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Crack vs Cross - What's the difference?

crack | cross |

As a verb crack

is (senseid)to form cracks.

As a noun crack

is (senseid)a thin and usually jagged space opened in a previously solid material.

As an adjective crack

is highly trained and competent.

As a proper noun cross is

for someone who lived near a stone cross on a road.

crack

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) crakken, craken, from (etyl) .

Verb

(en verb)
  • (senseid)To form cracks.
  • It's been so dry, the ground is starting to crack .
  • To break apart under pressure.
  • When I tried to stand on the chair, it cracked .
  • To become debilitated by psychological pressure.
  • Anyone would crack after being hounded like that.
  • To break down or yield, especially under interrogation or torture.
  • When we showed him the pictures of the murder scene, he cracked .
  • To make a cracking sound.
  • The bat cracked with authority and the ball went for six.
  • (of a voice) To change rapidly in register.
  • His voice cracked with emotion.
  • (of a pubescent boy's voice) To alternate between high and low register in the process of eventually lowering.
  • His voice finally cracked when he was fourteen.
  • To make a sharply humorous comment.
  • "I would too, with a face like that," she cracked .
  • To make a crack or cracks in.
  • The ball cracked the window.
  • To break open or crush to small pieces by impact or stress.
  • You'll need a hammer to crack a black walnut.
  • To strike forcefully.
  • She cracked him over the head with her handbag.
  • To open slightly.
  • Could you please crack the window?
  • To cause to yield under interrogation or other pressure. (Figurative )
  • They managed to crack him on the third day.
  • To solve a difficult problem.
  • I've finally cracked it, and of course the answer is obvious in hindsight.
  • To overcome a security system or a component.
  • 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 cause to make a sharp sound.
  • to crack a whip
  • * 2001 , Doug McGuinn, The Apple Indians
  • Hershell cracked his knuckles, a nervous habit that drove Inez crazy
  • To tell (a joke).
  • The performance was fine until he cracked that dead baby joke.
  • (transitive, chemistry, informal) To break down (a complex molecule), especially with the application of heat: to pyrolyse.
  • Acetone is cracked to ketene and methane at 700°C.
  • (computing) To circumvent software restrictions such as regional coding or time limits.
  • That software licence will expire tomorrow unless we can crack it.
  • (informal) To open a canned beverage, or any packaged drink or food.
  • I'd love to crack open a beer .
  • (obsolete) To brag, boast.
  • *, II.4.1.v:
  • Cardan cracks that he can cure all diseases with water alone, as Hippocrates of old did most infirmities with one medicine.
  • * Shakespeare
  • Ethoipes of their sweet complexion crack .
  • (archaic, colloquial) To be ruined or impaired; to fail.
  • * Dryden
  • 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 * wisecrack

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (senseid)A thin and usually jagged space opened in a previously solid material.
  • A large crack had formed in the roadway.
  • A narrow opening.
  • We managed to squeeze through a crack in the rock wall.
    Open the door a crack .
  • * {{quote-news
  • , year=2011 , date=January 25 , author=Phil McNulty , title=Blackpool 2 - 3 Man Utd , work=BBC 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. }}
  • A sharply humorous comment; a wisecrack.
  • I didn't appreciate that crack about my hairstyle.
  • A potent, relatively cheap, addictive variety of cocaine; often a rock, usually smoked through a crack-pipe.
  • * (rfdate) :
  • I wouldn't use it, if I was going to use it I can afford real cocaine. Crack is wack.
  • (onomatopoeia) The sharp sound made when solid material breaks.
  • The crack of the falling branch could be heard for miles.
  • (onomatopoeia) Any sharp sound.
  • The crack of the bat hitting the ball.
  • * {{quote-news
  • , year=2011 , date=June 28 , author=Piers Newbery , title=Wimbledon 2011: Sabine Lisicki beats Marion Bartoli , work=BBC Sport 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.}}
  • (informal) An attempt at something.
  • I'd like to take a crack at that game.
  • (vulgar, slang) vagina.
  • I'm so horny even the crack of dawn isn't safe!
  • (vulgar) The space between the buttocks.
  • Pull up your pants! Your crack is showing.
  • (Northern England, Scotland, Ireland) Conviviality; fun; good conversation, chat, gossip, or humourous storytelling; good company.
  • * 2001 , William F. Gray, The Villain , iUniverse, p. 214:
  • Being a native of Northumberland, she was enjoying their banter and Geordie good humour. This was what she needed — good company and good crack .
  • * 2004 , Bill Griffiths, Dictionary of North East Dialect , Northumbria University Press (quoting Dunn, 1950)
  • "his a bit o' good crack — interesting to talk to"
  • * 2006 , Patrick McCabe, Winterwood , Bloomsbury 2007, p. 10:
  • 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 .
  • (Northern England, Scotland, Ireland) Business/events/news
  • What's the crack ?
  • (computing) A program or procedure designed to circumvent restrictions or usage limits on software.
  • Has anyone got a crack for DocumentWriter 3.0?
  • (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
  • Though now our voices / Have got the mannish crack .
  • (archaic) A mental flaw; a touch of craziness; partial insanity.
  • He has a crack .
  • (archaic) A crazy or crack-brained person.
  • * Addison
  • I can not get the Parliament to listen to me, who look upon me as a crack and a projector.
  • (obsolete) A boast; boasting.
  • * Burton
  • crack and brags
  • * Shakespeare
  • vainglorious cracks
  • (obsolete) Breach of chastity.
  • (Shakespeare)
  • (obsolete) A boy, generally a pert, lively boy.
  • * Shakespeare
  • - 'Tis a noble child.
    - A crack , madam.
  • (slang, dated, UK) A brief time; an instant; a jiffy.
  • 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 cocaine

    Etymology 2

    1793 slang, of origin

    Adjective

    (-)
  • Highly trained and competent.
  • Even a crack team of investigators would have trouble solving this case.
  • Excellent, first-rate, superior, top-notch.
  • She's a crack shot with that rifle.
    Derived terms
    * crack train * crack troops

    cross

    English

    Noun

    (es)
  • A geometrical figure consisting of two straight lines or bars intersecting each other such that at least one of them is bisected by the other.
  • Put a cross for a wrong answer and a tick for a right one.
  • (heraldiccharge) Any geometric figure having this or a similar shape, such as a cross of Lorraine or a Maltese cross.
  • A wooden post with a perpendicular beam attached and used (especially in the Roman Empire) to execute criminals (by crucifixion).
  • Criminals were commonly executed on a wooden cross .
  • (usually with the) The cross on which Christ was crucified.
  • A hand gesture made by Catholics in imitation of the shape of the Cross.
  • She made the cross after swearing.
  • * Sir Walter Scott
  • Before the cross has waned the crescent's ray.
  • * Cowper
  • 'Tis where the cross is preached.
  • (Christianity) A modified representation of the crucifixion stake, worn as jewellery or displayed as a symbol of religious devotion.
  • She was wearing a cross on her necklace.
  • (figurative, from Christ's bearing of the cross ) A difficult situation that must be endured.
  • It's a cross I must bear.
  • * Ben Jonson
  • Heaven prepares a good man with crosses .
  • The act of going across; the act of passing from one side to the other
  • A quick cross of the road.
  • (biology) An animal or plant produced by crossbreeding or cross-fertilization.
  • (by extension) A hybrid of any kind.
  • * Lord Dufferin
  • Toning down the ancient Viking into a sort of a cross between Paul Jones and Jeremy Diddler
  • (boxing) A hook thrown over the opponent's punch.
  • (football) A pass in which the ball travels from by one touchline across the pitch.
  • * {{quote-news
  • , year=2010 , date=December 29 , author=Chris Whyatt , title=Chelsea 1 - 0 Bolton , work=BBC citation , page= , passage=And Stamford Bridge erupted with joy as Florent Malouda slotted in a cross from Drogba, who had stayed just onside. }}
  • A place where roads intersect and lead off in four directions; a crossroad (common in UK and Irish place names such as Gerrards Cross ).
  • A monument that marks such a place. (Also common in UK or Irish place names such as Charing Cross )
  • (obsolete) A coin stamped with the figure of a cross, or that side of such a piece on which the cross is stamped; hence, money in general.
  • * Shakespeare
  • I should bear no cross if I did bear you; for I think you have no money in your purse.
  • (obsolete, Ireland) Church lands.
  • A line drawn across or through another line.
  • (surveying) An instrument for laying of offsets perpendicular to the main course.
  • A pipe-fitting with four branches whose axes usually form a right angle.
  • (Rubik's Cube) Four edge cubies of one side that are in their right places, forming the shape of a cross.
  • Synonyms

    * (production of cross-breeding or -fertilization) hybrid * (cross on which Christ was crucified) True Cross

    Derived terms

    * Celtic cross * crossroads * cross-stitch * double cross * fiery cross * Latin cross * left cross * Maltese cross * Saint Andrew's cross * * True Cross * right cross

    Adjective

    (er)
  • Transverse; lying across the main direction.
  • At the end of each row were cross benches which linked the rows.
  • * Isaac Newton
  • the cross refraction of the second prism
  • (archaic) Opposite, opposed to.
  • His actions were perversely cross to his own happiness.
  • Opposing, adverse; being contrary to what one would hope or wish for.
  • *, New York Review of Books, 2001, p.50:
  • As a fat body is more subject to diseases, so are rich men to absurdities and fooleries, to many casualties and cross inconveniences.
  • * Jeremy Taylor
  • a cross fortune
  • * Glanvill
  • the cross and unlucky issue of my design
  • * South
  • The article of the resurrection seems to lie marvellously cross to the common experience of mankind.
  • * Dryden
  • We are both love's captives, but with fates so cross , / One must be happy by the other's loss.
  • Bad-tempered, angry, annoyed.
  • She was rather cross about missing her train on the first day of the job.
    Please don't get cross''' at me.'' (or) ''Please don't get '''cross with me.
  • * Jeremy Taylor
  • He had received a cross answer from his mistress.
  • Made in an opposite direction, or an inverse relation; mutually inverse; interchanged.
  • cross interrogatories
    cross marriages, as when a brother and sister marry persons standing in the same relation to each other

    Synonyms

    * (opposite to) contrarily, opposed, reverse, antipodal * (mildly angry) angry, annoyed, irritated

    Derived terms

    * cross cut * cross-examine * crossly * cross-multiplication * crosspatch * cross purposes * cross-section * cross-wise

    Preposition

    (English prepositions)
  • (archaic) across
  • She walked cross the mountains.
  • * L'Estrange
  • A fox was taking a walk one night cross a village.
  • cross product of the previous vector and the following vector.
  • The Lorentz force is q times v cross B.

    Verb

    (es)
  • To make or form a .
  • # To place across or athwart; to cause to intersect.
  • # To lay or draw something across, such as a line.
  • # To mark with an X.
  • # To write lines at right angles.(w)
  • #*
  • #*:An indulgent playmate, Grannie would lay aside the long scratchy-looking letter she was writing (heavily crossed ‘to save notepaper’) and enter into the delightful pastime of ‘a chicken from Mr Whiteley's’.
  • # To make the sign of the cross over oneself.
  • To move relatively.
  • # (label) To go from one side of (something) to the other.
  • #*
  • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=8 , passage=Now we plunged into a deep shade with the boughs lacing each other overhead, and crossed dainty, rustic bridges over the cold trout-streams, the boards giving back the clatter of our horses' feet: or anon we shot into a clearing, with a colored glimpse of the lake and its curving shore far below us.}}
  • #* {{quote-news, year=2012, date=June 19, author=Phil McNulty, work=BBC Sport
  • , title= England 1-0 Ukraine , passage=Ukraine, however, will complain long and hard about a contentious second-half incident when Marko Devic's shot clearly crossed the line before it was scrambled away by John Terry, only for the officials to remain unmoved.}}
  • # (label) To travel in a direction or path that will intersect with that of another.
  • # (label) To pass, as objects going in an opposite direction at the same time.
  • #* (James David Forbes) (1809-1868)
  • Your kind letter crossed mine.
  • # (label) Relative movement by a player or of players.
  • ## Of both batsmen, to pass each other when running between the wickets in order to score runs.
  • ## (label) To pass the ball from one side of the pitch to the other side.
  • #
  • ## (label) To score a try.
  • ##* {{quote-news, year=2011, date=February 12, author=Mark Orlovac, work=BBC
  • , title= England 59-13 Italy , passage=England cut loose at the end of the half, Ashton, Mark Cueto and Mike Tindall all crossing before the break. }}
  • (label) To oppose.
  • # (label) To contradict (another) or frustrate the plans of.
  • # To interfere and cut off; to debar.
  • #* (William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
  • to cross me from the golden time I look for
  • # (label) To conduct a cross examination; to question a hostile witness.
  • (label) To cross-fertilize or crossbreed.
  • To stamp or mark a cheque in such a way as to prevent it being cashed, thus requiring it to be deposited into a bank account.
  • Synonyms

    * (to cross-fertilize or crossbreed) cross-fertilize, crossbreed

    Derived terms

    * crossing * cross off * cross one's arms * cross one's fingers * cross one's heart * cross one's legs * cross out * cross over * crossover * cross paths * cross someone's palm * cross the aisle * crossword