▪ I. crush, v.
(krʌʃ)
Forms: 5 crusch-en, -yn, crussh-yn, (crusse), 5–6 crusshe, 6 crousshe, 7 chrush, 6– crush. Cf. croose v.
[app. a. OF. croissir, croisir, sometimes cruis(s)ir, rarely crusir, croussir, to gnash (the teeth), to make a crashing or cracking noise, to crash, crack, smash, break; in Cotgr., 1611, ‘to cracke, or crash, or crackle, as wood thats readie to breake’; = Cat. croxir, Sp. cruxir, crujir to crackle, to rustle, It. † croscere, crosciare to crackle, crash, clatter; ‘also to squease, to crush, or squash’ (Florio); med.L. cruscire to crackle (Du Cange). The Romanic word is app. of Ger. origin: see Diez and Mackel, and cf. MHG. krosen, krösen to gnash with the teeth, make a crackling noise, bruise or crush with a crackling sound, crash, craunch, for which Hildebrand infers an OHG. chrosôn, chrosian.
The notion of noise present in the foreign words appears also in early uses of cruss, crussh, but is practically absent from later use, being now expressed by crash.]
† 1. To dash together with the sound of violent percussion, to clash, crash; to make the harsh grating noise of things forcibly smashed or pounded to fragments. Obs.
| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. x. vii. (1495) 379 Cole quenchyd though it greue not wyth brennynge hym that trede theron it makyth crusshynge and grete noyse. c 1400 Destr. Troy 4752 At yche cornell of þe castell was crusshyng of weppon. Ibid. 5852 Crakkyng of cristis, crusshyng of speires. Ibid. 7298 There was crie of ken men, crussing of wepyn. |
2. trans. To compress with violence, so as to break, bruise, destroy, squeeze out of natural shape or condition: said of the effect of pressure whether acting with momentum or otherwise.
| ? a 1400 Morte Arth. 1134 He [the geaunt] caughte hyme in armez, And enclosez hyme clenly, to cruschene hys rybbez. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 106 Crusshyn' bonys, ocillo. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 234 b, The worme y{supt} is crusshed or poysoned. 1611 Bible Job xxxix. 15 The Ostrich..leaueth her egges in the earth..And forgetteth that the foot may crush them. 1665 Hooke Microgr. 33 Some of these I broke..by crushing it [the stem] with a small pair of Plyers. 1715–20 Pope Iliad xii. 83 In one promiscuous carnage crush'd and bruis'd. 1840 F. D. Bennett Whaling Voy. II. 357 The leaves, when crushed, emit a powerful smell of camphor. 1860 Tyndall Glac. i. ii. 9 The shock which would crush a railway carriage. |
| absol. 1885 Mrs. H. Ward tr. Amiel's Jrnl. (1891) 18 The wish to crush, roused irresistibly by all that creeps. |
b. With
advb. extension, defining the result.
| 1530 Palsgr. 502/2 He hath crousshed his legge with the fall all to peces. 1594 Shakes. Rich. III, v. iii. 111 That they may crush downe with a heauy fall, Th' vsurping Helmets of our Aduersaries. 1628 Earle Microcosm., Selfe-conceited Man (Arb.) 33 He is a bladder blown vp with wind, which the least flaw crushes to nothing. 1665 Sir T. Herbert Trav. (1677) 50 Some..cast themselves in the way and are crusht to death. 1768 J. Byron Narr. Patagonia 222 We expected..the roof and walls of our prison to fall in upon us, and crush us to pieces. 1853 Kingsley Hypatia xxiv. 299 Philammon crushed the letter together in his hand. Mod. Crushed flat under the feet of the crowd. |
c. To crumple or put out of shape (cloth, a dress, etc.) by pressure or rough handling.
| Mod. Her bonnet and dress were all crushed. |
d. intr. To advance with crushing.
| 1876 Whittier Lost Occasion 24 Crushing as if with Talus' flail Through Error's logic-woven mail. |
e. intr. (for
refl.) To become violently compressed, squeezed out of shape, or otherwise injured, by outside pressure.
| 1755 Johnson, Crush, to be condensed. 1776 Withering Brit. Plants (1796) IV. 282 Its texture tender, soon crushing and becoming watery when gathered. 1786 T. Jefferson Writ. (1859) I. 553 Their rotten machine must crush under the trial. 1866 G. Macdonald Ann. Q. Neighb. xxxix. (1878) 506, I heard the hailstones crush between my feet and the soft grass of the lawn. |
† f. In imprecations.
Obs.| 1770 Foote Lame Lover i. Wks. 1799. II 60 Crush me if ever I saw any thing half so handsome before! |
3. To press or squeeze forcibly or violently. (The force, not the effect, being the prominent notion.) Also with
advb. extension,
to crush against,
crush into,
crush out of,
crush through, etc.
| 1592 Shakes. Ven. & Ad. 611 ‘Fie, fie’, he says, ‘you crush me, let me go’. 1596 ― 1 Hen. IV, v. i. 13 To crush our old limbes in vngentle Steele. 1611 Bible Num. xxii. 25 The asse..crusht [Coverd. thrust, Geneva dasht] Balaams foote against the wall. 1884 Sir N. Lindley in Law Rep. 9 Probate Div. 205 The salving vessel..was crushed against the landing-stage..and was damaged. Mod. Too many people were crushed into the carriage. The article was in type but has been crushed out by the pressure of political news. |
b. intr. (for
refl.) To advance or make one's way by crushing or pressure.
| 1755 Johnson, Crush..to come in a close body. 1860 Sat. Rev. X. 444/1 The multitude which crushes round the Prince. |
4. fig. a. To break down the strength or power of; to conquer beyond resistance, subdue or overcome completely.
| 1596 Spenser State Irel. Wks. (Globe) 672/2 They use them..to oppress and crush some of their owne to stubburne free-holders. 1611 Bible Lam. i. 15 He hath called an assembly against mee, to crush my yong men. 1781 Gibbon Decl. & F. III. xlix. 86 His enemies were crushed by his valour. 1838 Thirlwall Greece V. 95 Such an opportunity of crushing or humbling Sparta. 1848 Gaskell Mary Barton (1882) 82/1 He sank upon a seat, almost crushed with the knowledge of the consequences of his..action. |
b. Of actions, feelings, etc.: To put down, subdue utterly, extinguish, stamp
out.
| 1610 R. Niccols Mirr. Mag. 573 And at my state with her proud hornes did push In hope my fame.. to crush. 1697 W. Dampier Voy. (1698) I. xiii. 371 These disorders might have been crusht. 1720 Gay Poems (1745) I. 172 Crush'd is thy pride. 1853 C. Kingsley Hypatia xxiv. 299 She was to crush the voice of conscience and reason. 1867 Smiles Huguenots Eng. i. (1880) 1 Wherever free inquiry showed itself..the Church endeavoured to crush it. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) III. 160 The higher feelings of humanity are far too strong to be crushed out. |
c. To oppress with harshness or rigour.
| 1611 Bible Amos iv. 1 Yea kine of Bashan..which oppresse the poore, which crush the needy. 1665 Sir T. Herbert Trav. (1677) 293 There the poor are crusht without a cause. 1846 Whittier The Branded Hand x, Woe to him who crushes the soul with chain and rod. |
5. To bruise, bray, break down into small pieces;
esp. applied to the comminution of ore, quartz, coke, sugar-cane, oil-seeds, etc. in various industrial processes.
| 1588 Greene Pandosto Ded. (1607) 2 Unicornes being glutted with brousing on rootes of Lycoras, sharpen their stomacks, with crushing bitter grasse. 1667 Milton P.L. v. 345 For drink the grape She crushes. 1830 M. Donovan Dom. Econ. I. 309 The apples had..been well crushed and pressed. 1839 Penny Cycl. XV. 245/1 The lumps of..ore..falling through between the rollers..are completely crushed into small fragments. 1873 C. Robinson N. S. Wales 18 Cane crushed at the large mills on the Clarence. |
6. To force out by squeezing or pressing; to press or squeeze
out. Also
fig.| 1602 Marston Antonio's Rev. v. i. Wks. 1856 I. 132 And crush lives sap from out Pieros vaines. a 1626 Bacon (J.), He crushed treasure out of his subjects purses by forfeitures. 1634 Milton Comus 47 Bacchus, that first from out the purple grape Crushed the sweet poison of misused wine. 1690 Dryden Don Sebastian (J.), I wanted weight of feeble Moors upon me To crush my soul out. |
7. to crush a cup of wine,
pot of ale, etc.: to drink, quaff, ‘discuss’ it:
cf. crack v. 10.
| 1592 Greene Def. Conny Catch. Wks. (Grosart) XI. 43 If euer I brought my Conny but to crush a potte of ale with mee. 1592 Shakes. Rom. & Jul. i. ii. 86, I pray come and crush a cup of wine. 1822 Scott Nigel v, You shall crush a cup of wine to the health of the Fathers of the city. 1845 Whitehall xxx. 206 They had crushed several pottles of wine. |
▪ II. crush, n. (
krʌʃ)
[f. prec. vb.] † 1. The noise of violent percussion; clashing; a crash.
Obs.| c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. Wace 2946 When boþe fflutes come at a frosche, Þe fyrste hortlyng gaf a gret crusche. |
2. a. The act of crushing; violent compression or pressure that bruises, breaks down, injures, or destroys; also
fig.| 1599 T. M[oufet] Silkwormes 63 The hart-breake crush of melancholies wheele. 1601 Holland Pliny xxix. vi (R.) To heale the eares that have caught some hurt either by bruise, crush or stripe. 1611 Cotgr., Escachure..also, a squash, crush, knocke, or squeeze (whereby a thing is flatted, or beaten close together). 1775 Johnson Western Isl. Wks. X. 429 A heavy crush of disaster. 1820 Scoresby Acc. Arctic Reg. I. 214 The ice pressed dreadfully around them..but the ship always escaped the heaviest crushes. 1882 Spurgeon Treas. Dav. cxxi. 7 Our soul is kept from the dominion of sin..the crush of despondency. |
b. In the following perhaps
= crash, as now often quoted, and as apparently alluded to by Pope: see
crash n.1 2; but it may mean simply ‘destruction by crushing’.
| 1713 Addison Cato v. i, Unhurt amidst the war of elements, The wrecks of matter, and the crush of worlds. 1848 Lowell Biglow Papers Poems (1890) II. 6 Holding up the star-spangled banner amid the wreck of matter and the crush of worlds. |
c. Coal-mining. (See
quots.)
| 1851 Greenwell Coal-tr. Terms Northumb. & Durh. 20 Crush.—This occurs when both the roof and thill of a seam of coal are hard, and when the pillars, insufficient for the support of the superincumbent strata, are crushed by their pressure. 1881 Raymond Mining Gloss., Crush. 1. A squeeze, accompanied, perhaps, with more violent motion and effects. 2. A variety of fault in coal. |
d. A person with whom one is enamoured or infatuated; an infatuation; so
to have or get a crush on, to be enamoured of, take a strong fancy to.
slang (
orig. U.S.).
| 1884 I. M. Rittenhouse Maud (1939) 338 Wintie is weeping because her crush is gone. 1895 J. S. Wood Yale Yarns 153 Miss Palfrey..consented to wear his bunch of blue violets. It was a ‘crush’, you see, on both sides. 1913 Dialect Notes IV. 10 (Have a) crush (on), to be conspicuously attached to some one. 1914 G. Atherton Perch of Devil i. 31 Some of the younger married women..get a crush on some other woman's husband. Ibid. 186 To be jealous you've got to have a fearful crush. 1928 Punch 2 May 484/1 Gervase and Pontefract had had a quiet sort of masculine crush on Joyce for some time. 1929 Jelliffe & White Dis. Nervous Syst. (ed. 5) iii. 335 They tend to be aggressive, domineering and often play the man role with their school⁓mates, or ‘crushes’. 1952 V. Gollancz My dear Timothy 212 It is common to make fun of schoolboy and schoolgirl ‘pashes’ and ‘crushes’. |
† 3. A bruise or injury caused by crushing.
Obs.| 1601 Holland Pliny II. 350 Contusions, bruses looking black and blew, strokes, crushes, rushes, rubs, and gals. 1617 Markham Caval. vii. 67 It is called Nauell-gall, because the crush is vpon the signe iust opposite against the Horses Nauell. 1702 Lond. Gaz. No. 3837/4 Lost..a flea-bitten grey Mare, with a Crush on her right Foot in the Hoof behind. |
4. a. The crowding together of a number of things, or
esp. persons, so that they press forcibly upon each other; the mass so crowded together.
| 1806 T. S. Surr Winter in Lond. (ed. 3) III. 136 No rank, no sex, could possibly receive exemption from the general crush. 1830 Cunningham Brit. Paint. II. 54 The crush to see it was very great. 1840 Dickens Barn. Rudge xxxvii, A crush of carts and chairs and coaches. |
b. A crowded social gathering.
colloq.| 1832 Macaulay Lett. 18 July, I fell in with her at Lady Grey's great crush. 1888 Mrs. H. Ward R. Elsmere (1890) 439 [The party] isn't a crush. I have only asked about thirty or forty people. |
c. A funnel-shaped fenced passage along which cattle, sheep, or horses are driven for branding, dipping, etc. In full
crush-pen.
| 1856 W. Roberts Diary 18 Dec. in J. H. Beattie Early Runholding in Otago (1947) vi. 43 There was no crush pen or drafting race. 1872 C. H. Eden My Wife & I in Queensland iii. 69 A crush, which is an elongated funnel, becoming so narrow at the end that a beast is wedged in and unable to move. 1890 Mrs. C. Praed Romance of Station ii, The ‘crush’, or branding lane. 1892 W. E. Swanton Notes on N.Z. ii. 124 The [unbroken] horses are put in a stockyard, and there roped or driven into a crush. 1895 Chambers's Jrnl. 702/2 A crush—that is, long lines of parallel fences just wide enough for one horse to pass at a time—was erected; they were driven into this long lane. 1931 T. A. Harper Windy Island (1934) iii. iv. 225 The lean-to in its turn was divided into crush-pens and a large receiving pen. 1936 M. Franklin All that Swagger x. 91 Delacy erected trap yards and drafting crushes. 1942 E. Afr. Ann. 1941–2 105/1 Several hundred protesting cattle must be put through the ‘crush’ and jabbed with the big hypodermic needle. |
d. A group or gang of persons;
= crowd n.3 2 c;
spec. a body of troops; a unit of a regiment.
slang (
orig. U.S.).
| 1904 ‘No. 1500’ Life in Sing Sing 247 Crush, a crowd. 1916 ‘Boyd Cable’ Action Front 151 You want to ask something about someone in the old crush [sc. regiment]. 1924 A. J. Small Frozen Gold i. 40 Any one of that crush would do murder for no more than that 500 dollars reward. 1927 Observer 12 June 10/3 The best recruiter is the man who is pleased with his ‘crush’. 1931 R. Dark (title) Shakespeare—and that crush. |
e. A drink made from the juice of crushed fruit;
= squash n.1 7.
| 1919 H. W. Moore On Uncle Sam's Water Wagon 91 Strawberry crush. Wash and mash one pint of fresh strawberries..put three tablespoonfuls into a glass... Fill up the glass with any charged water. 1935 Economist 30 Mar. 734/2 The fruit-eating habit..has inclined the public favourably towards fruit juice beverages (‘crushes’, ‘squashes’, etc.). 1952 A. Baron With Hope 25 Have you seen that place along the front where they sell orange crush? 1959 P. Roth Goodbye, Columbus iii. 37 Smelling still of all the orange crush they'd drunk that weekend. |
5. Cartilage, gristle.
dial. [
= OHG. cros in
nasecros,
ôrcros,
MLG. krose, also
MHG. kroszbein,
kruszbein,
krusbein,
f. krosen to crackle, crunch:
cf. crushel.]
| a 1825 Forby Voc. E. Anglia, Crish, Crush, cartilage, or soft bones of young animals, easily crushed by the teeth. Ibid., Crush, crustle, gristle. |
6. a. Comb. (
perh. formed on verb-stem), as
crush-bone,
crush-nosed.
crush bar, a bar in a theatre, where the audience may buy drinks during the intervals of the entertainment;
crush barrier, a barrier erected to restrain a crowd;
crush-pen (see sense 4 c above);
crush-yard Austral. and
N.Z., a yard leading to the crush (sense 4 c); also
fig. Also
crush hat, -room.
| 1954 Granta 24 Apr. 22/2 Shall I follow the deception of the crush bar into the first world of critical abuse? 1968 V. C. Clinton-Baddeley My Foe Outstretch'd ii. 50 In the second interval he made his way..round the back of the Grand Circle to the crush bar. |
| 1909 Westm. Gaz. 17 Sept. 9/1 To prevent mishap several other crush barriers are erected. 1970 Guardian 24 Mar. 11/6 The stations are not equipped with proper crush barriers. |
| 1696 Lond. Gaz. No. 3193/4 Lost..a bay Gelding..with a Crush bone on the side of the Nose. |
| 1876 Browning Shop 9 Some crush-nosed human-hearted dog. |
| 1888 ‘R. Boldrewood’ Robbery under Arms III. xvi. 247 This was the crush⁓yard and no gateway. I was safe to be hanged in six weeks. 1921 H. Guthrie-Smith Tutira xvi. 127 More would have been done but for the number of previously shorn sheep being mixed up with the woolly, making it necessary to fill the crush-yard more often. 1950 N.Z. Jrnl. Agric. Apr. 377/2 For handling large herds a crush yard is recommended. |
b. spec. in
Geol. with reference to compression, thrust, or shattering of rock, as
crush-belt,
crush-breccia,
crush-conglomerate,
crush-line,
crush-material,
crush-movement,
crush-plane,
crush-rock,
crush-structure,
crush-zone.
| 1893 Geikie Text-bk. Geol. (ed. 3) vi. i. ii. 703 Dykes of 50 or 60 yards in breadth are reduced, where one of these crush-lines crosses them obliquely, to a thickness of no more than four feet. 1895 G. W. Lamplugh in Q. Jrnl. Geol. Soc. LI. 564 Essentially, these crush-conglomerates are rocks made up of scattered fragments set in a slaty matrix. Ibid. 571 The rocks bordering on the crush-zones. Ibid. 574 The crush material is again revealed. Ibid. 578 Three..separate zones of the crush-structure. 1903 Geikie Text-bk. Geol. (ed. 4) I. ii. ii. vii. 164 Angular fragmentary rubbish..has subsequently been consolidated by some infiltrating cement (Fault-rock, Crush-breccia, Crush-conglomerate). 1903 Trans. Edin. Geol. Soc. VIII. 30 The previous investigators of Fassa Valley failed to recognise the presence of the innumerable crush-planes with extremely low hade. 1903 Nature 12 Feb. 359/1 This passage-zone had been the great crush-zone of the district. 1904 Ibid. 16 June 166/1 The post-Bala crush-movements. 1930 Peach & Horne Geol. Scotl. 62 The belt of sheared rocks and flinty crush-material. Ibid., The flinty crush-rock weathers with a black or brown surface. 1937 Discovery Oct. 324/1 The flint crush belt that runs throughout the length of the Long Island. |
▸
crush syndrome n. Med. a condition caused by reperfusion of a large area of soft tissue,
esp. muscle, as the pressure on it is released following prolonged severe crushing, resulting in shock and potential kidney failure as large quantities of potassium, myoglobin, and enzymes from the damaged tissue are released into the circulation.
| [1941 E. G. L. Bywaters & D. Beall in Brit. Med. Jrnl. 22 Mar. 427/1 Amongst air-raid casualties seen at this hospital have been four cases of crush injury of the limbs which..were thought to represent a specific and hitherto unreported syndrome.] 1941 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 22 Mar. 445/1 [Bywaters and Beall] regard muscle injury as the most significant feature in the ‘*crush syndrome’. 1976 Environmental Health Perspectives 15 103/1 This model [of acute renal failure], characterized by rhabdomyolysis, acute plasma volume depletion, hemolysis, and myohemoglobinuria has many similarities to the human crush syndrome. 1992 New Republic 27 July 28/1 Medical experts also thought it significant that Bay Area rescue units found quake victims quickly and got them to hospitals in time to prevent special problems such as crush syndrome. |