crack

CRACK, verb transitive 1. To rend, break, or burst into chinks; to break partially; to divide the parts a little from each other; as, to crack a board or a rock; or to break without an entire severance of the parts; as, to crack glass, or ice. 2. To break in pieces; as, to crack nuts. 3. To break with grief; to affect deeply; to pain; to torture; as, to crack the heart. We now use break , or rend. 4. To open and drink; as, to crack a bottle of wine. [Low.] 5. To thrust out, or cast with smartness; as, to crack a joke. 6. To snap; to make a sharp sudden noise; as, to crack a whip. 7. To break or destroy. 8. To impair the regular exercise of the intellectual faculties; to disorder; to make crazy; as, to crack the brain. CRACK, verb intransitive 1. To burst; to open in chinks; as, the earth cracks by frost; or to be marred without an opening; as, glass cracks by a sudden application of heat. 2. To fall to ruin, or to be impaired. The credit of the exchequer cracks, when little comes in and much goes out. [Not elegant.] 3. To utter a loud or sharp sudden sound; as, the clouds crack; the whip cracks. 4. To boast; to brag; that is, to utter vain, pompous, blustering words; with of. The Ethiops of their sweet complexion crack [Not elegant.] CRACK, noun [Gr.] 1. A disruption; a chinkor fissure; a narrow breach; a crevice; a partial separation of the parts of a substance, with or without an opening; as a crack in timber, in a wall, or in glass. 2. A burst of sound; a sharp or loud sound, uttered suddenly or with vehemence; the sound of any thing suddenly rent; a violent report; as the crack of a falling house; the crack of a whip. 3. Change of voice in puberty. 4. Craziness of intellect; or a crazy person. 5. A boast, or boaster. [Low.] 6. Breach of chastity; and a prostitute. [Low.] 7. A lad; an instant. [Not used.]