transcription, транскрипция: [ krʌntʃ ]
( crunches, crunching, crunched)
1.
If you crunch something hard, such as a sweet, you crush it noisily between your teeth.
She sucked an ice cube into her mouth, and crunched it loudly...
Richard crunched into the apple.
VERB : V n , V into/on n
2.
If something crunches or if you crunch it, it makes a breaking or crushing noise, for example when you step on it.
A piece of china crunched under my foot...
He crunched the sheets of paper in his hands.
= scrunch
VERB : V , V n
•
Crunch is also a noun.
She heard the crunch of tires on the gravel driveway.
N-COUNT ; SOUND
3.
If you crunch across a surface made of very small stones, you move across it causing it to make a crunching noise.
I crunched across the gravel.
...wheels crunching over a stony surface.
VERB : V prep / adv , V prep / adv
4.
You can refer to an important time or event, for example when an important decision has to be made, as the crunch .
He can rely on my support when the crunch comes...
The Prime Minister is expected to call a crunch meeting on Monday.
N-SING : usu the N , oft N n
•
If you say that something will happen if or when it comes to the crunch , you mean that it will happen if or when the time comes when something has to be done.
If it comes to the crunch, I’ll resign over this.
PHRASE : V inflects
5.
To crunch numbers means to do a lot of calculations using a calculator or computer.
I pored over the books with great enthusiasm, often crunching the numbers until 1:00 a.m.
VERB : V n
6.
A situation in which a business or economy has very little money can be referred to as a crunch . ( BUSINESS )
...a financial crunch that could threaten the company’s future.
= crisis
N-COUNT : usu supp N