracked. 1967 Technology Week 23 Jan. 79/1 We are cracking the code of the life process. |
c. To break or crush (corn, etc.) into small pieces. U.S.
| 1785 [implied in cracked ppl. a. 1 c]. 1846 Jim Crack Corn (song) 2 Jim crack corn, I don't care, Ole Massa gone a—way. 1908 Bowman & Crossley Corn xiv. 335 The process of manufacturing consists, first, in running the shelled corn between rollers so that it is cracked open. 1946 Publ. Amer. Dial. Soc. vi. 33 To be able to crack corn, to be alive and feeling well. Humorous reply to ‘How are you?’ 1981 N. P. Hardeman Shucks, Shocks & Hominy Blocks xii. 144 The custom was to ‘limber up’ the hominy block daily, cracking only as much corn as was needed for the day and the following morning's breakfast. 1982 S. B. Flexner Listening to Amer. 286 The cracker in Georgia cracker literally means a person who still cracks corn. |
d. To surpass, break (a record).
| 1953 Racing Times 15 July 4/4, I was fortunate..to see him crack the one-mile record in the Futurity Stakes. |
10. transf. To get at the contents of (a bottle or other vessel); to empty, drink, ‘discuss’.
| ? 15.. in Ritson Robin Hood ii. xxxvii. 60 They went to a tavern and there they dined, And bottles cracked most merrilie. 1597 Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, v. iii. 66 You'l cracke a quart together? Ha, will you not? 1677 A. Yarranton Eng. Improv. 164 And sometimes stay to crack a Pot or two with the good Host. 1749 Fielding Tom Jones vi. ix, When two gentlemen..are cracking a bottle together at some inn. 1775 Char. in Ann. Reg. 25/2, I think we may venture to crack another bottle. 1851 Thackeray Eng. Hum. iii. (1876) 223 [He] bragged about..the number of bottles that he..had cracked overnight. |
11. Thieves' slang. To break open. to crack a crib: to break into a house.
| 1725 New Cant. Dict., Crack, is also used to break open; as, To crack up a Door. 1812 J. H. Vaux Flash Dict., Crack, to break open. 1838 Dickens O. Twist xix, The crib's barred up at night like a jail; but there's one part we can crack. 1861 H. Kingsley Ravenshoe xxxvii. (D.), If any enterprising burglar had taken it into his head to crack that particular crib known as the Bridge Hotel. |
12. fig. To break (a vow, promise, etc.). Now dial. to crack tryst (Sc.): to break or prove false to an engagement.
| 1576 Fleming Panopl. Epist. 342 Cracking in sunder the conditions of that covenaunt. 1712 W. Rogers Voy. 256 He will crack a Commandment with her, and wipe off the Sin with the Church's Indulgence. |
† 13. a. intr. To snap or split asunder. Obs.
| c 1340 Cursor M. 7202 (Trin.) Sampson waked of his nap, his bonde dud he al to crak. ? a 1400 Morte Arth. 3269 With corowns of clere golde that krakede in sondire. 1555 Eden Decades 28 The hoopes of his barrels cracked and brake. 1745 P. Thomas Jrnl. Anson's Voy. 21 The..Rigging cracking and flying in Pieces. 1868 Tennyson Lucretius 38 All her [Nature's] bonds Crack'd. |
b. trans.
| 1605 Shakes. Lear iii. ii. 1 Blow windes, and crack your cheeks. 1635 A. Stafford Fem. Glory (1869) 148 Till..love⁓strained cries Crackt her poore heart-strings. |
† 14. intr. Of persons: To come to a rupture, split, break off negotiations. Obs.
| 1563–87 Foxe A. & M. (1684) III. 301 Upon these two matters they crack. |
15. fig. To come to pieces, collapse, break down. (Cf. the bank broke.) Also freq. with up. Cf. crack-up.
| 1658–9 Burton's Diary (1828) III. 99 They came into this House, and voted themselves a Parliament. They acted high in some things, and soon cracked. a 1700 Dryden (J.), The credit not only of banks, but of exchequers, cracks when little comes in, and much goes out. 1884 Graphic 13 Sept. 278/1 The first named [of the racing horses]..‘cracked’ some distance from home. 1891 Sportsman 8 July 8/4 Twice, however, the Dublin crew looked like ‘cracking’. 1918 F. M. Ford Let. 6 Jan. (1965) 86, I wrote about half a novel in the Salient, but got tired of it when I cracked up. 1922 Daily Mail 17 Nov. 11 She..looked all over the winner.., but when the pinch came she cracked up with dramatic suddenness. 1945 T. Rattigan Love in Idleness i. 268 Try to get him to let up just a little. After all, we don't want him cracking up on us, do we? |
16. intr. To break without complete separation or displacement of parts, as when a fracture or fissure does not extend quite across.
| a 1400 Cov. Myst. xxxii. 325 For thrust [thirst] asundyr my lyppys gyn crake. 1675 Salmon Polygraph. ii. xxii. 109 Some Colours as Lake, Umber and others..will crack when they are dry. 1688 Miege Fr. Dict. s.v. Crack, These Boards begin to crack. a 1691 Boyle (J.), By misfortune it cracked in the cooling. 1776 Withering Brit. Plants (1796) IV. 243 When full grown the skin cracks and forms little scales. 1832 G. Porter Porcelain & Gl. 232 With a piece of heated wire..he traces a line upon the globe, and..wetting the line thus traced, the glass will crack and divide along the line. 1855 Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. XVI. i. 174 Heat causes these soils to crack. 1874 Punch 9 May, When the glaze on chinaware cracks, it is said technically to be crazed. |
17. a. trans. To break or fracture (anything) so that the parts still remain in contact but do not cohere. (Often contrasted with break in its full sense.)
| 1605 Bp. Hall Medit. & Vows i. §99 Glasses that are once crackt, are soon broken. a 1716 Bp. O. Blackall Wks. (1723) I. 147 Money..so crack'd or broken that it will no longer pass in Payment. 1845 D. Jerrold Curtain Lect. xiii. 31 There's four glasses broke and nine cracked. 1850 Lynch Theo. Trin. xi. 217 'Tis like a ball that time hath crackt. Mod. The servants say it was cracked before. |
b. To break into fissures; to fissure, cause to split.
| 1664 Evelyn Kal. Hort. (1729) 226 Look to your Fountain-Pipes..lest the Frosts crack them. 1698 J. Keill Exam. Th. Earth (1734) 73 For a long time after the formation of the Earth till the Sun had crackt the outward crust thereof. 1712 Swift Jrnl. to Stella 9 Oct., The poor old Bishop of London..I think broke or cracked his skull. 1791 Gentl. Mag. LXI. ii. 1056 A..flash of lightning.. fell on the round tower of the church..the wall of which it cracked for the space of several feet. 1836 Macgillivray tr. Humboldt's Trav. x. 122 The ground was everywhere cracked and dusty. |
c. with off: trans. and intr.
| 1665 Hooke Microgr. 43 Small..thick bubbles of Glass..being crack'd off from the Puntilion whilst very hot, and so suffered to cool without nealing. 1824–8 Landor Imag. Conv. Wks. (1846) I. 139 The varnish..cracked off. |
18. trans. To break the musical quality or clearness of (the voice); to render hoarse or dissonant, like a cracked bell. Also intr.
| 1602 Marston Antonio's Rev. iv. v, He's hoarce; the poor boye's voice is crackt. 1607 Shakes. Timon iv. iii. 153 Cracke the Lawyers voyce, That he may neuer more false Title pleade. 1641 Milton Ch. Govt. Wks. 1738 I. 74 With such a scholastical Bur in their throats, as hath..crack'd their voices for ever with metaphysical Gargarisms. 1866 Kingsley Herew. xx. 249 The old Viking's voice was cracked and feeble. Mod. He was a fine singer before his voice cracked. |
19. fig. (from the consequence of cracking the skull): To injure (the brain); to render of unsound mind. Cf. cracked 5.
| 1614 B. Jonson Barth. Fair iii. i, Alas, his care will go near to crack him. 1645 Quarles Sol. Recant. vii. 7 When wise men turn Oppressors, they have crackt Their understandings in the very Act. 1692 Locke Toleration iii. ii, Having crack'd himself with an ungovernable Ambition. 1712 Steele Spect. No. 526 ¶3 Lest this hard student should..crack his brain with studying. |
20. a. To damage (something immaterial) so that it can never again be sound; to ruin virtually.
| 1590 Spenser F.Q. ii. i. 12 He lives..Ne yet hath any knight his courage crackt. 1612 T. Taylor Comm. Titus iii. 1 Not that we call any man to the cracking of his estate. 1691 Wood Ath. Oxon. II. 95 [This]..hath much crak'd his Reputation. 1891 Spectator 6 July, Natural effect here is only suggested, because full effect would crack the drawing convention. |
b. esp. in phr. to crack credit.
| 1567 Test. K. Henrie Stewart iv. in Sempill Ball. (1872) 9 Fra credite I crakit..No man wald trow the worde I did say. 1577 Holinshed Chron. IV. 246 They had..dealt..contrarie to..the law of armes, and thereby so greatlie cracked their credits. 1677 A. Horneck Gt. Law Consid. iv. 95 He asperses and seeks to crack the credit of this spotless Virgin. 1688 R. Holme Armoury iii. 266/2 Trust..not..the Borrower if once or twice he hath cracked his Credit. |
III. Of sharp or sudden action.
21. trans. To move with a stroke or jerk; to ‘whip’ out or on, snatch out, clap on. (colloq.)
| a 1541 Wyatt in Froude Hist. Eng. III. 454, I reached to the letters..but he caught them..and flung them..into the fire. I overthrew him and cracked them out. 1850 W. B. Clarke Wreck of Favorite 10 Her commander had cracked on all the canvas she could carry. |
22. a. intr. To ‘whip’ on, ‘pelt’ along, travel with speed; Naut. to clap on full sail (colloq.)
| 1837–40 Haliburton Clockm. (1862) 43 He must have cracked on near about as fast as them other geese. 1847 Illustr. Lond. News 31 July 74/2 The trio coming..as hard as they could crack. 1840 R. Dana Bef. Mast xxxv. 133 [We] set the flying-jib and crack on to her again. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., To crack on, to carry all sail. 1890 W. C. Russell Ocean Trag II. xix. 126, I doubt if anything will hinder the Colonel from cracking on when he catches sight of us. |
b. Colloq. phr. to get cracking: to get started; to ‘get a move on’. Cf. get v. 32 b. Also with noun or pronoun (or other object) interposed between get and cracking.
| 1937 Partridge Dict. Slang 324/1 Get cracking, to begin work. 1938 ‘N. Shute’ Ruined City vi. 121 If I could get this yard cracking again I'd be a very happy man. 1943 H. Bolitho Combat Report 73 Dickie yawned and said, ‘Well, I must get cracking.’ 1947 ‘N. Shute’ Chequer Board 190, I got the solicitor cracking on it before I left England. 1949 S. Gibbons Matchmaker xviii. 221 Come on, let's get cracking, we're late now. 1950 A. L. Rowse England of Elizabeth v. 162 Norwich, which still had many void spaces.., is told to get cracking: if owners do not rebuild.. the corporation shall do so. 1957 E. Hyams Into Dream iii. vi. 234 ‘I'd better get cracking.’ ‘Very well. Take care of yourself.’ 1969 New Yorker 12 Apr. 124/2 Before Dr. Latham can get cracking with his computer, someone at the Mission Control..will flip a switch. |
23. trans. To decompose (heavy oils such as petroleum) by the application of heat and high pressure alone or by means of a catalyst so as to produce lighter hydrocarbons (e.g. petrol) of better quality and with a better yield than can be obtained by distillation. (Cf. catalytic cracking.) Hence cracked ppl. a., ˈcracking vbl. n.
| 1868 B. Silliman in Chem. News 10 Apr. 171/1 By the process called ‘cracking’, heavy oils unfit for illumination are broken up into bodies of less density, from light naphtha to the heavier illuminating and lubricating oils. 1869 Amer. Jrnl. Sci. 2nd Ser. XLVII. 13 Rapid distillation ‘cracks’ the oil, because it necessitates increased temperature to force the vapors from the still. 1884 S. F. Peckham Rep. on Petroleum 179 The standard and prime oils, consisting largely of ‘cracked’ oils. 1896 B. Redwood Petroleum I. 317 The ‘cracking process’, whereby a considerable quantity of the oil which is intermediate between kerosene and lubricating oil is converted into hydrocarbons of lower density and boiling point, suitable for illuminating purposes. 1922 Encycl. Brit. XXXII. 80/1 Modern cracking dates back to the patent obtained in 1889 by the late Sir Boverton Redwood and Prof. Dewar. Ibid. 80/2 Cracked gasoline. 1930 Economist 12 July 87/2 At Tampico a new vapour-phase cracking plant is being erected for the production of high⁓grade gasoline. 1934 [see anti-oxidant]. 1947 Archit. Rev. CI. 132/1 To make water gas, which may be enriched to the required calorific value by cracking gas oil in the plant. 1952 Economist 6 Sept. 581 Government's inquiry about degrading the cracking units. 1958 Times 2 June p. v/4 The oil feedstocks are thermally cracked in the presence of steam to make a fixed gas and heavy tar. 1959 Times Rev. Industry Aug. 70/2 Thermal ‘cracking’..evolved to increase the quantity of gasoline obtainable from any given volume of crude oil. 1967 Bland & Davidson Petrol. Processing Handbk. iii. 62 Catalytic cracking and catalytic reforming..have replaced their thermal counterparts in most of the present-day refineries. |
24. trans. and intr. Of a door: to be slightly ajar; to leave slightly ajar. Cf. crack n. 7 d. Chiefly U.S.
| 1899 in Wentworth Amer. Dial. Dict. (1944) 139/2 Crack the door a little to let out the smoke. 1938 J. Rice Somers Inheritance iii. v. 135 The door leading into the Sunday School room was cracked open. 1964 Spectator 14 Feb. 205 Mr. Kennedy..made it his practice..to leave the door to his office cracked a little so that any personal assistant who felt the need to talk to him might walk right in. |
IV. Phraseological use of the verb-stem.
25. to cry crack: to give up; to desist; to cry creak (creak v. 5).
| 1888 ‘R. Boldrewood’ Robbery under Arms II. xii. 204 We..never cried crack till we got to Nulla Mountain, where we knew we were pretty safe. 1922 Joyce Ulysses 300 He never cried crack till he brought him home as drunk as a boiled owl. |
▸ colloq. (orig. and chiefly U.S.). to crack wise: † (a) to speak wisely or cleverly (obs.); (b) to utter a witticism or clever remark, esp. at another's expense; to make a wisecrack; cf. wisecrack n.
| a 1774 R. Fergusson Poems (1956) II. 154 The eidant muse begins to crack wise, An' ne'er cry dule. 1910 Nevada State Jrnl. 10 Nov. 4/3 The person that watches you go though a card trick and then cracks wise and exposes you at the end. 1946 M. Mezzrow & B. Wolfe Really the Blues v. 59 He was all hopped up, cracking wise, acting big. 1975 W. Kennedy Legs (1983) 63 Jack Diamond is always cracking wise about the guineas and nobody is going to say that Joe Vignola is a yellow-bellied guinea. 2000 W. Self How Dead Live (2001) iv. 95 Now every little Cockney punk you meet cracks wise, kvetches, shmoozes and cheats. |
▸ colloq.to crack up. intr. To burst out laughing; to laugh unrestrainedly.
| 1942C. R. Bond Jrnl. 23 Mar. in T. Anderson Flying Tiger's Diary (1984) v. 131 We got the funniest..story out of Moose Moss... We cracked up. 1976 A. Schroeder Shaking it Rough xxix. 94 Both of us just crack up, just let go and convulse with laughter. 1996 C. J. Stone Fierce Dancing xiv. 208 Soon the whole café was cracking up, screaming with laughter. |
trans. To cause to burst out laughing, to amuse greatly.
| 1966 R. Goldstein 1 in 7: Drugs on Campus iii. 41, I said, ‘What's the matter, haven't you ever seen a gentleman before?’ and that really cracked them up. 1984 New Yorker 29 Oct. 44/2, I wasn't laughing at you—honest..! That statue always cracks me up. 2002 Hotdog June 86/2 I'd start giggling to myself, thinking about what Angel would be saying right now. I could hear her takes on things, it cracked me up. |
▪ III. crack, a. colloq. or slang.
(kræk)
[crack n. 16, used attrib.]
Pre-eminent, superexcellent, ‘first-class’.
| 1793 Young Ann. Agric. XIX. 95 [Sheep] called here [Suffolk] a crack flock, which is a provincial term for excellent. 1807 W. Taylor in Ann. Rev. V. 186 Crack regiments. 1837 T. Hook Jack Brag xiv, My sleeping-room..was the crack apartment of the hotel. 1839 Thackeray Fatal Boots (1869) 365, I was..such a crack-shot myself, that fellows were shy of insulting me. 1884 Christian World 14 Aug. 612/1 It wasn't..the crack speakers that brought the crowds up. |
▪ IV. crack, adv., int.
(kræk)
[The vb. stem so used.]
1. adv. With a crack, with a cracking sound. (Cf. bang, bump, etc.)
| 1767 S. Paterson Another Trav. II. 18 Crack! went the whip, and away flew the horses! 1807 Southey Espriella's Lett. II. 269 Crack went his whip, and we were off. 1892 Sat. Rev. 2 July 10/2 Crack went the mast. |
2. int.
| 1698 Vanbrugh æsop ii. i, I'se get our wife Joan to be the queen's chambermaid; and then—crack says me I! and forget all my acquaintance. 1756 T. Amory Buncle (1770) II. 3 Crack! all is gone and vanished on a sudden. |
▪ V. crack
obs. dial. f. crag n.1