Crack v.

Forms: 1 cracian, 3 craky, chrakien, 3–4 craken, (4 cracche), 4–7 crake, crak, 5–6 crakke, 6–7 cracko, 6– crack. [Common Teutonic: OE. cracian (:—*krakôjan) = OHG. krachôn, chrahhôn, MHG. and mod.G. krachen, MDu. crāken, mod.Du. and Low G. kraken. Mod.Du. has also a by-form krakken, dial. HG. kracken:—OLG. krakkôn. Cf. also Fr. craquer, cracquer in same sense (16th c.), perh. from German. The regular phonetic descendant of OE. cracian is crake (cf. macian make, wacian wake), which showed a tendency in 16th c. to become a distinct form (in sense 6), and is now actually so used dialectally, e.g., in Essex. The form with short vowel has probably prevailed through the influence of the sb., and the continuous tendency to keep the word echoic, as in cuckoo; the mod. Du. and dial. Germ. parallel form goes back to an early date.]

  orig. To make a dry sharp sound in breaking, to break with this characteristic sound; hence, in branch I, mainly or exclusively of the sound; in II, of the act of breaking.

  I.  Referring mainly to the sound.

  1.  intr. To make a sharp noise in the act of breaking, or as in breaking; to make a sharp or explosive noise (said of thunder or a cannon (chiefly dial.), a rifle, a whip, etc.).

c. 1000.  Ags. Ps. xlv[i]. 3. Us þuhte for þam ʓeþune, þæt sio eorþe eall cracode.

c. 1205.  Lay., 1875. Banes þer crakeden.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 3568 (Gött.). His heued bigines for to schake … And his bonis for to crac.

c. 1300.  K. Alis., 4438. The speris craketh swithe thikke.

1398.  Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XVI. xciv. (1495), 585. Comyn salt cracketh and sperkleth in fyre.

c. 1400.  Ywaine & Gaw., 370. The thoner fast gan crak.

1535.  Coverdale, Ezek. xxi. 6. Mourne therfore y^t thy loynes crack withall.

1563.  Fulke, Meteors (1640), 23 b. Moist wood that cracketh in the fire.

1621–51.  Burton, Anat. Mel., II. ii. IV. 285. Aurum fulminans which shall … crack lowder then any gunpowder.

1774.  Goldsm., Nat. Hist. (1776), VII. 174. At every twist the bones of the buffalo were heard to crack.

1788.  Trifler, No. xxiv. 309. The whips of the postillions again cracked.

1871.  B. Taylor, Faust (1875), II. 26. Trees … That tumble cracking.

  b.  colloq. To shoot (with fire-arms), fire.

1871.  Standard, 24 Jan., 5/3. Skirmishers went forward and cracked at the retreating foemen.

  2.  trans. To cause (anything, e.g., a whip, one’s thumb) to make a sharp noise.

1647.  R. Stapylton, Juvenal, 45. The carter cracks his whip.

1696.  trans. Du Mont’s Voy. Levant, 275. Waiting-Women … who … crack all the Joynts of their Arms.

1820.  W. Irving, Sketch Bk., II. 55. The post boy cracked his whip incessantly.

1877.  Besant & Rice, Son of Vulc., I. viii. 96. Flourishing his stick, and cracking scornful fingers.

  3.  To strike with a sharp noise; to slap, smack, box. Now dial.

c. 1470.  Harding, Chron. CV. iii. [The] Danes all were … Without mercie cracked vpon the croune.

1852.  Mrs. Stowe, Uncle Tom’s C., I. iv. 45. ‘She oughter cracked me over de head for bein’ so sarcy.’

  b.  Cricket slang. To hit (a ball) hard with the bat.

1882.  Daily Tel., 19 May, 2/7. Ulyett let out at Morley and cracked him hard to the on for a brace of 4’s.

  † 4.  intr. To break wind, crepitum reddere. Obs.

1653.  Urquhart, Rabelais, I. xxi. Then he … belched, cracked, yawned, [etc.]. Ibid. (a. 1693), III. v. 54.

  5.  trans. To utter, pronounce, or tell aloud, briskly, or with éclat; formerly in crack a boast, word, jest; and still in crack a joke.

c. 1315.  Shoreham, 99. Wordes that he craketh.

c. 1386.  Chaucer, Reeve’s T., 81. He crakked boost, and swor it was nat so.

1402.  Hoccleve, Let. of Cupid, 328. Kepe thyn owne what men clappe or crake! Ibid. (a. 1420), De Reg. Princ., 3092. Not a worde dar he crake.

1508.  Fisher, Wks. (1876), 83. Myn enemyes craked and spake many grete wordes.

1596.  Spenser, F. Q., V. iii. 16. And further did uncomely speeches crake [rhyme take].

a. 1637.  B. Jonson, Horace’s Art of P., Wks. (Rtldg.), 733/2. Or crack out bawdy speeches, and unclean.

1721.  Bolingbroke, in Swift’s Lett. (1766), II. 17. He cracked jests.

1753.  Smollett, Ct. Fathom (1784), 211/1. [He] would fain have cracked a joke upon their extraordinary dispatch.

1767.  Babler, I. 265. He … will not even hesitate to crack his indelicate ambiguities upon his children.

1860.  Thackeray, Round. Papers, Thorns in Cush. (1876), 47. Whilst the doctor … cracked his great clumsy jokes upon you.

  6.  intr. To talk big, boast, brag; sometimes, to talk scornfully (of others). Now Obs. or dial.

c. 1460.  Towneley Myst., 111. Hard I never none crak so clere out of toyne.

c. 1470.  Harding, Chron. Ded. viii. Y^e Scottes will aye bee bostyng & crakyng.

a. 1553.  Udall, Royster D., I. i. (Arb.), 12. All the day long is he facing and craking Of his great actes in fighting and fraymaking.

1621–51.  Burton, Anat. Mel., II. iii. II. i. What is it they crake so much of?

1633.  T. Adams, Comm. 2 Peter ii. 1. Thus the ringleaders begin … to crack of their forces.

1702.  C. Mather, Magn. Chr., III. I. i. (1852), 277. One that would much talk and crack of his insight.

1716.  Addison, Drummer, I. i. Thou art always cracking and boasting.

1852.  Carlyle, Lett., in Froude, Life in Lond. (1884), II. xx. 107. My sleep was nothing to crack of.

1855.  E. Waugh, Lanc. Life (1857), 24. That’s naut to crack on.

  † b.  with obj. cl. To boast. Obs.

1545.  Joye, Exp. Dan. ii. C vij b. Thei bosted and craked religiouslye dreames to be shewed and declared of God.

1548.  Hall, Chron. (1809), 181. Lorde how the Flemines bragged, and the Hollanders craked, that Calice should be wonne and all the Englishemen slain.

1621–51.  Burton, Anat. Mel., II. v. I. iii. Which he … crackes to be a most soveraigne remedie.

1677.  Gale, Crt. Gentiles, III. 38. [The Stoics] crack that the duties of Virtue are therefore honest and desirable.

  † c.  trans. (with simple obj.) To boast of. Obs.

1653.  Brevis Disq., in Phenix (1708), II. 318. They continually crake the perpetual Consent of the Fathers.

  7.  intr. To converse briskly and sociably, chat, talk of the news (see the trans. ‘crake a word’ in 5). Sc. and north. dial.

c. 1450.  Henryson, Mor. Fab., 37. As they were crackand in this case … In came the Ȝow, the mother of the Lam.

1529.  Lyndesay, Complaynt, 235. Bot sum to crak, and sum to clatter.

a. 1605.  Montgomerie, Navigatioun, 201. They tuik some curage, and begouth to crak.

1787.  Burns, Twa Dogs, 135. The cantie auld folks crackin crouse.

1821.  Clare, Vill. Minstr., II. 115. He’d many things to crack on with his ale.

1887.  Stevenson, Underwoods, II. iv. 88. ‘Twa o’ them walkin’ an’ crackin’ their lane.’

  8.  trans. Crack up: to praise, eulogize (a person or thing). So to crack into (repute, etc.) colloq.

1844.  Dickens, Mart. Chuz., xxxiii. 392. ‘Our backs is easy ris. We must be cracked-up, or they rises, and we snarls…. You ’d better crack us up, you had!’

1857.  Hughes, Tom Brown, I. vi. Then don’t object to my cracking up the old School House, Rugby.

1884.  American, VII. 334. Mexico … is not what it has been cracked up to be.

1892.  Standard, 1 Jan., 3/3. Unfortunate individuals who are for a time ‘cracked’ into reputation by ill-advised patrons and friends.

  II.  Referring mainly to the breaking indicated by the sound.

  9.  trans. To break anything hard with a sudden sharp report; now chiefly of things hollow, a skull, a nut, etc.

c. 1300.  Havelok, 568. Hise croune he ther crakede Ageyn a gret ston. Ibid., 914. Stickes kan ich breken and kraken.

1393.  Langl., P. Pl., C. XXI. 76. Quikliche cam a cacchepol and craked a-two here legges.

1483.  Cath. Angl., 80. To Crakk nuttes, nucliare.

1553.  Eden, Treat. Newe Ind. (Arb.), 42. To cracke the nutte, he must take the payne.

1599.  Greene, Alphonsus, I. 7. Every coward that durst crack a spear … for his lady’s sake.

1631.  Weever, Anc. Fun. Mon., 50. They crackt a peeces the glasse-windowes.

1859.  Tennyson, Geraint & Enid, 573. Who heaved his blade aloft, And crack’d the helmet thro’, and bit the bone.

1863.  Draper, Intell. Devel. Europe, v. (1865), 111. [Diogenes] taking a louse from his head, cracked it upon her altar.

  † b.  (from fig. use of phr. to crack a nut: see NUT) To puzzle out, make out, solve, discuss. Obs.

1622.  Fletcher, Sp. Curate, II. ii. I’ll come sometimes, and crack a case [at law] with you.

1712.  Swift, To Dr. Sheridan. When with much labour the matter I crackt.

1768.  Wesley, Wks. (1872), XII. 409. Logic you cannot crack without a tutor.

  10.  transf. To get at the contents of (a bottle or other vessel); to empty, drink, ‘discuss.’

? 15[?].  in Ritson, Robin Hood, II. xxxvii. 60. They went to a tavern and there they dined, And bottles cracked most merrilie.

1597.  Shaks., 2 Hen. IV., V. iii. 66. You’l cracke a quart together? Ha, will you not?

1677.  Yarranton, Eng. Improv., 164. And sometimes stay to crack a Pot or two with the good Host.

1749.  Fielding, Tom Jones, VI. ix. When two gentlemen … are cracking a bottle together at some inn.

1775.  Char., in Ann. Reg., 25/2. I think we may venture to crack another bottle.

1851.  Thackeray, Eng. Hum., iii. (1876), 223. [He] bragged about … the number of bottles that he had cracked overnight.

  11.  Thieves’ slang. To break open. To crack a crib: to break into a house.

1725.  New Cant. Dict., Crack, is also used to break open; as, To crack up a Door.

1812.  J. H. Vaux, Flash Dict., Crack, to break open.

1838.  Dickens, O. Twist, xix. The crib’s barred up at night like a jail; but there’s one part we can crack.

1861.  H. Kingsley, Ravenshoe, xxxvii. (D.). If any enterprising burglar had taken it into his head to crack that particular crib known as the Bridge Hotel.

  12.  fig. To break (a vow, promise, etc.). Now dial. To crack tryst (Sc.): to break or prove false to an engagement.

1576.  Fleming, Panopl. Epist., 342. Cracking in sunder the conditions of that covenaunt.

1712.  W. Rogers, Voy., 256. He will crack a Commandment with her, and wipe off the Sin with the Church’s Indulgence.

  † 13.  intr. To snap or split asunder. Obs.

c. 1340.  Cursor M., 7202 (Trin.). Sampson waked of his nap, his bonde dud he al to crak.

a. 1400[?].  Morte Arth., 3269. With corowns of clere golde that krakede in sondire.

1555.  Eden, Decades, 28. The hoopes of his barrels cracked and brake.

1745.  P. Thomas, Jrnl. Anson’s Voy., 21. The Shrouds and other Rigging cracking and flying in Pieces continually.

1868.  Tennyson, Lucretius, 38. All her [Nature’s] bonds Crack’d.

  b.  trans.

1605.  Shaks., Lear, III. ii. 1. Blow windes, and crack your cheeks.

1635.  A. Stafford, Fem. Glory (1869), 148. Till … love-strained cries Crackt her poore heart-strings.

  † 14.  intr. Of persons: To come to a rupture, split, break off negotiations. Obs.

1563–87.  Foxe, A. & M. (1684), III. 301. Upon these two matters they crack.

  15.  fig. To come to pieces, collapse, break down. (Cf. the bank broke.) Now only in racing slang.

1658–9.  Burton’s Diary (1828), III. 99. They came into this House, and voted themselves a Parliament. They acted high in some things, and soon cracked.

1697.  Dryden, Æneid, Ded. (J.). The credit not only of banks but of exchequers cracks, when little comes in, and much goes out.

1884.  Graphic, 13 Sept., 278/1. The first named [of the racing horses] … ‘cracked’ some distance from home.

1891.  Sportsman, 8 July, 8/4. Twice, however, the Dublin crew looked like ‘cracking.’

  16.  intr. To break without complete separation or displacement of parts, as when a fracture or fissure does not extend quite across.

a. 1400.  Cov. Myst., xxxii. 325. For thrust [thirst] asundyr my lyppys gyn crake.

1675.  Salmon, Polygraph., II. xxii. 109. Some Colours as Lake, Umber and others … will crack when they are dry.

1688.  Miége, Fr. Dict., s.v. Crack, These Boards begin to crack.

1660.  Boyle, New Exp. Phys.-Mech., vi. (J.). By misfortune it crack’d in the cooling.

1776.  Withering, Brit. Plants (1796), IV. 243. When full grown the skin cracks and forms little scales.

1832.  G. R. Porter, Porcelain & Gl., 232. With a piece of heated wire … he traces a line upon the globe, and … wetting the line thus traced, the glass will crack and divide along the line.

1855.  Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc., XVI. I. 174. Heat causes these soils to crack.

1874.  Punch, 9 May, 187/2. When the glaze on china-ware cracks, it is said technically to be ‘crazed.’

  17.  trans. To break or fracture (anything) so that the parts still remain in contact but do not cohere. (Often contrasted with break in its full sense.)

1605.  Bp. Hall, Medit. & Vows, I. § 99. Glasses that are once crackt, are soon broken.

a. 1716.  Blackall, Wks. (1723), I. 147. Money … so crack’d or broken that it will no longer pass in Payment.

1845.  D. Jerrold, Mrs. Caudle’s Curtain Lect., xiii. 75. There’s four glasses broke, and nine cracked.

1850.  T. T. Lynch, Theoph. Trinal, xi. 217.

Mod.  The servants say it was cracked before.

  b.  To break into fissures; to fissure, cause to split.

1664.  Evelyn, Kal. Hort. (1729), 226. Look to your Fountain-Pipes … lest the Frosts crack them.

1698.  Keill, Exam. Th. Earth (1734), 73. For a long time after the formation of the Earth till the Sun had crackt the outward crust thereof.

1712.  Swift, Jrnl. to Stella, 9 Oct. The poor old Bishop of London … I think broke or cracked his skull.

1791.  Gentl. Mag., LXI. II. 1056. A … flash of lightning … fell on the round tower of the church … the wall of which it cracked for the space of several feet.

1836.  Macgillivray, trans. Humboldt’s Trav., x. 122. The ground was everywhere cracked and dusty.

  c.  with off: trans. and intr.

1665.  Hooke, Microgr., 43. Small … thick bubbles of Glass … being crack’d off from the Puntilion whilst very hot, and so suffered to cool without nealing.

1824–8.  Landor, Imag. Conv., Wks. (1846), I. 139/1. The varnish that once covered their sharp and shallow character, cracked off in the dogdays of the Revolution.

  18.  trans. To break the musical quality or clearness of (the voice); to render hoarse or dissonant, like a cracked bell. Also intr.

1602.  Marston, Antonio’s Rev., IV. v. I 1 b. He’s hoarce: the poore boyes voice is crackt.

1607.  Shaks., Timon, IV. iii. 153. Cracke the Lawyers voyce, That he may neuer more false Title pleade.

1641.  Milton, Ch. Govt., Wks. 1738, I. 74. With such a scholastical Bur in their throats, as hath … crack’d their voices for ever with metaphysical Gargarisms.

1866.  Kingsley, Herew., II. i. 3–4. The old Viking’s voice, cracked and feeble.

Mod.  He was a fine singer before his voice cracked.

  19.  fig. (from the consequence of cracking the skull): To injure (the brain); to render of unsound mind. Cf. CRACKED 5.

1614.  B. Jonson, Barth. Fair, III. i. Alas, his care will go near to crack him.

1645.  Quarles, Sol. Recant., vii. 7. When wise men turn Oppressors, they have crackt Their understandings in the very Act.

1692.  Locke, Toleration, III. ii. Having crack’d himself with an ungovernable Ambition.

1712.  Steele, Spect., No. 526, ¶ 3. Lest this hard student should … crack his brain with studying.

  20.  To damage (something immaterial) so that it can never again be sound; to ruin virtually.

1590.  Spenser, F. Q., II. i. 12. He lives … Ne yet hath any knight his courage crackt.

1612.  T. Taylor, Comm. Titus iii. 1. Not that we call any man to the cracking of his estate.

1691.  Wood, Ath. Oxon., II. 95. [This] … hath much crak’d his Reputation.

1891.  Spectator, 23 May, 725/1. Natural effect here is only suggested, because full effect would crack the drawing convention.

  b.  esp. in phr. To crack credit.

1567.  Test. K. Henrie Stewart, iv. in Sempill Ballates (1872), 9. Fra credite I crakit … No man wald trow the worde I did say.

1577.  Holinshed, Chron., IV. 246. They had … dealt … contrarie to … the law of armes, and thereby so greatlie cracked their credits.

1677.  Horneck, Gt. Law Consid., iv. 95. He asperses and seeks to crack the credit of this spotless Virgin.

1688.  R. Holme, Armoury, III. 266/2. Trust … not … the Borrower if once or twice he hath cracked his Credit.

  III.  Of sharp or sudden action.

  21.  trans. To move with a stroke or jerk; to ‘whip’ out or on, snatch out, clap on. (colloq.)

a. 1541.  Wyatt, in Froude, Hist. Eng., III. 454. I reached to the letters … but he caught them … and flung them … into the fire. I overthrew him and cracked them out.

1850.  W. B. Clarke, Wreck of ‘Favorite,’ 10. Her commander had cracked on all the canvass she could carry.

  22.  intr. To ‘whip’ on, ‘pelt’ along, travel with speed; Naut. to clap on full sail (colloq.)

1837–40.  Haliburton, Clockm. (1862), 43. He must have cracked on near about as fast as them other geese, the British travellers.

1847.  Illustr. Lond. News, 31 July, 74/2. The trio coming … as hard as they could crack.

1840.  R. H. Dana, Bef. Mast, xxxv. 133. [We] set the flying-jib and crack on to her again.

1867.  Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., To crack on, to carry all sail.

1890.  W. Clark Russell, Ocean Trag., II. xix. 126. I doubt if anything will hinder the Colonel from cracking on when he catches sight of us.