▪ I. crackle, n.
(ˈkræk(ə)l)
[f. the vb.]
1. The act of crackling; the emission of slight cracks.
| 1833 H. Martineau Manch. Strike vi. 68 The occasional crackle when Allen folded his paper. 1855 Costello Stor. Screen 76 The crackle of the blazing faggots. 1872 Black Adv. Phaeton xiv. 200 A thin crackle of laughter. |
† 2. Something that makes a crackling noise; a rattle. Obs.
| 1591 Percivall Sp. Dict., Trebejo, a chesse boord, a childes crackle. |
3. A kind of china ware characterized by the appearance of minute cracks all over its surface. Also crackle-china, crackle-ware. So crackle-glass, a kind of glass of a similar character (originally made at Venice).
| 1867 M. E. Braddon R. Godwin I. 170 Curious specimens of crackle, brought home by the Captain. 1885 G. H. Broughton Sk. Rambles Holland xvii. 231 Their rarest and choicest bits of old blue and crackle. |
| attrib. 1875 Ure Dict. Arts II. 668 s.v. Glass, The reticulated glass, the crackle glass..are all due to the Venetians. 1883 M. E. Braddon Gold. Calf iv. 43 They had..sniffed at the stale pot-pourri in old crackle vases. 1881 Scribn. Mag. XXI. 266/2 A skin like yellow crackle-ware. |
▪ II. crackle, v.
(ˈkræk(ə)l)
[dim. and freq. of crack v.: see -le.]
1. intr. To emit a rapid succession of slight cracks; to crepitate.
| c 1560 T. Ingelend Disob. Child in Dodsley II. 315 My bones, alas, she will make to crackle. c 1657 Cowley Misc., Death W. Harvey ix, Condemn it to the Fire, and joy to hear It rage and crackle there. 1682 Creech tr. Lucretius (1683) 190 The Leaves all crackle. 1791 Cowper Odyss. ix. 80 Our tatter'd sail-cloth crackled in the wind. 1860 Tyndall Glac. ii. xix. 332 During the time of cooling the ice crackled audibly from its contraction. 1872 Hardwick Trad. Lanc. 179 Huge logs blazed and crackled. |
† b. To trill or quaver in singing. (Used in contempt.) Obs.
| a 1500 Cuckow & Night. xxiv, My song is both true and plaine..though I cannot crakell so in vaine, As thou dost in thy throte. |
† c. Lute-playing. (trans.) To play the notes of a chord in rapid succession instead of simultaneously; to execute an arpeggio. Obs.
| 1676 T. Mace Musick's Mon. 170 To crackle such three-part stops is only to divide each stop, with your thumb and two fingers, so as not to loose time, but give each crotchet its due quantity. |
2. trans. To crush or break down with slight but rapidly continuous cracking; as in the case of anything hard and brittle.
| 1611 Cotgr., Crousiller entre les dents, to crash, or crackle betweene the teeth, as a nut shell. 1881 J. W. Ogle Harveian Oration 119 The clown who crackles his chestnuts at the Christmas fire. |
† 3. intr. To crack and break off in small pieces. Obs.
| 1735 Dict. Polygraph. s.v. Colour, If there be too much gum, it will shine, and be apt to crackle off. |
4. trans. To crack (jokes) in a small way. nonce-use.
| 1878 W. C. Smith Hilda (1879) 181 That wits might crackle their jests so droll. |