crush

1. 1

   A violent collision or compression; a crash; destruction; ruin.countableuncountable

   • The more highly the injured part is endowed with sensory nerves the more marked is the shock; a crush of the hand, for example, is attended with a more intense degree of shock than a correspondingly severe crush of the foot
2. 2

   Violent pressure, as of a moving crowd.countableuncountable

3. 3

   A violent crowding.countableuncountable

4. 4

   A crowd that produces uncomfortable pressure.countableuncountable

   • a crush at a reception
5. 5

   A group or gang.countableslanguncountable

   • Then there was another set who called themselves the "Ragged Thirteen"; and the account says "they looked it." And, like most diggers, this "crush," to quote my authority, could handle the cards a bit.
6. 6

   A crowd control barrier.countableuncountable

7. 7

   A drink made by squeezing the juice out of fruit.countableuncountable

   • "Look," said Crabbe, warm orange crush in his hand.
8. 8

   An infatuation with somebody one is not dating.countableinformaluncountable

   • I've had a huge crush on her since we met many years ago.
9. 9

   An infatuation with somebody one is not dating.; The human object of such infatuation or affection.broadlycountableinformal

   • He took his crush out for dinner.
10. 10

    A standing stock or cage with movable sides used to restrain livestock for safe handling.countableuncountable

1. 1

   To press between two hard objects; to squeeze so as to alter the natural shape or integrity, or to force together into a mass.

   • to crush grapes
2. 2

   To reduce to fine particles by pounding or grinding.

   • to crush quartz
3. 3

   To overwhelm by pressure or weight.figuratively

   • After the corruption scandal, the opposition crushed the ruling party in the elections
4. 4

   To do impressively well at (sports events; performances; interviews; etc.).colloquialfiguratively

   • They had a gig recently at Madison Square—totally crushed it!
5. 5

   To oppress or grievously burden.

6. 6

   To overcome completely; to subdue totally.

   • The sultan's black guard crushed every resistance bloodily.
7. 7

   To be or become broken down or in, or pressed into a smaller volume or area, by external weight or force.intransitive

   • an eggshell crushes easily
8. 8

   To feel infatuation or unrequited love.intransitivetransitive

   • She's crushing on him.
9. 9

   To give a compressed or foreshortened appearance to.

   • He frames his subject in distant close-ups (we feel the distance, due mostly to the crushed perspective brought about by the telephoto lens).
   • They realise that trajectories, space expansion and crushing are different with different lenses, whether wide angle or telephoto, and that actors' eyelines will be altered.
10. 10

    To make certain colors so similar as to be hard to distinguish, either as a deliberate effect or as a limitation of a display.transitive

    • My old TV set crushes the blacks when the brightness is lowered.

syn. pulverise · slay at · kill