crack

verb

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.”

    “I cracked myhead on a beam.”

    “Watch your head, don't crack it on that beam.”

    “Bedding provided for late session became ammunition—meet ended in riot when Labor man cracked leader on jaw.”

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.”

    “"[...] The key to battery trains is more the ability to charge quickly. If you can do that, you've cracked it."”

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.”

    “They finally cracked the code.”

17. (transitive)To cause to make a sharp sound.

    “to crack a whip”

    “Hershell cracked his knuckles, a nervous habit that drove Inez crazy[…]”

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.”

    “Nobody really knows how much actual damage cracking does to the software companies. But as the industry rolls apprehensively toward the uncertain future of an ever-more frictionless electronic marketplace, almost everyone thinks piracy will increase.”

21. (informal, transitive)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.”

    “Old Bouvet was waiting in the passage when I entered, and he asked me whether we might not crack a bottle of wine together.”

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.”

    “And Æthiopes of their ſweet complexion crack.”

    “Stultitiam ſuam produnt &c. (ſaith Platerus) your very tradeſmen, if they be excellent, will crack and bragge, and ſhew their folly in exceſſe.”

    “Cardan cracks that he can cure all diſeaſes with water alone, as Hippocrates of old did moſt infirmities with one medicine.”

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”

    “IQ (Intelligence Quotient), number said to measure an individual's intelligence that many experts who clearly didn't crack 125 say overlooks important attributes such as creativity and social skills.”

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?”

    “[…] they end up thinking that they can escape the pain of incel-dom by “cracking” a femboy […]”

noun

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.”

   “Open the door a crack.”

   “Dimitar Berbatov found the first cracks in the home side's resilience when he pulled one back from close range and Hernandez himself drew the visitors level with a composed finish three minutes later as Bloomfield Road's earlier jubilation turned to despair.”

3. (countable, uncountable)A sharply humorous comment; a wisecrack.

   “I didn't appreciate that crack about my hairstyle.”

4. (countable, slang, uncountable)Crack cocaine, a potent, relatively cheap, addictive variety of cocaine; often a rock, usually smoked through a crack-pipe.

   “crack head”

   “And even as a crack fiend, Mama / You always was a black queen, Mama”

   “There were times when she could tell the Washingtons were overwhelmed by Jahlil's difficult ways, and one time Jessie even had the nerve to ask Carmiesha if she had smoked anything like crack or ice while she was pregnant with him.”

5. (countable, figuratively, humorous, slang, uncountable)Crack cocaine, a potent, relatively cheap, addictive variety of cocaine; often a rock, usually smoked through a crack-pipe.

   “kitty crack”

   “When did naming foods after a powerful narcotic become a thing?[…]Now the mean streets of New York are rife with “salted crack caramel” ice cream, “pistachio crack” brittle, “crack steak” sandwiches, and “tuna on crack.””

6. (countable, onomatopoeic, uncountable)The sharp sound made when solid material breaks.

   “The crack of the falling branch could be heard for miles.”

7. (countable, onomatopoeic, uncountable)Any sharp sound.

   “The crack of the bat hitting the ball.”

   “She broke to love in the opening game, only for Bartoli to hit straight back in game two, which was interrupted by a huge crack of thunder that made Lisicki jump and prompted nervous laughter from the 15,000 spectators.”

8. (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.”

9. (countable, informal, uncountable)An attempt at something.

   “I'd like to take a crack at that game.”

10. (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.”

11. (countable, informal, uncountable)The space between the buttocks.

    “Pull up your pants! Your crack is showing.”

12. (Ireland, Northern-England, Scotland, countable, uncountable)Conviviality; fun; good conversation, chat, gossip, or humorous storytelling; good company.

    “The party was great crack.”

    “He's good crack. [It's nice having him around]”

    “But first I maun hae a crack wi' an auld acquaintance here.—Mr. Owen, Mr. Owen, how's a' wi' ye, man?”

    “He seed 'em bawth as he coom'd frae t' Nab, / Nobbut aaf an hooer agone: / An' he stopp'd, did Jan, for a bit of a crack, / For t' gells was lahk aloan.”

    “Being a native of Northumberland, she was enjoying their banter and Geordie good humour. This was what she needed — good company and good crack.”

13. (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.”

14. (Ireland, Northern-England, Scotland, countable, uncountable)Business; events; news.

    “What's the crack?”

    “What's this crack about a possible merger?”

    “But, aw see yo known him weel enough; an' so aw'll tell yo a bit of a crack abeawt him an' Owd Neddy.”

15. (countable, uncountable)A program or procedure designed to circumvent restrictions or usage limits on software.

    “Has anyone got a crack for DocumentWriter 3.0?”

16. (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.
17. (Internet, countable, uncountable)Extremely silly, absurd or off-the-wall ideas or prose.
18. (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”

19. (archaic, countable, uncountable)A mental flaw; a touch of craziness; partial insanity.

    “He has a crack.”

20. (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’”

21. (countable, obsolete, uncountable)A boast; boasting.

    “Slaunderous reproches,and fowle infamies, / Leaſings,backbytings,and vaineglorious crakes”

    “D'ye hear wha's coming to cow yere cracks?”

22. (countable, obsolete, uncountable)Breach of chastity.

    “But thinke her bond of Chaſtity quite crack'd, I hauing 'tane the forfeyt.”

23. (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: […]”

    “Indeed la, tis a noble childe. / - A Cracke Madam.”

24. (UK, countable, dated, slang, uncountable)A brief time; an instant; a jiffy.

    “I'll be with you in a crack.”

25. (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.”

26. (countable, obsolete, uncountable)Dry firewood.
27. (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.”

    “1st Gent. What dost think, Jockey? / 2nd Gent. The crack o' the field's against you.”

adj

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.”

   “Every scratch in the scheme was a gnarled oak in the forest of difficulty, and I went on cutting them down, one after another, with such vigour, that in three or four months I was in a condition to make an experiment on one of our crack speakers in the Commons.”

   “Fortunately, it is unusual for the crack transatlantic liners to sail or dock on a Saturday, but it is the custom for most holiday cruises to start on that day, returning on Fridays a fortnight or three weeks later.”

name

1. A surname