CRACK

To break or burst, with or without entire separation of the parts; as, to crack glass; to crack nuts.

To rend with grief or pain; to affect deeply with sorrow; hence, to disorder; to distract; to craze. O, madam, my old hear is cracked. Shak. He thought none poets till their brains were cracked. Roscommon.

To cause to sound suddenly and sharply; to snap; as, to crack a whip.

To utter smartly and sententiously; as, to crack a joke. B. Jonson.

To cry up; to extol; -- followed by up. [Low] 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.]

To burst or open in chinks; to break, with or without quite separating into parts. By misfortune it cracked in the coling. Boyle. The mirror cracked from side to side. Tennyson.

To be ruined or impaired; to fail. [Collog.] The credit . . . of exchequers cracks, when little comes in and much goes out. Dryden.

To utter a loud or sharp, sudden sound. As thunder when the clouds in autumn crack. Shak.

To utter vain, pompous words; to brag; to boast; -- with of. [Archaic.] Ethoipes of their sweet complexion crack. Shak.

A partial separation of parts, with or without a perceptible opening; a chink or fissure; a narrow breach; a crevice; as, a crack in timber, or in a wall, or in glass.

Ropture; flaw; breach, in a moral sense. My love to thee is sound, sans crack or flaw. Shak.

A sharp, sudden sound or report; the sound of anything suddenly burst or broken; as, the crack of a falling house; the crack of thunder; the crack of a whip. Will the stretch out to the crack of doom Shak.

The tone of voice when changed at puberty. Though now our voices Have got the mannish crack. Shak.

Mental flaw; a touch of craziness; partial insanity; as, he has a crack.

A crazy or crack-brained person. [Obs.] I . . . can not get the Parliament to listen to me, who look upon me as a crack and a projector. Addison.

A boast; boasting. [Obs.] "Crack and brags." Burton. "Vainglorius cracks." Spenser.

Breach of chastity. [Obs.] Shak.

A boy, generally a pert, lively boy. [Obs.] Val. 'Tis a noble child. Vir. A crack, madam. Shak.

A brief time; an instant; as, to be with one in a crack. [Eng. & Scot. Colloq.]

Free conversation; friendly chat. [Scot.] What is crack in English . . . Acrack . . . a chat with a good, kindly human heart in it. P. P. Alexander.

Of superior excellence; having qualities to be boasted of. [Colloq.] One of our crack speakers in the Commons. Dickens.