CRACK


Meaning of CRACK in English

I. verb

COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES

a clap/crash/crack of thunder (= one extremely loud sound )

Lightning flickered across the sky, followed seconds later by a loud crack of thunder.

a gurgling/whistling/cracking etc noise (= a noise with a particular kind of sound )

The water moved through the pipes with a loud gurgling noise.

at the crack of dawn (= very early in the morning )

I was up at the crack of dawn to get the plane.

break/crack a code (= discover how to understand a code )

The Enigma machine was used to crack the enemy codes.

crack house

crack/collapse/buckle etc under the strain (= become unable to continue normally because of the strain )

They are worried that the court system might collapse under the strain.

cracked...whip

The coachman cracked his whip and the carriage lurched forward.

cracking nuts (= opening them )

We were sitting round the fire cracking nuts .

elite/crack troops (= the best, most skilled or most experienced troops )

The general's headquarters is guarded by crack troops.

glass cracks

Glass will crack if too much pressure is put on it.

ice cracks

We could feel the ice cracking beneath our feet.

sb’s voice breaks/cracks (= becomes higher or unsteady because they are upset )

Her voice broke and she was unable to continue.

seal a joint/crack/opening/gap

A quick way to seal awkward gaps is to use a foam filler.

COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS

■ ADVERB

down

The former general campaigned on two policies: cracking down on crime and tackling corruption.

He adds that there also is a push to crack down on magazines and newspapers that advertise the devices.

Synod members were under pressure to crack down on gay clergy, who were portrayed as leading lives of wild abandon!

Airlines reportedly are cracking down on this thriving but illegal trade.

But conservative lobbying and fears of a voter backlash have prompted the government to crack down .

The authorities have been reluctant to crack down on pachinko for other reasons as well.

The U. S. Department of Labor has cracked down on wage violations in the past four years.

open

After a few minutes he managed to crack open the lock with a kitchen knife.

She refused the porter's offer to crack open the bottle, and settled herself for a long wait.

From 27 February, eight score draws will no longer be enough to crack open the champagne.

up

She'd never get through the ordeal without cracking up completely.

He routinely cuts his assistant in half, then cracks up his audience with a bit of rib-tickling humor.

Whatever happened she mustn't crack up .

When Joseph told it to me, I cracked up .

Janir and Matt were cracking up .

Then I sow one of my colleagues die from a heart attack and two others crack up under the strain.

This concrete path is cracking up under the strain of thousands of paws padding over it.

■ NOUN

bottle

She refused the porter's offer to crack open the bottle , and settled herself for a long wait.

code

But how are we to interpret the symbolism of other cultures; how can we crack their symbolic codes ?

He cracked that code in a hurry!

Once the team has cracked this bidding code , they should be able to subvert it.

Cecil Phillips thrived on the cerebral challenge of cracking Soviet codes .

Paul used his computer to crack the code and continued as before.

What they must do to achieve that is crack the code that enables them to win the big match.

crime

But it's not though they've cracked one big crime ring.

The 1995 law punishes crack cocaine crimes 100 times more severely than powder cocaine crimes, the association said.

The former general campaigned on two policies: cracking down on crime and tackling corruption.

In Wiltshire trading standards officers have made an important breakthrough in cracking the crime .

egg

Drain and refresh immediately in cold water, cracking the egg shells to allow the eggs to cool more quickly. 3.

If ever a sledge hammer had been used to crack an egg , this was the time.

The vulture is manipulating the stone and using it as an extension of its beak to crack the egg .

His notion of cracking an egg is to shoot an atomic blast at it.

He cracked some eggs into a saucepan, adding milk and butter.

The sides of the bus were soon cracking with rocks and eggs .

Brown Owl let me and my friend crack an egg in a bowl.

government

But conservative lobbying and fears of a voter backlash have prompted the government to crack down.

Now the Government has proposed to crack down on mileage allowances by taxing drivers who cover large distances.

head

Leonora flinched as his head cracked painfully against the lintel.

He struck me hard across the mouth so that my head cracked back against the bathroom wall.

The dead man fell backwards, his head cracking against the lap of a stone buddha.

joke

Since the stonemasons were usually allowed to create their own designs, they were also given the freedom to crack good jokes .

I cracked jokes , told stories, performed little tricks with the silverware.

Maxie Carlo must've cracked a joke .

Both laughed delightedly, as if I had cracked some very funny joke .

And he was clean and tidy now, and civil, and could even crack a joke .

Before tempers flared, Dutriz cracked a joke , and talk returned to the news.

When he cracks a joke or whatever he does in front of the class, he just turn round and laugh.

Mike and his robots maintain their sanity by cracking jokes during the movie.

knuckle

Karma Rubbish smokes at the end of the garden, cracking its knuckles to pass the time.

He sighed a lot, stretched his legs, cracked his knuckles .

Dennis put his glass down and cracked his knuckles dramatically.

It felt like he was cracking a knuckle .

Wishart rubbed his hands together, cracking his knuckles as he tried to control his anger.

Between moves he cracked his knuckles .

Tom was trembling, sitting on the edge of a chair cracking his knuckles .

nut

Already highly successful in popular music, dance and commercial television, blacks have found the movies a tougher nut to crack .

Beverley was a tougher nut to crack .

West Ham will be a tough nut to crack especially with big Lee in good form at the moment.

One glance was all it took to realise this was one hard nut to crack - his features still completely impassive.

He who eats the nut must first crack the shell Jeremy Cherfas Walnuts come in hard and convoluted shells.

problem

The consortium's spokesman Chris Rowley claims his group is the only one to have cracked the retuning problem .

Our fishermen had cracked the problem .

But I've cracked the collection problem .

Apple themselves had already cracked the communications problem with the AppleTalk network.

rib

It nicked a lung and probably cracked a rib , but it didn't open the abdomen.

I left my body while he did in my cracked ribs .

He was reported to have also suffered cracked ribs and a broken jaw as a result of the difference of opinion.

Glavine cracked a rib three years ago and missed one start.

Once he had actually cracked her rib .

A couple of weeks later the male chorus danced straight into him, elbows akimbo, and cracked his ribs .

Coulthard, who despite x-rays to the contrary believes he has cracked a rib , made only passing reference to the discomfort.

seal

Bowman cracked the seal , and pressed the button.

shot

Koeman was involved everywhere and cracked in a 35-yard shot which cannoned back off the post after 48 minutes.

He crossed from the left and when Freestone failed to cut out the ball Ryan pounced to crack in a shot .

Beresford fed the ball in to Robert Lee, who turned and cracked a shot against the crossbar.

I still have vivid memories of Chappy bursting between two defenders and cracking a shot against the bar.

skull

You could crack your skull on that intractable stone, or it could scoop out spoonfuls of flesh.

Donlan suffered a cracked skull and his nasal septum was pushed out of place.

He has also cracked his skull and still carries the scar.

If he had smiled a moment sooner Hicks would have cracked his skull .

John Charlton fell heavily, cracking his skull on a kerbstone.

I cracked his skull with a club, and they say it shook his brain loose.

Unfortunately, leaping from my seat in the dugout, I cracked my skull on its roof and the world turned black.

smile

Terence's face went from being startled by his attack to astonishment, then might have cracked into a smile .

The model they kept in mind was the Hewlett-Packard 3000, a minicomputer that had never cracked a smile in its life.

Red cracks a smile and moves on to get her due from the bench.

strain

One of the professional golfers had cracked under the strain yesterday.

The ruling Gaullists and the Communists alike were in danger of cracking under the strain of the May Events.

Then I sow one of my colleagues die from a heart attack and two others crack up under the strain .

This concrete path is cracking up under the strain of thousands of paws padding over it.

voice

Dole himself, his voice cracking , can barely get through his words: This is a great honor for Bob Dole.

The boys' voices had cracked and deepened.

The voice cracked around her like a bullwhip.

My voice almost cracked as I made a little speech thanking them.

Michael Portillo seemed ill at ease, and his voice squeaked and cracked like a choirboy.

But forgive him if his voice cracks or he stumbles over a word.

She said his name, and her voice cracked .

But at 13, his voice cracked .

whip

Then the horn, and a hound yelped briefly as a whip cracked .

Trumpets sounded, drums beat, whips cracked , mules squealed, and teamsters cursed.

The sheeting - you know, the polythene sounded like whips cracking when the wind got into it.

window

Two shots were fired at the wall, cracking the front window .

■ VERB

begin

The international banking system began to crack .

But having so little elasticity, that crust has also begun to crack .

If tortillas begin cracking or breaking as you fold them, briefly heat them to soften.

hear

He could hear the wings cracking , like whips beating the air.

Meanwhile, have you ever heard Payton or Kemp crack a joke?

start

But, three months later, the paint has started to crack and flake.

Now the tunneling goes by, and my building starts cracking and sinking into the ground.

So now your dream starts to crack .

It is a nation with a contented image of itself that could be starting to crack .

try

He has tried to crack down on corruption.

They also have become a popular target for local legislators trying to crack down on gun violence.

I may even try to crack Stanford.

PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES

a hairline crack/fracture

She had a hairline fracture in her leg.

I was worried about a hairline fracture, but luckily it was just a bad lump.

The specialist he consulted on Monday diagnosed a hairline fracture of his right wrist and wants to take another look on Friday.

a hard/tough nut to crack

Daytime television is a tough nut to crack. New shows have to be good enough to beat the old favorites.

Already highly successful in popular music, dance and commercial television, blacks have found the movies a tougher nut to crack.

Beverley was a tougher nut to crack.

West Ham will be a tough nut to crack especially with big Lee in good form at the moment.

give sb a fair crack of the whip

EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES

A few windows cracked from the heat during the fire.

A stone hit the windshield and cracked it.

A strong earthquake cracked buildings in northwest China.

Cowboys cracked their whips as they herded cattle.

Detectives finally cracked the murder case.

Don't put delicate china in the dishwasher - it may crack .

Freeman cracked his skull in the accident.

Give Tom a mathematical puzzle and he'll just keep on trying till he cracks it.

Harding missed seven weeks of baseball practice after cracking a rib.

He slipped and cracked his head on the steps.

Her stiff joints cracked as she got out of her easy chair.

Historians used the Rosetta stone to crack the code of Egyptian hieroglyphics.

Hold the egg in your hand and gently crack the shell with a knife.

I cracked one of the wine glasses when I was washing it.

If I don't get some time off soon, I'll be so stressed I'll crack up.

It's a tough case but I'm determined to crack it.

It's the first time the Spartans have cracked the top 20 in the rankings.

Jim cracked his head on the bottom of the bunkbed.

Mary cracked her knee on the corner of her desk.

Milken's voice cracked on the first word. "Guilty, your honor."

EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS

But forgive him if his voice cracks or he stumbles over a word.

From 27 February, eight score draws will no longer be enough to crack open the champagne.

Hereford usually crack or collapse in the dying minutes.

Koeman was involved everywhere and cracked in a 35-yard shot which cannoned back off the post after 48 minutes.

The international banking system began to crack .

The sheeting - you know, the polythene sounded like whips cracking when the wind got into it.

This would be the day that I finally cracked the North Shore.

II. noun

COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS

■ ADJECTIVE

fine

The glazed surface of the dish was a network of fine cracks .

And it works well, the fine cracks in its surface merely adding to the character of the bass.

Clinging to very fine cracks or imperfections is also out: geckos can cope with polished glass.

Finally we locate the top pitch, a fine crack and poorly protected traverse.

The textured version hides fine surface cracks , and is available in white and three colours.

Griffith therefore postulated that ordinary glass is full of very fine cracks , too small to be seen by any ordinary means.

loud

A strong wind was now blowing and there was a loud crack of thunder.

Just as they reached it, the hinges surrendered and ripped loose with a loud crack .

With a loud splintering crack the canoe broke, ending all hopes of damaging enemy shipping.

The glass exploded with a loud shot-like crack .

sharp

Sometimes a sharp crack and something falling into darkness.

The umbrella fell to the floor with a sharp crack of the ferrule on the tile.

We're used to the sharp cracks of lightning and the belch of thunder issuing from the belly of the sky.

The bomb detonated with a sharp crack , sending tiny but razor-sharp pieces of metal into the backs of the gun crews.

I was telling myself that it would soon be over when I heard a sharp crack .

Her head hit the concrete with a sharp crack .

The battle did not last long, bursts of automatic fire interspersed with the sharp purposeful cracks of single shots.

The sharp crack of the pistol always brought her awake, cold and shivering.

small

A.22 makes only a small crack .

Over time, the surface becomes rougher and small cracks will open.

Make sure that there are no small cracks or openings through which the emerging adult insect can escape.

Golden brown mussels covered the walls of the main fissure and were heaped in mounds over smaller cracks between lobes of lava.

Recently, a small crack appeared in our pedestal hand basin in the bathroom.

thin

Part of its appeal stemmed from the Tom Bass fountain inset into its wall, a long thin crack in the stone.

Perhaps it's just that we don't have enough of those long, thin granite cracks .

tiny

A very tiny crack appeared in Jess's armour.

But a tiny , treacherous crack of doubt had opened in his mind.

She smashed down hard against it with the hammer, and the window shook, tiny cracks appeared like earthquake faults.

There is only a tiny crack of light under the door.

■ NOUN

hairline

The wind still managed to find a way through the hairline crack , whistling eerily around the interior of the freight car.

A hairline crack runs down through the middle of the glass.

■ VERB

appear

However, if cracks do appear , you should try brushing a mixture of peat or compost and coarse sand into them.

When a crack appears in a strained material it will open up a little so that the two faces of the crack are separated.

But it was after he'd given her the ring that the cracks had begun to appear in her façade.

Two rows of pegs decorated her succulent crack , making it appear she had a wooden hedgehog between her legs.

As the salt crust thins, so cracks appear in the surface and the flats begin to break up.

In hot summer weather this frequently happens and, when drying is rapid, hair cracks appear .

fall

It was also harder for students to fall through the cracks .

Still, some children fall through the cracks .

A handful of people fell between the cracks of the Great Divide.

fill

Patches of ice and snow had begun to fill the crack in the ground.

Hot magma from the mantle would rise to the surface to fill in the crack .

Cracked rendering How do you fill cracks in rendering?

Socks and rags filled the cracks under the doors and around the windows.

But whatever he did, the Jaguar was always there, filling any crack in the traffic with stately inevitability.

Most of us assume that government does the important things and voluntary efforts fill in the cracks .

get

In this way the boys in the field still get a crack at the business.

Davis represented a future in which everyone got a crack at the clock.

It was the daylight, what bit that was getting through the cracks of the curtains.

And then by the time they get their first crack at deducing who the polecat is, they will be in custody.

You didn't have to get up at the crack of dawn to work out yardages.

Cardholders get a crack at a jackpot drawing March 7 and other prizes.

Now a huge gash exposes the tree's dark innards, and the wind has got into its cracks .

Do not get mixture into the cracks .

hear

He heard the clean crack of a leg bone but did not lose consciousness.

Corrigan heard the crack of wood.

As Isaacs continued around Hungerford's narrow streets, he heard the crack of gunfire, at about 9.50.

I squeeze the trigger, recoil, smell the metallic smoke, hear the shotgun crack .

Lampard released the brake as soon as he heard the fierce crack of the first grenade.

Constance heard the crack of his skull and his cry of pain.

I was telling myself that it would soon be over when I heard a sharp crack .

She heard the crack of another can opening behind her.

sell

Police recently uncovered a ring that was selling crack through two girls living in the tiny town of Downs, population 620.

show

I had a second X-ray on my injury last week and it showed that the crack had healed.

It was firm in adversity, especially the well-designed addition, which showed no cracks at all.

slip

Fog had slipped through a crack into the ivory tower.

But somehow her name had slipped through some bureaucratic crack .

PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES

a hairline crack/fracture

She had a hairline fracture in her leg.

I was worried about a hairline fracture, but luckily it was just a bad lump.

The specialist he consulted on Monday diagnosed a hairline fracture of his right wrist and wants to take another look on Friday.

a hard/tough nut to crack

Daytime television is a tough nut to crack. New shows have to be good enough to beat the old favorites.

Already highly successful in popular music, dance and commercial television, blacks have found the movies a tougher nut to crack.

Beverley was a tougher nut to crack.

West Ham will be a tough nut to crack especially with big Lee in good form at the moment.

give sb a fair crack of the whip

paper over the cracks

Conversely, if you have been papering over the cracks of a relationship these same eclipses will seek them out.

He did his best to paper over the cracks.

King Birendra enjoyed considerable popularity, which enabled him to paper over the cracks in his divided kingdom.

The private finance initiative has not papered over the cracks, although it has lined plenty of pockets.

EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES

Cracks began to appear in the facade of their perfect family.

As I hit the floor, I heard a loud crack in my arm.

Jagged cracks cut across the thick glass arch over the main entryway.

Shirley has been addicted to crack for four years.

The crack in the bedroom wall seems to be widening.

The branch broke with a sudden crack .

The X-ray showed several cracks in the bone of her left leg.

There are a few cracks in the plaster.

There was a loud crack of thunder as the storm began.

This cup has a crack in it.

EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS

But somehow her name had slipped through some bureaucratic crack .

Even with the car windows left open a crack , the temperature inside can reach 120 degrees in less than 30 minutes.

Goons run rampant; crack is dealt on every corner of the Bronx, and law enforcement is something of a joke.

Long chains of tiny craters on Phobos suggest the drainage of regolith into deep cracks that riddle its interior.

Of course it would be ideal to have a material in which it was impossible to initiate cracks at all.

Then ants would crawl through the cracks in the floor and build a big nest in the middle of the bedroom.

Through the crack under the door I could smell Shelly loud and clear.

Thus mild steel structures, for instance, can generally put up with cracks at least a metre long without breaking.

III. adjective

COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS

■ NOUN

cocaine

An attitude, a tattoo and a supply of crack cocaine .

He was on crack cocaine at the time.

In recent weeks, drugs squad officers have seized quantities of crack cocaine in Gloucester and Stroud.

When he did, the passenger, Jerry Wilson, dropped crack cocaine to the ground.

Arrests for sale or possession of crack cocaine jumped from 41 in 1991 to 119 last year.

A man found at the house, Ronald Lerma, 29, was arrested on suspicion of possessing a crack cocaine pipe.

Information gathered by the national criminal intelligence service reveals a growing use of crack cocaine in the Shire counties.

Like crack cocaine for the soul, Charlie's Angels delivers shameful, addictive, and no doubt tremendously harmful fun.

house

Go to a crack house , Nick, and you can buy anything you want in the way of human flesh.

Dilapidated public schools-their windows covered by protective grilles coexist with crack houses .

Three of the apartments on the first floor were empty, and one was a crack house .

Sometimes it means they help organize marches in front of crack houses .

PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES

a hairline crack/fracture

She had a hairline fracture in her leg.

I was worried about a hairline fracture, but luckily it was just a bad lump.

The specialist he consulted on Monday diagnosed a hairline fracture of his right wrist and wants to take another look on Friday.

a hard/tough nut to crack

Daytime television is a tough nut to crack. New shows have to be good enough to beat the old favorites.

Already highly successful in popular music, dance and commercial television, blacks have found the movies a tougher nut to crack.

Beverley was a tougher nut to crack.

West Ham will be a tough nut to crack especially with big Lee in good form at the moment.

paper over the cracks

Conversely, if you have been papering over the cracks of a relationship these same eclipses will seek them out.

He did his best to paper over the cracks.

King Birendra enjoyed considerable popularity, which enabled him to paper over the cracks in his divided kingdom.

The private finance initiative has not papered over the cracks, although it has lined plenty of pockets.

EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES

She's an accomplished horse rider and a crack shot.

EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS

A man found at the house, Ronald Lerma, 29, was arrested on suspicion of possessing a crack cocaine pipe.

An attitude, a tattoo and a supply of crack cocaine.

In recent weeks, drugs squad officers have seized quantities of crack cocaine in Gloucester and Stroud.

It was undeniably dead. perhaps it had been stunned by a penalty kick from a crack centre-forward.

Like crack cocaine for the soul, Charlie's Angels delivers shameful, addictive, and no doubt tremendously harmful fun.

When he did, the passenger, Jerry Wilson, dropped crack cocaine to the ground.

Longman DOCE5 Extras English vocabulary.      Дополнительный английский словарь Longman DOCE5.