crack

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a usually brief attempt

   The manager took a crack at the problem their employee had been working at.

2. 2
   noun

   a narrow opening

   I opened the window a crack to let the smoke escape.

3. 3
   noun

   a blemish resulting from a break without complete separation of the parts

   there was a crack in the mirror

4. 4
   noun

   a sudden sharp noise

   the crack of a whip

5. 5
   verb

   to break into simpler molecules by means of heat

   The petroleum cracked

6. 6
   verb

   to become fractured

   The screen cracked on my phone.

7. 7
   verb

   to cause to become cracked

   heat and light cracked the back of the leather chair

8. 8
   verb

   to break partially but keep its integrity

   The glass cracked.

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *gerh₂- Proto-Indo-European *gerg-der. Proto-Germanic *krakōną Proto-West Germanic *krakōn Old English cracian Middle English crakken English crack From Middle English crakken, craken, from Old English cracian (“to resound, crack”), from Proto-West Germanic *krakōn, from Proto-Germanic *krakōną (“to crack, crackle, shriek”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gerh₂- (“to resound, cry hoarsely”). Cognate with Scots crak (“to crack”), West Frisian kreakje (“to crack”), Dutch kraken (“to crunch, creak, squeak”), Low German kraken (“to crack”), German krachen (…