I. crunch 1 /krʌntʃ/ BrE AmE noun
1 . [singular] a noise like the sound of something being crushed:
The only sound was the crunch of tyres on gravel.
2 . [countable, singular] American English a difficult situation caused by a lack of something, especially money or time:
Three new teachers were hired to help ease the crunch.
cash/budget/financial etc crunch
Cost cutting had enabled the organization to survive a previous cash crunch.
3 . the crunch ( also crunch time American English ) an important time, especially one when a difficult decision has to be made:
The crunch came when my bank asked for my credit card back.
When it came to the crunch, she couldn’t agree to marry him.
4 . [countable] an exercise in which you lie on your back and lift your head and shoulders off the ground to make your stomach muscles strong SYN sit-up
II. crunch 2 BrE AmE verb
[ Date: 1800-1900 ; Origin: cranch 'to crunch' (17-19 centuries) , probably from the sound; influenced by munch ]
1 . [intransitive] to make a sound like something being crushed:
Their boots crunched loudly on the frozen snow.
2 . [intransitive always + adverb/preposition, transitive] to eat hard food in a way that makes a noise
crunch on
The dog was crunching on a bone.
3 . crunch (the) numbers to do a lot of calculations in order to find an answer:
The computer will crunch all the numbers to determine the final score.