GNU Collaborative International Dictionary of English

last match results

Found 3 definitions

1.       
   Crack (krăk), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Cracked (krăkt); p. pr. & vb. n. Cracking.] [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.]
   
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   1. To break or burst, with or without entire separation of the parts; as, “to crack glass; to crack nuts”.
   
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   2. To rend with grief or pain; to affect deeply with sorrow; hence, to disorder; to distract; to craze.
   
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   O, madam, my old heart is cracked. Shak.
   
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   He thought none poets till their brains were cracked. Roscommon.
   
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   3. To cause to sound suddenly and sharply; to snap; as, “to crack a whip”.
   
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   4. To utter smartly and sententiously; as, “to crack a joke”.  B. Jonson.
   
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   5. To cry up; to extol; -- followed by up. [Low]
   
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   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. [Colloq.]
   
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2.       
   cracking n.
   1. the act of cracking something.
   
   Syn. -- fracture, crack.
   
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   2. (Chem.) the process of making lower molecular weight hydrocarbons from heavier hydrocarbons in petroleum, by exposure to heat and catalysts.  It is used to convert heavier alkanes into gasoline, or to improve the octane number of an alkane mixture.
   
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3.       
   cracking adj.  same as groovy, sense 1. [informal]
   
   Syn. -- bang-up, bully, cool, corking, dandy, great, groovy, keen, neat, nifty, not bad(predicate), peachy, slap-up, swell, smashing.
   
   [WordNet 1.5]