v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Cracked p. pr. & vb. n. Cracking. ] [ OE. cracken, craken, to crack, break, boast, AS. cracian, cearcian, to crack; akin to D. kraken, G. krachen; cf. Skr. garj to rattle, or perh. of imitative origin. Cf. Crake, Cracknel, Creak. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. To break or burst, with or without entire separation of the parts; as, to crack glass; to crack nuts. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To rend with grief or pain; to affect deeply with sorrow; hence, to disorder; to distract; to craze. [ 1913 Webster ]

O, madam, my old heart is cracked. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

He thought none poets till their brains were cracked. Roscommon. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To cause to sound suddenly and sharply; to snap; as, to crack a whip. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To utter smartly and sententiously; as, to crack a joke. B. Jonson. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. To cry up; to extol; -- followed by up. [ Low ] [ 1913 Webster ]

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. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. 1. To burst or open in chinks; to break, with or without quite separating into parts. [ 1913 Webster ]

By misfortune it cracked in the coling. Boyle. [ 1913 Webster ]

The mirror cracked from side to side. Tennyson. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To be ruined or impaired; to fail. [ Collog. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

The credit . . . of exchequers cracks, when little comes in and much goes out. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To utter a loud or sharp, sudden sound. [ 1913 Webster ]

As thunder when the clouds in autumn crack. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To utter vain, pompous words; to brag; to boast; -- with of. [ Archaic. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Ethoipes of their sweet complexion crack. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. 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. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Rupture; flaw; breach, in a moral sense. [ 1913 Webster ]

My love to thee is sound, sans crack or flaw. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. 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. [ 1913 Webster ]

Will the stretch out to the crack of doom? Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. The tone of voice when changed at puberty. [ 1913 Webster ]

Though now our voices
Have got the mannish crack. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. Mental flaw; a touch of craziness; partial insanity; as, he has a crack. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. A crazy or crack-brained person. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

I . . . can not get the Parliament to listen to me, who look upon me as a crack and a projector. Addison. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. A boast; boasting. [ Obs. ] “Crack and brags.” Burton. “Vainglorius cracks.” Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

8. Breach of chastity. [ Obs. ] Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

9. A boy, generally a pert, lively boy. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Val. 'T is a noble child. Vir. A crack, madam. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

10. A brief time; an instant; as, to be with one in a crack. [ Eng. & Scot. Colloq. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

11. Free conversation; friendly chat. [ Scot. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

What is crack in English? . . . A crack is . . . a chat with a good, kindly human heart in it. P. P. Alexander. [ 1913 Webster ]

12. a witty remark; a wisecrack. [ PJC ]

13. a chance or opportunity to do something; an attempt; as, I'll take a crack at it. [ PJC ]

14. a form of cocaine, highly purified and prepared as small pellets, especially suitable for smoking; -- also called rock. Used in this form it appears to be more addicting than cocaine powder. [ slang ] [ PJC ]

a. Of superior excellence; having qualities to be boasted of; as, a crack shot. [ Colloq. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

One of our crack speakers in the Commons. Dickens. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Now usually spelled crackerjack. ] [ prob. from crack + jack, a man. ] 1. An individual of marked ability or excellence, esp. in some sport; as, he is a crackajack at tennis. [ Slang ] [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

2. A preparation of popped corn, candied and pressed into small cakes. [ U. S. ] [ Webster 1913 Suppl. +PJC ]

a. [ Now usually spelled crackerjack. ] Of marked ability or excellence. [ Slang ] [ Webster 1913 Suppl. +PJC ]

{ n. Also }. A kind of gambling game consisting in pitching coins to or towards the ceiling of a room so that they shall fall as near as possible to a certain crack in the floor. [ Gamblers' Cant, U. S. ] [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

a. Having an impaired intellect; whimsical; extremely foolish; crazy; as, crackbrained notions. Pope.
Syn. -- idiotic. [ 1913 Webster + WordNet 1.5 +PJC ]

a. 1. Coarsely ground or broken; as, cracked wheat. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Crack-brained. [ Colloq. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. One who, or that which, cracks. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A noisy boaster; a swaggering fellow. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

What cracker is this same that deafs our ears? Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A small firework, consisting of a little powder inclosed in a thick paper cylinder with a fuse, and exploding with a sharp noise; -- usually called firecracker. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. A thin, dry biscuit, often hard or crisp; as, a Boston cracker; a Graham cracker; a soda cracker; an oyster cracker. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. A nickname to designate a poor white in some parts of the Southern United States. Bartlett. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. (Zool.) The pintail duck. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. pl. (Mach.) A pair of fluted rolls for grinding caoutchouc. Knight. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. characteristic of country life; as, cracker-barrel philosophy.
Syn. -- folksy, homespun. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. a creeping red-berried perenial herb (Cornus canadensis) distinguished by clustered leaf whorls at tips of shoots; Greenland to Alaska.
Syn. -- bunchberry, dwarf cornel, pudding berry, Cornus canadensis. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. [ also spelled crackerjack. ] [ prob. from crack + jack, a man. ] 1. An individual of marked ability or excellence, esp. in some sport; as, he is a crackajack at tennis. [ Slang ]
Syn. -- jimdandy, jimhickey. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. +PJC ]

2. A preparation of popped corn, candied and pressed into small cakes. The name Cracker Jack(TM) is now a trademark for a similar confection. [ U. S. ] [ Webster 1913 Suppl. +PJC ]

3. something excellent of its kind.
Syn. -- jimdandy, jimhickey. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

a. [ also spelled crackajack. ] Of marked ability or excellence. [ Slang ] [ Webster 1913 Suppl. +PJC ]

adj. crazy. [ informal or slang ]
Syn. -- balmy, barmy, bats, batty, bonkers, buggy, cracked, daft, dotty, fruity, haywire, kooky, kookie, loco, loony, loopy, nuts, nutty, wacky. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

. Georgia; -- a nickname. See Cracker, n. 5. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. 1. the act of cracking something.
Syn. -- fracture, crack. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

2. (Chem.) the process of making lower molecular weight hydrocarbons from heavier hydrocarbons in petroleum, by exposure to heat and catalysts. It is used to convert heavier alkanes into gasoline, or to improve the octane number of an alkane mixture. [ PJC ]

adj. same as groovy, sense 1. [ informal ]
Syn. -- bang-up, bully, cool, corking, dandy, great, groovy, keen, neat, nifty, not bad(predicate), peachy, slap-up, swell, smashing. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

v. i. [ Dim. of crack. ] To make slight cracks; to make small, sharp, sudden noises, rapidly or frequently repeated; to crepitate; as, burning thorns crackle. [ 1913 Webster ]

The unknown ice that crackles underneath them. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. The noise of slight and frequent cracks or reports; a crackling. [ 1913 Webster ]

The crackle of fireworks. Carlyle. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Med.) A kind of crackling sound or râle, heard in some abnormal states of the lungs; as, dry crackle; moist crackle. Quain. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Fine Arts) A condition produced in certain porcelain, fine earthenware, or glass, in which the glaze or enamel appears to be cracked in all directions, making a sort of reticulated surface; as, Chinese crackle; Bohemian crackle. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. (Fine Arts) Covered with minute cracks in the glaze; -- said of some kinds of porcelain and fine earthenware. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. See Crackle, n., 3. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. The making of small, sharp cracks or reports, frequently repeated. [ 1913 Webster ]

As the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of the fool. Eccl. vii. 6. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The well-browned, crisp rind of roasted pork. [ 1913 Webster ]

For the first time in his life he tested crackling. Lamb. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. pl. Food for dogs, made from the refuse of tallow melting. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. craquelin, fr. D. krakeling, fr. krakken to crack. See Crack, v. t. ] A hard brittle cake or biscuit. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. a whimsically eccentric person.
Syn. -- crank, nut, nutcase, screwball. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n., pl. Cracksmen A burglar. [ Slang ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A small explosive device consisting of a paper or cardboard cylinder having only sufficient explosive mixture to make a loud bang, ignited by a short fuse, and used mostly as an entertainment or in celebrations. Same as Cracker., n., 3. [ 1913 Webster +PJC ]

n. [ OE., a spruce and pert pretender, also, a spruce girl, prob. fr. gim + crack lad, boaster. ] A trivial mechanism; a device. Arbuthnot. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A toy; a pretty thing; an ornamental object of no great value.
Syn. -- trinket, gewgaw, knickknack, tchotchke. [ WordNet 1.5 +PJC ]

n. Ornamental objects of no great value.
Syn. -- falderal, folderol, frills, nonsense, trumpery, trinkets, gewgaws, knickknacks, tchotchkes. [ WordNet 1.5 +PJC ]

a. Half-demented; half-witted. [ Colloq. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. See Gimcrack. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. An instrument for cracking nuts. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Zool.) (a) A European bird (Nucifraga caryocatactes), allied to the magpie and crow. Its color is dark brown, spotted with white. It feeds on nuts, seeds, and insects. (b) The American, or Clarke's, nutcracker (Picicorvus Columbianus) of Western North America. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who breaks jests; a joker. [ Obs. ] Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.) The nuthatch. [ Prov. Eng. ] [ 1913 Webster ]