crack
Noun · Verb · AdjectiveOpen English WordNet
Verb (13)cracks, cracked, cracking
- become fractured; break or crack on the surface only“The glass cracked when it was heated”Synonyms: checkbreakMore general changeSimilar check
- make a very sharp explosive sound“His gun cracked”More general sound, go
- make a sharp sound“his fingers snapped”Synonyms: snapMore general sound, go
- hit forcefully; deal a hard blow, making a cracking noise“The teacher cracked him across the face with a ruler”More general hit
- pass through (a barrier)“Registrations cracked through the 30,000 mark in the county”Synonyms: break throughMore general pass
- break partially but keep its integrity“The glass cracked”More general check, breakMore specific alligator, craze, chap
- break suddenly and abruptly, as under tension“The pipe snapped”Synonyms: snap
- gain unauthorized access computers with malicious intentions“she cracked my password”“crack a safe”
- suffer a nervous breakdownSynonyms: crack upcrock upbreak upcollapse
- tell spontaneously“crack a joke”
- cause to become cracked“heat and light cracked the back of the leather chair”
- reduce (petroleum) to a simpler compound by cracking
- break into simpler molecules by means of heat“The petroleum cracked”
Noun (10)cracks
- a long narrow cleftSynonyms: cleftcrevicefissurescissureType of opening, gapKinds fault, vent, fatigue crack, slit, split, chink, crevasse, rift, chap
- a narrow opening“he opened the window a crack”Synonyms: gapType of openingKinds spark gap, lacuna
- a long narrow depression in a surfaceSynonyms: crevicecrannyfissurechapType of depression, impression
- a sudden sharp noise“the crack of a whip”“he heard the cracking of the ice”“he can hear the snap of a twig”Synonyms: crackingsnapType of noise
- a chance to do something“he wanted a shot at the champion”Synonyms: shotType of opportunity, chance
- witty remarkSynonyms: wisecracksallyquipType of remark, comment
- a blemish resulting from a break without complete separation of the parts“there was a crack in the mirror”
- a purified and potent form of cocaine that is smoked rather than snorted; highly addictiveSynonyms: crack cocainetornado
- a usually brief attempt“he took a crack at it”“I gave it a whirl”Synonyms: flinggopasswhirloffer
- the act of cracking somethingSynonyms: fracturecracking
What does it mean? Question 1 of today’s quiz
Translations
Noun thin space opened in a previously solid material
- Spanish
- grieta
- French
- fissure
- German
- Spalt
- Italian
- crepa
- Portuguese
- fenda
- Russian
- тре́щина tréščina
- Arabic
- صَدْع ṣadʕ
- Chinese
- 裂缝 lièfèng
- Japanese
- 裂け目 sakeme
- Dutch
- barst
18 more languages
Verb to form cracks
The main translation for each meaning, from the langtolang.com multilingual dictionary. Each word links to its full entry there.
Webster's Dictionary (1913)
Origin: OE. cracken, craken, to crack, break, boast, AS. cracian, cearcian, to crack; akin to D. kraken, G. krachen; cf. Skr. garj to rattle, or perh. of imitative origin. Cf. Crake, Cracknel, Creak.
1. To break or burst, with or without entire separation of the parts; as, to crack glass; to crack nuts.
2. To rend with grief or pain; to affect deeply with sorrow; hence, to disorder; to distract; to craze.
O, madam, my old heart is cracked.— William Shakespeare
He thought none poets till their brains were cracked.— Wentworth Dillon, Lord Roscommon
3. To cause to sound suddenly and sharply; to snap; as, to crack a whip.
4. To utter smartly and sententiously; as, to crack a joke. Ben Jonson
5. To cry up; to extol; — followed by up. informal
To crack a bottle, to open the bottle and drink its contents. — To crack a crib, to commit burglary. slang — To crack on, to put on; as, to crack on more sail, or more steam. colloquial
1. To burst or open in chinks; to break, with or without quite separating into parts.
By misfortune it cracked in the coling.— Robert Boyle
The mirror cracked from side to side.— Alfred Tennyson
2. To be ruined or impaired; to fail. Collog.
The credit... of exchequers cracks, when little comes in and much goes out.— John Dryden
3. To utter a loud or sharp, sudden sound.
As thunder when the clouds in autumn crack.— William Shakespeare
4. To utter vain, pompous words; to brag; to boast; — with of. Archaic.
Ethoipes of their sweet complexion crack.— William Shakespeare
1. A partial separation of parts, with or without a perceptible opening; a chink or fissure; a narrow breach; a crevice; as, a crack in timber, or in a wall, or in glass.
2. Rupture; flaw; breach, in a moral sense.
My love to thee is sound, sans crack or flaw.— William Shakespeare
3. A sharp, sudden sound or report; the sound of anything suddenly burst or broken; as, the crack of a falling house; the crack of thunder; the crack of a whip.
Will the stretch out to the crack of doom?— William Shakespeare
4. The tone of voice when changed at puberty.
Though now our voices Have got the mannish crack.— William Shakespeare
5. Mental flaw; a touch of craziness; partial insanity; as, he has a crack.
6. A crazy or crack-brained person. obsolete
I... can not get the Parliament to listen to me, who look upon me as a crack and a projector.— Joseph Addison
7. A boast; boasting. obsolete “Crack and brags.” Burton, Robert “Vainglorius cracks.” Edmund Spenser
8. Breach of chastity. obsolete William Shakespeare
9. A boy, generally a pert, lively boy. obsolete
Val. 'T is a noble child. Vir. A crack, madam.— William Shakespeare
10. A brief time; an instant; as, to be with one in a crack. Eng. & Scot. Colloq.
11. Free conversation; friendly chat. Scottish
What is crack in English?... A crack is... a chat with a good, kindly human heart in it.— Patrick Proctor Alexander
12. a witty remark; a wisecrack.
13. a chance or opportunity to do something; an attempt; as, I'll take a crack at it.
14. a form of cocaine, highly purified and prepared as small pellets, especially suitable for smoking; — also called rock. Used in this form it appears to be more addicting than cocaine powder. slang
Of superior excellence; having qualities to be boasted of; as, a crack shot. colloquial
One of our crack speakers in the Commons.— Charles Dickens
Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), from GCIDE 0.54 · with additions: GCIDE editors
The Jargon File
1.v. To break into a system (compare cracker).
2.v. Action of removing the copy protection from a commercial program. People who write cracks consider themselves challenged by the copy protection measures. They will often do it as much to show that they are smarter than the developer who designed the copy protection scheme than to actually copy the program.
3.n. A program, instructions or patch used to remove the copy protection of a program or to uncripple features from a demo/time limited program.
4.An exploit.