1. To break or burst, with or without entire separation of the parts; as, to crack glass; to crack nuts.
2. To rend with grief or pain; to affect deeply with sorrow; hence, to disorder; to distract; to craze. O, madam, my old hear is cracked. Shak. He thought none poets till their brains were cracked. Roscommon.
3. To cause to sound suddenly and sharply; to snap; as, to crack a whip.
4. To utter smartly and sententiously; as, to crack a joke. B. Jonson.
5. To cry up; to extol; — followed by up. [Low] To crack a bottle, to open the bottle and drink its contents. — To crack a crib, to commit burglary. [Slang] — To crack on, to put on; as, to crack on more sail, or more steam. [Colloq.]
CRACK
Crack, v. i.
1. To burst or open in chinks; to break, with or without quite separating into parts. By misfortune it cracked in the coling. Boyle. The mirror cracked from side to side. Tennyson.
2. To be ruined or impaired; to fail. [Collog.] The credit . . . of exchequers cracks, when little comes in and much goes out. Dryden.
3. To utter a loud or sharp, sudden sound. As thunder when the clouds in autumn crack. Shak.
4. To utter vain, pompous words; to brag; to boast; — with of. [Archaic.] Ethoipes of their sweet complexion crack. Shak.