crack has definitions from the fields of pharmacology,medicine,arms
1
[ verb ] become fractured; break or crack on the surface only

Synonyms

break check

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 .

Related terms

change check fracture

2
[ 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

go firecracker

3
[ 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 .

4
[ verb ] pass through, as through a barrier

Synonyms

break_through

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

pass

5
[ verb ] as of tightly stretched ropes or fingers

Synonyms

snap

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 .

Related terms

go cracker

6
[ 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 .

Related terms

hit fracture

7
[ 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

colloquialism superior

8
[ noun ] a narrow opening

Synonyms

gap

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 .

Related terms

opening lacuna spark_gap gap

9
[ 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

superior

10
[ 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

depression fissure

11
[ verb ] break suddenly and abruptly; as of something under tension

Synonyms

snap

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 .

Related terms

break snap

12
[ 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 ) .

Related terms

craze alligator chap

13
[ noun ] a sudden sharp noise

Synonyms

cracking snap

Examples

"the crack of a whip" "he heard the cracking of the ice" "he can hear the snap of a twig"

Used in print

(Gene Caesar, Rifle for Rent....)

A split_second later , the distant crack of a rifle had sounded .

Related terms

noise snap

14
[ verb ] (medicine) suffer a nervous breakdown

Related terms

suffer collapse

15
[ noun ] (informal) a chance to do something

Synonyms

shot

Examples

"he wanted a shot at the champion"

Related terms

opportunity colloquialism

16
[ verb ] break into simpler molecules by means of heat

Examples

"The petroleum cracked"

Related terms

change chemistry

17
[ noun ] a mark left after a small piece has been chopped or broken off of something

Synonyms

chip check

Related terms

blemish nick

18
[ noun ] a usually brief attempt

Synonyms

go pass whirl offer fling

Examples

"he took a crack at it" "I gave it a whirl"

Related terms

attempt

19
[ verb ] tell spontaneously

Examples

"crack a joke"

Related terms

tell wisecrack

20
[ verb ] reduce (petroleum) to a simpler compound by cracking

Related terms

decompose chemistry

21
[ verb ] cause to become cracked

Examples

"heat and light cracked the back of the leather chair"

Related terms

change fissure check

22
[ noun ] a blemish resulting from a break without complete separation of the parts

Examples

"there was a crack in the mirror"

Related terms

blemish craze

23
[ noun ] witty remark

Synonyms

sally quip wisecrack

Related terms

remark gag

24
[ noun ] (pharmacology) a purified and potent form of cocaine that is smoked rather than snorted

Synonyms

tornado

Related terms

C

25
[ noun ] the act of cracking something

Synonyms

cracking fracture

Related terms

breakage fracture

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