crack

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[edit] English

[edit] Pronunciation

[edit] Noun

crack (plural cracks)

  1. A thin and usually jagged space opened in a previously solid material.
    A large crack had formed in the roadway.
  2. A narrow opening.
    We managed to squeeze through a crack in the rock wall.
    Open the door a crack.
    • 2011 January 25, Phil McNulty, “Blackpool 2 - 3 Man Utd”, BBC:
      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. A sharply humorous comment; a wisecrack.
    I didn't appreciate that crack about my hairstyle.
  4. A potent, relatively cheap, addictive variety of cocaine; often a rock, usually smoked through a crack-pipe.
    • (Can we date this quote?) Whitney Houston:
      I wouldn't use it, if I was going to use it I can afford real cocaine. Crack is wack.
  5. (onomatopoeia) The sharp sound made when solid material breaks.
    The crack of the falling branch could be heard for miles.
  6. (onomatopoeia) Any sharp sound.
    The crack of the bat hitting the ball.
    • 2011 June 28, Piers Newbery, “Wimbledon 2011: Sabine Lisicki beats Marion Bartoli”, BBC Sport:
      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.
  7. (informal) An opportunity to attempt something.
    I'd like to take a crack at that game.
  8. (vulgar, slang) vagina.
    I'm so horny even the crack of dawn isn't safe!
  9. (vulgar) The space between the buttocks.
    Pull up your pants! Your crack is showing.
  10. (Scotland, common in lowland Scotland and Ulster) Conviviality; good conversation, chat, gossip, or humourous storytelling; good company.
    The crack was guid.
    Thon was guid crack.
    He/she is quare good crack.
    The party was great crack.
  11. (Geordie, Scots, Liverpudlian) Business/events
    What's the crack?
  12. (computing) A program or procedure designed to circumvent restrictions or usage limits on software.
    Has anyone got a crack for DocumentWriter 3.0?
  13. (Cumbrian, elsewhere throughout the North of the UK) a meaningful chat.
  14. (Ireland, informal, Liverpudlian) good fun. (See usage note re Scots sense).
    • 2006, Patrick McCabe, Winterwood, Bloomsbury 2007, p. 10:
      By the time we've got a good drunk on us there'll be more crack in this valley than the night I pissed on the electric fence!
  15. (Internet slang) Extremely silly, absurd or off-the-wall ideas or prose.

[edit] Usage notes

  • (Scots language, common in lowland Scotland and Ulster, conviviality): In the last few decades the word has been adopted into Gaelic; as there is no "k" in the Irish language the spelling craic has been devised.

[edit] Synonyms

  • (vulgar: space between the buttocks): bum crack (UK), arse crack (UK), ass crack (US)
  • (cocaine that is heat-altered at the moment of inhalation): crack cocaine

[edit] Translations

thin space opened in a previously solid material
narrow opening
sharply humorous comment
variety of cocaine
sharp sound made when solid material breaks
any sharp sound
opportunity to attempt something — see try
vulgar: vagina (only terms derived from "crack" and its equivalents)
vulgar: space between buttocks
conviviality, good discussion
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.
Translations to be checked

[edit] Etymology 1

Middle English crakken, from Old English cracian, from Proto-Germanic *krakōnan (compare West Frisian kreakje, Dutch kraken, German krachen), from Proto-Indo-European *gorg- (compare Lithuanian gìrgžděti ‘to creak’, Armenian karkac ‘noise, uproar’, Sanskrit garjati ‘to roar, hum’).

[edit] Verb

crack (third-person singular simple present cracks, present participle cracking, simple past and past participle cracked)

  1. (intransitive) To form cracks.
    It's been so dry, the ground is starting to crack.
  2. (intransitive) To break apart under 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 yield under interrogation.
    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, of a voice) To change rapidly in register.
    His voice cracked with emotion.
  7. (intransitive, of a pubescent boy's voice) 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. (transitive) To make a crack or cracks in.
    The ball cracked the window.
  10. (transitive) To break open or crush to small pieces by impact or stress.
    You'll need a hammer to crack a black walnut.
  11. (transitive) To strike forcefully.
    She cracked him over the head with her handbag.
  12. (transitive) To open slightly.
    Could you please crack the window?
  13. (transitive) To cause to yield under interrogation or other pressure. (Figurative)
    They managed to crack him on the third day.
  14. (transitive) To solve a difficult problem. (Figurative, from cracking a nut.)
    I've finally cracked it, and of course the answer is obvious in hindsight.
  15. (transitive) To overcome a security system or a 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.
  16. (transitive) To cause to make a sharp sound.
    • 2001, Doug McGuinn, The Apple Indians
      Hershell cracked his knuckles, a nervous habit that drove Inez crazy....
  17. (transitive) To tell (a joke).
  18. (transitive, chemistry, informal) To break down (a complex molecule), especially with the application of heat: to pyrolyse.
    Acetone is cracked to ketene and methane at 700 °C.
  19. (transitive, computing) To circumvent software restrictions such as regional coding or time limits.
    That software licence will expire tomorrow unless we can crack it.
  20. (transitive, informal) To open a canned beverage, or any packaged drink or food.
    I'd love to crack open a beer.
  21. (obsolete) To brag, boast.
    • 1621, Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy, II.4.1.v:
      Cardan cracks' that he can cure all diseases with water alone, as Hippocrates of old did most infirmities with one medicine.
[edit] Translations
To form cracks
To break apart under pressure
To become debilitated by psychological pressure
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.
Translations to be checked
[edit] Derived terms
terms derived from crack
[edit] Related terms
  • crazed (exhibiting fine-line cracks)

[edit] Etymology 2

1793 slang, of Unknown origin

[edit] Adjective

crack (not comparable)

  1. Highly trained and competent.
    Even a crack team of investigators would have trouble solving this case.
  2. Excellent, first-rate, superior, top-notch.
    She's a crack shot with that rifle.
[edit] Derived terms
[edit] Related terms

[edit] Finnish

[edit] Noun

crack

  1. crack (variety of cocaine)

[edit] Declension

Declension of crack (type risti)
singular plural
nominative crack crackit
genitive crackin crackien
partitive crackia crackeja
accusative crack
crackin		 crackit
inessive crackissa crackeissa
elative crackista crackeista
illative crackiin crackeihin
adessive crackilla crackeilla
ablative crackilta crackeilta
allative crackille crackeille
essive crackina crackeina
translative crackiksi crackeiksi
instructive – crackein
abessive crackitta crackeitta
comitative – crackeineen

[edit] Spanish

[edit] Noun

crack m. (plural cracks)

  1. crack (variety of cocaine)
  2. excellent sportsman
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