crack

crack¹ S3 [kræk] v

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1¦(break)¦

2¦(sound)¦

3¦(hit)¦

4¦(not be able to continue)¦

5¦(voice)¦

6¦(solve/understand)¦

7¦(stop somebody)¦

8¦(open a safe)¦

9¦(computer)¦

10 crack it

11 crack a joke

12 crack open a bottle

13 get cracking

14 crack the whip

15 something is not all/everything it's cracked up to be

Phrasal verbs

　crack down

　crack into something

　crack on

　crack up

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[: Old English; Origin: cracian]

1.) ¦(BREAK)¦ [I and T]

to break or to make something break, either so that it gets lines on its surface, or so that it breaks into pieces

▪ Don't put boiling water in the glass or it will crack.

▪ Concrete is liable to crack in very cold weather.

▪ He picked up a piece of rock and cracked it in half.

▪ She fell and cracked a bone in her leg.

▪ He cracked a couple of eggs into a pan.

2.) ¦(SOUND)¦ [I and T]

to make a quick loud sound like the sound of something breaking, or to make something do this

▪ Thunder cracked overhead.

▪ He cracked his whip and galloped off.

▪ Dennis rubbed his hands together and cracked his knuckles .

3.) ¦(HIT)¦ [T]

to hit someone or something hard

crack sth on sth

▪ I slipped and cracked my head on the door.

▪ She cracked him over the head with a hammer.

4.) ¦(NOT BE ABLE TO CONTINUE)¦

to be unable to continue doing something because there is too much pressure and you do not have the mental strength to continue

crack under

▪ Some young executives crack under the pressure of having to meet tough sales targets every month.

▪ He cracked under interrogation and confessed.

5.) ¦(VOICE)¦ [I]

if your voice cracks, it starts to sound different because you are feeling strong emotions

▪ His voice cracked slightly as he tried to explain.

6.) ¦(SOLVE/UNDERSTAND)¦ [T]

to find the answer to a problem or manage to understand something that is difficult to understand

= ↑solve

▪ I think we've cracked the problem of the computer crashing all the time.

▪ It took them nearly two months to crack the code .

▪ This new evidence could help detectives to crack the case .

7.) ¦(STOP SOMEBODY)¦ [T] [i]informal

to stop a person from being successful

▪ His political enemies have never managed to crack him.

8.) ¦(OPEN A SAFE)¦ [T]

to open a ↑safe illegally in order to steal the things inside it

9.) ¦(COMPUTER)¦ [T]

to illegally copy computer software or change free software which may lack certain features of the full ↑version, so that the free software works in the same way as the full version

▪ You can find out how to crack any kind of software on the web.

10.) crack it

BrE informal to manage to do something successfully

▪ I think we've cracked it!

▪ He seems to have got it cracked .

11.) crack a joke informal

to tell a joke

▪ He kept cracking jokes about my appearance.

12.) crack open a bottle

BrE informal to open a bottle of alcohol for drinking

▪ We cracked open a few bottles.

13.) get cracking informal

to start doing something or going somewhere quickly

▪ I think we need to get cracking if we're going to catch this train.

14.) crack the whip informal

to make people work very hard

15.) sth is not all/everything it's cracked up to be informal

used to say that something is not as good as people say it is

▪ I thought the film was OK, but it's not all it's cracked up to be.

crack down phr v

to become more strict in dealing with a problem and punishing the people involved

crack down on

▪ The government is determined to crack down on terrorism.

▪ The police are cracking down hard on violent crime.

→↑crackdown

crack into [crack into sth] phr v

to secretly enter someone else's computer system, especially in order to damage the system or steal the information stored on it

→↑hack

▪ A teenager was accused of cracking into the company's network.

crack on phr v

to continue working hard at something in order to finish it

crack on with

▪ I need to crack on with my project work this weekend.

crack up phr v

1.) crack (sb) up

to laugh a lot at something, or to make someone laugh a lot

▪ Everyone in the class just cracked up.

▪ She's so funny. She cracks me up.

2.) to become unable to think or behave sensibly because you have too many problems or too much work

▪ I was beginning to think I was cracking up!

crack ²

crack² n

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1¦(gap)¦

2¦(break)¦

3¦(weakness)¦

4¦(sound)¦

5¦(joke)¦

6¦(attempt)¦

7¦(drug)¦

8¦(body)¦

9 a crack on the head

10 a crack in somebody's voice

11 the crack of dawn

12¦(computer)¦

13 a fair crack of the whip

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1.) ¦(GAP)¦

a very narrow space between two things or two parts of something

crack between

▪ He squeezed into a crack between two rocks.

crack in

▪ He could see them through a crack in the door.

▪ She opened the door a crack and peeped into the room.

2.) ¦(BREAK)¦

a thin line on the surface of something when it is broken but has not actually come apart

crack in

▪ There were several small cracks in the glass.

3.) ¦(WEAKNESS)¦

a weakness or fault in an idea, system, or organization

crack in

▪ The cracks in their relationship were starting to show.

▪ The first cracks are beginning to appear in the economic policy.

4.) ¦(SOUND)¦

a sudden loud sound like the sound of a stick being broken

loud/sharp crack

▪ There was a sharp crack as the branch broke off.

crack of

▪ We could hear the crack of gunfire in the distance.

▪ a crack of thunder

5.) ¦(JOKE)¦ informal

a clever joke or rude remark

crack about

▪ I didn't like his crack about her being overweight.

▪ He's always making cracks about how stupid I am.

6.) ¦(ATTEMPT)¦ informal

an attempt to do something

= ↑shot crack at

▪ I'd like a crack at climbing that mountain.

▪ The competition's open to anyone - why don't you have a crack ?

7.) ¦(DRUG)¦[U]

an illegal drug that some people take for pleasure

▪ crack addicts

8.) ¦(BODY)¦ informal

the space between someone's ↑buttocks

9.) a crack on the head

a hard hit on the head

▪ You've had a nasty crack on the head and you need to rest.

10.) a crack in sb's voice

a change in someone's voice because they are feeling very upset

▪ He noticed the crack in her voice as she tried to continue.

11.) the crack of dawn

very early in the morning

at the crack of dawn

▪ We were up at the crack of dawn.

12.) ¦(COMPUTER)¦

a piece of information or computer ↑code that lets you illegally change free software which may lack certain features of the full ↑version, so that the free software works in the same way as the full version

13.) a fair crack of the whip

BrE informal the same chance as other people to do something

▪ They feel they haven't been given a fair crack of the whip .

crack ³

crack³ adj [only before noun]

1.) with a lot of experience and skill

▪ crack troops

▪ a crack regiment

▪ a crack sportsman

2.) crack shot

someone who is able to shoot a weapon very well and hit the thing they are aiming at