crack
has definitions from the fields of pharmacology,medicine,arms
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[ verb ] become fractured; break or crack on the surface only
Examples "The glass cracked when it was heated" Used in print (Helen Hooven Santmyer, "There Were Fences"...)When these had been pocketed , we could still spend a morning cracking open other pebbles for our delight in seeing how much prettier they were inside than their dull exteriors indicated . (T. C. McClary, "The Flooded Desert," Argosy,...)Frozen , they stared at it whirling down the valley , gouging and spitting_out boulders and chunks of earth like a starving hound_dog cracking marrowbones . (Jesse Hill Ford, Mountains of Gilead....)It is not having his baby nestled warm and fat against your breast and it is not having somebody that really gives_a_damn whether some tramp cracks your skull . |
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[ verb ] (arms) make a very sharp explosive sound
Examples "His gun cracked" Used in print (Peter Field, Rattlesnake Ridge....)Nearing home , he jerked to attention at the distant crack of a gun . A carbine cracked more loudly , and a slug clipped fragments from the brush off at one side . Related terms |
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[ noun ] a long narrow opening
Used in print (Hampton Stone, The Man Who Looked Death...)Starting with the room completely blacked_out , as it was when we came_in , he unerringly fixed things so that the whole place was bathed in the maximum of light without at any point admitting even so much as a crack of glare . |
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[ verb ] pass through, as through a barrier
Synonyms Examples "Registrations cracked through the 30,000 mark in the county" Used in print (The Dallas Morning News,...)Registrations of new cars in Dallas_County cracked the 3000 mark in March for_the_first_time this year . (Time, 77: 3...)Their entry will crack the total segregation of all public education , from kindergarten through graduate_school , in Georgia - and in Alabama , Mississippi and South_Carolina as_well . Related terms |
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[ verb ] as of tightly stretched ropes or fingers
Synonyms Used in print (Howard Fast, April Morning....)From above me and somewhere behind me , a rifle cracked . (Gerald Green, The Heartless Light....)They answered him in monosyllables , nods , occasionally muttering in Greek to one another , awaiting the word from Papa , who restlessly cracked his knuckles , anxious to stuff himself into his white Cadillac and burst off to the freeway . |
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[ verb ] hit forcefully; deal a hard blow, making a cracking noise
Examples : "The teacher cracked him across the face with a ruler" Used in print (Rocky Mountains News, [Denver, Colorado],...)Dick_McAuliffe cracked the first of his two doubles against Lefty Don_Rudolph to open the Bear 's attack . (Ann Hebson, The Lattimer Legend....)She had taken him out of the schoolhouse and closed the school for the summer , after she saw Miss_Snow crack Joel across the face with a ruler for letting a snake loose in the schoolroom . |
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[ adjective ] of the highest quality
Examples "an ace reporter" "a crack shot" "a first-rate golfer" "a super party" "played top-notch tennis" "an athlete in tiptop condition" "she is absolutely tops" Related terms |
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[ noun ] a narrow opening
Synonyms Examples "he opened the window a crack" Used in print (W. H. Gass, "The Pedersen Kid," in The...)All he cares about is his whisky and that dry crack in his face . (E. Lucas Myers, "The Vindication of Dr. Nestor,"...)He opened it a crack and in doing so made as much shuffling , coughing , and scraping noise as possible in_order to drown emanations from the hen who had begun to protest . |
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[ adjective ] (informal) of the highest quality
Examples "an ace reporter" "a crack shot" "a first-rate golfer" "a super party" "played top-notch tennis" "an athlete in tiptop condition" "she is absolutely tops" Used in print (Booton Herndon, "From Custer to Korea, The 7th Cavalry"...)The regiment was dug_in on the east_side of the river and the North_Koreans were steadily building_up a concentration of crack troops on the other side . They were followed by crack North_Korean troops , who mounted one charge after another . Related terms |
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[ noun ] a long narrow depression in a surface
Used in print (Jesse Hill Ford, Mountains of Gilead....)She glanced at the man nodding beside her , a man with weather cracks furrowed into his lean cheeks , with powdery pale eyes reflecting all the droughts he had seen , reflecting the sky and the drought which must follow now in August - yes , with eyes predicting the drought and here it was only June , only festival time again and thoughts of Gratt_Shafer would not leave her . Related terms |
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[ verb ] break suddenly and abruptly; as of something under tension
Synonyms Examples "The rope snapped" Used in print (Mary Savage, Just for Tonight....)Twigs cracked loudly under her feet ; bushes swished and scratched at her slacks ; tree_branches snapped as she pushed them ruthlessly away from her . |
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[ verb ] break partially but keep its integrity
Examples "The glass cracked" Used in print (McCall's Needlework and Crafts, Spring-Summer,...)Allow project to stand for about five minutes ( if wooden press mold is a good antique , do not leave clay in too long as the dampness may cause mold to crack ) . |
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[ noun ] (informal) a chance to do something
Synonyms Examples "he wanted a shot at the champion" Related terms |
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