crack

To form cracks.intransitive

• It's been so dry, the ground is starting to crack.

To break apart under force, stress, or pressure.intransitive

• When I tried to stand on the chair, it cracked.

To become debilitated by psychological pressure.intransitive

• Anyone would crack after being hounded like that.

To break down or yield, especially under interrogation or torture.intransitive

• When we showed him the pictures of the murder scene, he cracked.

To make a cracking sound.intransitive

• The bat cracked with authority and the ball went for six.

To change rapidly in register.intransitive

• His voice cracked with emotion.

To alternate between high and low register in the process of eventually lowering.intransitive

• His voice finally cracked when he was fourteen.

To make a sharply humorous comment.intransitive

• "I would too, with a face like that," she cracked.

To realize that one is transgender.intransitive

• She cracked at age 22 and came out to her friends and family over the next few months.

To make a crack or cracks in.transitive

• The ball cracked the window.

A thin and usually jagged space opened in a previously solid material.countableuncountable

• A large crack had formed in the roadway.

A narrow opening.countableuncountable

• We managed to squeeze through a crack in the rock wall.
• Open the door a crack.

A sharply humorous comment; a wisecrack.countablefigurativelyslang

• I didn't appreciate that crack about my hairstyle.

A flaw, weakness, setback, or insecurity.countablefigurativelyslang

• It’s a fact all those cracks they can hold you back / But there’s a better way (there’s a better way) / Just keep on pushing, keep on pushing, keep on pushing / For a brighter day

Crack cocaine, a potent, relatively cheap, addictive variety of cocaine; often a rock, usually smoked through a crack pipe.countableslanguncountable

• crack head

Something pleasurable (good-tasting or appealing) and habit-forming.broadlycountablefiguratively

• kitty crack
• Her love was crack to me, and I was hooked real bad.

The sharp sound made when solid material breaks.countableonomatopoeicuncountable

• The crack of the falling branch could be heard for miles.

Any sharp sound.countableonomatopoeicuncountable

• The crack of the bat hitting the ball.

A sharp, resounding blow.countableuncountable

• Mrs. Perkins, who has not been for some weeks on speaking terms with Mrs. Piper in consequence for an unpleasantness originating in young Perkins' having "fetched" young Piper "a crack," renews her friendly intercourse on this auspicious oc

An attempt at something.countableslanguncountable

• I'd like to take a crack at that game.

Highly trained and competent.not-comparable

• Even a crack team of investigators would have trouble solving this case.

Excellent, first-rate, superior, top-notch.not-comparable

• She's a crack shot with that rifle.

One who excels; the best, especially a winning racehorse.obsolete

• Stanton had at one time a reputation for inaccessibility, but that has long since become a thing of the past, […] So that the gallops of the cracks' can, in most cases, be regularly watched and their daily doings truthfully chronicled.
• 1st Gent. What dost think, Jockey? / 2nd Gent. The crack o' the field's against you.