Crack vs Tear - What's the difference?
crack | tear |
(senseid)To form cracks.
To break apart under pressure.
To become debilitated by psychological pressure.
To break down or yield, especially under interrogation or torture.
To make a cracking sound.
(of a voice) To change rapidly in register.
(of a pubescent boy's voice) To alternate between high and low register in the process of eventually lowering.
To make a sharply humorous comment.
To make a crack or cracks in.
To break open or crush to small pieces by impact or stress.
To strike forcefully.
To open slightly.
To cause to yield under interrogation or other pressure. (Figurative )
To solve a difficult problem.
To overcome a security system or a component.
To cause to make a sharp sound.
* 2001 , Doug McGuinn, The Apple Indians
To tell (a joke).
(transitive, chemistry, informal) To break down (a complex molecule), especially with the application of heat: to pyrolyse.
(computing) To circumvent software restrictions such as regional coding or time limits.
(informal) To open a canned beverage, or any packaged drink or food.
(obsolete) To brag, boast.
*, II.4.1.v:
* Shakespeare
(archaic, colloquial) To be ruined or impaired; to fail.
* Dryden
(senseid)A thin and usually jagged space opened in a previously solid material.
A narrow opening.
* {{quote-news
, year=2011
, date=January 25
, author=Phil McNulty
, title=Blackpool 2 - 3 Man Utd
, work=BBC
A sharply humorous comment; a wisecrack.
A potent, relatively cheap, addictive variety of cocaine; often a rock, usually smoked through a crack-pipe.
* (rfdate) :
(onomatopoeia) The sharp sound made when solid material breaks.
(onomatopoeia) Any sharp sound.
* {{quote-news
, year=2011
, date=June 28
, author=Piers Newbery
, title=Wimbledon 2011: Sabine Lisicki beats Marion Bartoli
, work=BBC Sport
(informal) An attempt at something.
(vulgar, slang) vagina.
(vulgar) The space between the buttocks.
(Northern England, Scotland, Ireland) Conviviality; fun; good conversation, chat, gossip, or humourous storytelling; good company.
* 2001 , William F. Gray, The Villain , iUniverse, p. 214:
* 2004 , Bill Griffiths, Dictionary of North East Dialect , Northumbria University Press (quoting Dunn, 1950)
* 2006 , Patrick McCabe, Winterwood , Bloomsbury 2007, p. 10:
(Northern England, Scotland, Ireland) Business/events/news
(computing) A program or procedure designed to circumvent restrictions or usage limits on software.
(Cumbria, elsewhere throughout the North of the UK) a meaningful chat.
(Internet slang) Extremely silly, absurd or off-the-wall ideas or prose.
The tone of voice when changed at puberty.
* Shakespeare
(archaic) A mental flaw; a touch of craziness; partial insanity.
(archaic) A crazy or crack-brained person.
* Addison
(obsolete) A boast; boasting.
* Burton
* Shakespeare
(obsolete) Breach of chastity.
(obsolete) A boy, generally a pert, lively boy.
* Shakespeare
(slang, dated, UK) A brief time; an instant; a jiffy.
Highly trained and competent.
Excellent, first-rate, superior, top-notch.
To rend (a solid material) by holding or restraining in two places and pulling apart, whether intentionally or not; to destroy or separate.
* 1856 : (Gustave Flaubert), (Madame Bovary), Part III Chapter XI, translated by Eleanor Marx-Aveling
To injure as if by pulling apart.
To cause to lose some kind of unity or coherence.
*
, title= To make (an opening) with force or energy.
To remove by tearing.
To demolish
To become torn, especially accidentally.
To move or act with great speed, energy, or violence.
To smash or enter something with great force.
A hole or break caused by tearing.
A drop of clear, salty liquid produced from the eyes by crying or irritation.
* {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
, chapter=6 Something in the form of a transparent drop of fluid matter; also, a solid, transparent, tear-shaped drop, as of some balsams or resins.
* Dryden
That which causes or accompanies tears; a lament; a dirge.
* Milton
In intransitive terms the difference between crack and tear
is that crack is to make a sharply humorous comment while tear is to produce tears.In transitive terms the difference between crack and tear
is that crack is to tell (a joke) while tear is to make (an opening) with force or energy.As an adjective crack
is highly trained and competent.crack
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) crakken, craken, from (etyl) .Verb
(en verb)- It's been so dry, the ground is starting to crack .
- When I tried to stand on the chair, it cracked .
- Anyone would crack after being hounded like that.
- When we showed him the pictures of the murder scene, he cracked .
- The bat cracked with authority and the ball went for six.
- His voice cracked with emotion.
- His voice finally cracked when he was fourteen.
- "I would too, with a face like that," she cracked .
- The ball cracked the window.
- You'll need a hammer to crack a black walnut.
- She cracked him over the head with her handbag.
- Could you please crack the window?
- They managed to crack him on the third day.
- I've finally cracked it, and of course the answer is obvious in hindsight.
- It took a minute to crack''' the lock, three minutes to '''crack''' the security system, and about twenty minutes to ' crack the safe.
- They finally cracked the code.
- to crack a whip
- Hershell cracked his knuckles, a nervous habit that drove Inez crazy
- The performance was fine until he cracked that dead baby joke.
- Acetone is cracked to ketene and methane at 700°C.
- That software licence will expire tomorrow unless we can crack it.
- I'd love to crack open a beer .
- Cardan cracks that he can cure all diseases with water alone, as Hippocrates of old did most infirmities with one medicine.
- Ethoipes of their sweet complexion crack .
- The creditof exchequers cracks , when little comes in and much goes out.
Derived terms
* bumcrack * crack a crib * crack a fat * crack baby * crack down * cracked * cracker * crack house * crack kills * crack of dawn * crack on * crack seed * crack up * crack whore * fall between the cracks * difficult nut to crack * hard nut to crack * tough nut to crack * what's the crack * wisecrackNoun
(en noun)- A large crack had formed in the roadway.
- We managed to squeeze through a crack in the rock wall.
- Open the door a crack .
citation, page= , passage=Dimitar Berbatov found the first cracks in the home side's resilience when he pulled one back from close range and Hernandez himself drew the visitors level with a composed finish three minutes later as Bloomfield Road's earlier jubilation turned to despair. }}
- I didn't appreciate that crack about my hairstyle.
- I wouldn't use it, if I was going to use it I can afford real cocaine. Crack is wack.
- The crack of the falling branch could be heard for miles.
- The crack of the bat hitting the ball.
citation, page= , passage=She broke to love in the opening game, only for Bartoli to hit straight back in game two, which was interrupted by a huge crack of thunder that made Lisicki jump and prompted nervous laughter from the 15,000 spectators.}}
- I'd like to take a crack at that game.
- I'm so horny even the crack of dawn isn't safe!
- Pull up your pants! Your crack is showing.
- Being a native of Northumberland, she was enjoying their banter and Geordie good humour. This was what she needed — good company and good crack .
- "his a bit o' good crack — interesting to talk to"
- By the time we've got a good drunk on us there'll be more crack in this valley than the night I pissed on the electric fence!
- The crack was good.
- That was good crack .
- He/she is quare good crack .
- The party was great crack .
- What's the crack ?
- Has anyone got a crack for DocumentWriter 3.0?
- Though now our voices / Have got the mannish crack .
- He has a crack .
- I can not get the Parliament to listen to me, who look upon me as a crack and a projector.
- crack and brags
- vainglorious cracks
- (Shakespeare)
- - 'Tis a noble child.
- A crack , madam.
- I'll be with you in a crack .
Usage notes
* In the last few decades the word has been adopted into Gaelic; as there is no "k" in the Irish language the spelling (craic) has been devised.Synonyms
* bum crack (UK), arse crack (UK), ass crack (US) * (cocaine that is heat-altered at the moment of inhalation) crack cocaineEtymology 2
1793 slang, of originAdjective
(-)- Even a crack team of investigators would have trouble solving this case.
- She's a crack shot with that rifle.
Derived terms
* crack train * crack troopstear
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) (m), from (etyl) .Verb
- He suffered, poor man, at seeing her so badly dressed, with laceless boots, and the arm-holes of her pinafore torn down to the hips; for the charwoman took no care of her.
Mr. Pratt's Patients, chapter=1 , passage=Then there came a reg'lar terror of a sou'wester same as you don't get one summer in a thousand, and blowed the shanty flat and ripped about half of the weir poles out of the sand. We spent consider'ble money getting 'em reset, and then a swordfish got into the pound and tore the nets all to slathers, right in the middle of the squiteague season.}}
Synonyms
* (break) rend, rip * (remove by tearing) rip out, tear off, tear outNoun
(en noun)- A small tear is easy to mend, if it is on the seam.
Derived terms
* wear and tearDerived terms
* tearsheetEtymology 2
From (etyl) (m), (m), (m), (m), from (etyl) .Noun
(wikipedia tear) (en noun)citation, passage=‘[…] I remember a lady coming to inspect St. Mary's Home where I was brought up and seeing us all in our lovely Elizabethan uniforms we were so proud of, and bursting into tears all over us because “it was wicked to dress us like charity children”. […]’.}}
- Let Araby extol her happy coast, / Her fragrant flowers, her trees with precious tears .
- some melodious tear
