v. phr. , informal To let a smile show on one's face; permit a smile to appear. Bob told the whole silly story without even cracking a smile. Scrooge was a gloomy man, who never cracked a smile. When we gave the shy little boy an ice cream cone, he finally cracked a smile.
CRACK A SMILE
Meaning of CRACK A SMILE in English
American idioms English vocabulary. Английский словарь американских идиом. 2012