crack

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /kɹæk/

• Audio (General American):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æk
• Homophone: craic

From Middle English crakken, craken, from Old English cracian (“to resound, crack”), from Proto-West Germanic *krakōn, from Proto-Germanic *krakōną (“to crack, crackle, shriek”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gerh₂- (“to resound, cry hoarsely”).

Cognate with Scots crak (“to crack”), West Frisian kreakje (“to crack”), Dutch kraken (“to crunch, creak, squeak”), Low German kraken (“to crack”), German krachen (“to crash, crack, creak”), Lithuanian gi̇̀rgžděti (“to creak, squeak”), Old Armenian կարկաչ (karkačʻ), Sanskrit गर्जति (gárjati, “to roar, hum”).

Compare typologically English crevice derived from Latin crepō, Bulgarian пукнатина (puknatina) akin to пу́кам (púkam), Russian тре́щина (tréščina) akin to треск (tresk), щель (ščelʹ) akin to щёлкать (ščólkatʹ).

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

2. (intransitive) To form cracks.

   It's been so dry, the ground is starting to crack.

3. (intransitive) To break apart under force, stress, or pressure.

   When I tried to stand on the chair, it cracked.

4. (intransitive) To become debilitated by psychological pressure.

   Anyone would crack after being hounded like that.

5. (intransitive) To break down or yield, especially under interrogation or torture.

   When we showed him the pictures of the murder scene, he cracked.

6. (intransitive) To make a cracking sound.

   The bat cracked with authority and the ball went for six.

7. (intransitive, of a voice) To change rapidly in register.

   His voice cracked with emotion.

8. (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.

9. (intransitive) To make a sharply humorous comment.

   "I would too, with a face like that," she cracked.

11. (transgender slang, 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.

12. (transitive) To make a crack or cracks in.

    The ball cracked the window.

13. (transitive) To break open or crush to small pieces by impact or stress.

    You'll need a hammer to crack a black walnut.

14. (transitive) To strike forcefully.

    She cracked him over the head with her handbag.

    • 1914 June 10, “Pillow Fight In Australian Parliament”, in Independence Daily Reporter:

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

15. (transitive) To open slightly.

    Could you please crack the window?

16. (transitive, figurative) To cause to yield under interrogation or other pressure.

    They managed to crack him on the third day.

17. (transitive, figurative) To solve a difficult problem.

    I've finally cracked it, and of course the answer is obvious in hindsight.

    • 2021 November 17, Conrad Landin, “Network News: Vivarail goes forth with fast-charging batteries”, in RAIL, number 944, page 13:

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

18. (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.

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

    to crack a whip

    • 2001, Doug McGuinn, The Apple Indians:

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

20. (transitive) To tell (a joke).

    The performance was fine until he cracked that dead baby joke.

21. (transitive, chemistry) To break down (a complex molecule), especially with the application of heat: to pyrolyse.

    Acetone is cracked to ketene and methane at 700°C.

22. (transitive, computing) To circumvent software restrictions such as regional coding or time limits.

    That software licence will expire tomorrow unless we can crack it.

    • 1997 April 1, David McCandless, “Warez Wars”, in Wired‎^[1], →ISSN:

      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.

23. (transitive, informal) 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.

    • 1894, The Strand, volume 8, page 569:

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

24. (obsolete) To brag; to boast.
    • 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book V, Canto III”, in The Faerie Queene. […], part II (books IV–VI), London: […] [Richard Field] for William Ponsonby, →OCLC, stanza 16, page 216:

      To whom the boaſter, that all knights did blot, / With proud diſdaine did ſcornefull anſwere make; […] And further did vncomely ſpeaches crake.

    • c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Loues Labour’s Lost”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iii], page 134, column 2, line 268:

      And Æthiopes of their ſweet complexion crack.

    • 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], “Cauſes of Melancholy. Vaine-glory, Pride, Ioy, Praiſe, &c.”, in The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition I, section 2, member 3, subsection 14, page 126:

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

    • 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], “Cure of Melancholy. Simple alternatives. Compound Alternatiues, Cenſure of Compounds and mixt Phyſick.”, in The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition II, section 4, member 1, subsection v:

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

25. (archaic, colloquial) To be ruined or impaired; to fail.
    • 1697, Virgil, “Dedications”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:

      The credit […] of exchequers cracks, when little comes in and much goes out.

26. (colloquial) To barely reach or attain (a measurement or extent).

    An underground band that never cracked the Hot 100

    • 2012, The Onion Book of Known Knowledge, page 102:

      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.

• crazed (exhibiting fine-line cracks)

• hack

crack (countable and uncountable, plural cracks)

2. A thin and usually jagged space opened in a previously solid material.

   Synonyms: crevice, fissure

   A large crack had formed in the roadway.

3. 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”, in BBC‎^[2]:

     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.

4. A sharply humorous comment; a wisecrack.

   I didn't appreciate that crack about my hairstyle.

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

   Synonyms: crack rock, hard

   crack head

   • 1995, “Dear Mama”, in Me Against the World, performed by 2Pac:

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

   • 2006, Noire [pseudonym], Thug-A-Licious: An Urban Erotic Tale, New York, N.Y.: One World, Ballantine Books, →ISBN, page 122:

     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.

   1. (figurative, humorous) Something good-tasting or habit-forming.

      kitty crack ― catnip

      • [2012 March 23, Rob Patronite, Robin Raisfeld, “Your Brain on Food”, in New York Magazine:

        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.”]

7. (onomatopoeia) The sharp sound made when solid material breaks.

   Synonyms: pop, snap; see also Thesaurus:snap, Thesaurus:bang

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

8. (onomatopoeia) Any sharp sound.

   The crack of the bat hitting the ball.

   • 2011 June 28, Piers Newbery, “Wimbledon 2011: Sabine Lisicki beats Marion Bartoli”, in BBC Sport‎^[3]:

     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.

9. A sharp, resounding blow.
   • 1852 March – 1853 September, Charles Dickens, chapter 11, in Bleak House, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1853, →OCLC:

     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.

10. (informal) An attempt at something.

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

11. (vulgar, slang) The vagina.

    Synonyms: crevice, gash; see also Thesaurus:vagina

    • 1956, Henry Miller, Quiet Days in Clichy, Grove Press, published 1987, →ISBN, page 143:

      I rattled off more silly nonsense, all the while clutching her firmly, pushing my fingers into her gluey crack.

12. (informal) The space between the buttocks.

    Synonyms: (UK) arse crack, (US) ass crack, (US) buttcrack, (UK) bum crack; see also Thesaurus:gluteal cleft

    Pull up your pants! Your crack is showing.

14. (Northern England, Scotland, Ireland) Conviviality; fun; good conversation, chat, gossip, or humorous storytelling; good company.

    Synonyms: bonhomie, craic, jollity, joviality, laugh, warmth

    The party was great crack.

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

    • 1817, Walter Scott, chapter 5, in Rob Roy, volume 2, Edinburgh: James Ballantyne and Company, published 1818, page 193:

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

    • 1865, Arthur Munby, “T' Moossel Getherers”, in Verses New and Old, London: Bell and Daldy, page 54:

      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.

    • 2001, William F. Gray, The Villain, iUniverse, page 214:

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

    • 2004, Bill Griffiths, Dictionary of North East Dialect, Northumbria University Press (quoting Dunn, 1950)

      "his a bit o' good crack — interesting to talk to"

    • 2006, Patrick McCabe, Winterwood, Bloomsbury, published 2007, page 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. (Northern England, Scotland, Ireland) Business; events; news.

    What's the crack?

    What's this crack about a possible merger?

    • 1869, Edwin Waugh, “Ramble from Bury to Rochdale”, in Lancashire Sketches‎^[4], 3rd edition, London: Simpkin, Marshall, & Co.:

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

16. (computing) A program or procedure designed to circumvent restrictions or usage limits on software.

    Has anyone got a crack for DocumentWriter 3.0?

17. (hydrodynamics, US, dated) 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.

    Coordinate term: slick

18. (Cumbria, elsewhere throughout the North of the UK) a meaningful chat.
19. (Internet slang) Extremely silly, absurd or off-the-wall ideas or prose.
20. The tone of voice when changed at puberty.
    • 1611 April (first recorded performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene ii], page 389, column 2:

      And let vs (Polidore) though now our voyces / Haue got the manniſh cracke, ſing him to'th'ground

22. (archaic) A mental flaw; a touch of craziness; partial insanity.

    He has a crack.

23. (archaic) A crazy or crack-brained person.

    Synonym: crackpot

    • 1711 December 29 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison; Richard Steele et al.], “TUESDAY, December 18, 1711”, in The Spectator, number 251; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume III, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC, pages 251-256:

      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’

      The spelling has been modernized.

24. (obsolete) A boast; boasting.

    Synonyms: brag, vaunt

    • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto XI”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 10, page 350:

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

    • 1814, Walter Scott, chapter 30, in Waverley, volume 1, Boston: Samuel H. Parker, published 1828, page 224:

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

25. (obsolete) Breach of chastity.
    • 1611 April (first recorded performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene v], page 396:

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

26. (obsolete) A boy, generally a pert, lively boy.

    Synonym: pistol

    • c. 1596–1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii], page 86, column 2:

      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: […]

    • c. 1608–1609 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Coriolanus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii], page 4, column 2:

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

27. (slang, dated, UK) A brief time; an instant; a jiffy.

    Synonyms: flash, moment, twink; see also Thesaurus:moment

    I'll be with you in a crack.

28. (African-American Vernacular, dated) The act of hitting on someone.
    • 1987 February 1, Joseph Beam, “Creating Myself from Scratch: Living as a Black Gay Man in the 1980s”, in Gay Community News, volume 14, number 28, page 5:

      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.

29. (obsolete, gypsy slang) Dry firewood.

• (Scots language, common in lowland Scotland and Ulster, conviviality): In recent decades, the word has been adopted into Gaelic as craic.

• → Finnish: crack
• → Swedish: crack

• (firewood): John Camden Hotten (1873) The Slang Dictionary
• (firewood): 1954, Journal of the Gypsy Lore Society (page 73)

Slang first attested 1793, perhaps from the verb in the sense of doing something quickly or with intelligence, or in the sense of "speaking boastingly" and having something to be proud of.^[1]

crack (not comparable)

2. Highly trained and competent.

   Even a crack team of investigators would have trouble solving this case.

3. Excellent, first-rate, superior, top-notch.

   She's a crack shot with that rifle.

   • 1849 May – 1850 November, Charles Dickens, chapter 38, in The Personal History of David Copperfield, London: Bradbury & Evans, […], published 1850, →OCLC:

     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.

   • 1962 April, J. N. Faulkner, “Summer Saturday at Waterloo”, in Modern Railways, page 264:

     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.

• crack shot, crackshot
• crack train
• crack troops

• crackerjack

crack (plural cracks)

2. (obsolete) One who excels; the best, especially a winning racehorse.
   • 1872, Baily's Magazine of Sports and Pastimes, volume 21, page 314:

     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.

   • 1888 [1637], James Shirley, Hyde Park, act IV, scene iii, page 236:

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

• → Catalan: crac
• → French: crack
• → German: Crack
• → Portuguese: craque
• → Spanish: crack
• → Italian: crack

• “crack”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “crack”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
• “crack”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• Joseph Wright, editor (1898), “CRACK”, in The English Dialect Dictionary: […], volume I (A–C), London: Henry Frowde, […], publisher to the English Dialect Society, […]; New York, N.Y.: G[eorge] P[almer] Putnam’s Sons, →OCLC, pages 762–764.

From English crack.

• IPA^(key): /ˈkræk/, [ˈkræk]
• Rhymes: -æk

crack

1. crack (variety of cocaine)

• “crack”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish]‎^[5] (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004–, retrieved 2 July 2023

Borrowed from English crack.

• IPA^(key): /kʁak/

• Audio:

  (file)

crack m (plural cracks)

1. (colloquial) champion, ace, expert

   Synonyms: champion, as

   C'est un crack en informatique. ― He/she is a computer whiz.

2. (computing) crack (program or procedure designed to circumvent restrictions)

crack f (uncountable)

1. crack cocaine

• “crack”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

• craque (adapted form)

Unadapted borrowing from English crack (“crack cocaine, computer program”).

crack m (countable and uncountable, plural cracks)

1. (uncountable) crack (crack cocaine)
2. (countable, computing) crack (computer program for bypassing licenses and other restrictions)

• IPA^(key): /ˈkɾak/ [ˈkɾak]
• Rhymes: -ak
• Syllabification: crack

Unadapted borrowing from English crack.

crack m (plural cracks)

1. crack cocaine
2. champion, ace, pro, wizard, dude (outstanding person)

According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.

Borrowed from French krach, from German Krach.

crack m (plural cracks)

1. misspelling of crac

• “crack”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 10 December 2024

Borrowed from English crack.

crack n or c

1. (uncountable, colloquial) crack cocaine