Crack

a. [Du. krak; Fr. crac; formed from the sound.] To break, rend, or burst into chinks; to break partially, so as to cause a fi ure; to split; as, to crack a porcelain vase. "Look to your pipes... lest the frost crack them."-Mortimer. -To produce a sharp, abrupt sound; to snap; as, to crack a whip. "To crack the voice of melody." - O. W. Holmes. -a. Rough; sour; austere; harsh; as, a crab vintage. Crabbe, GEORGE, ( krab ,) an English poet, whose truth to nature and strength of homely pathos atone for de- ficiency in ideal elevation, was B. in 1754, at Aldborough, in Suffolk, where his father was collector of salt duties. He went through an apprenticeship with a surgeon, and for a short while attempted practice; but, always at- tached to letters rather than busine , he had little suc- ce , and came to London in 1780 to seek his fortune. When the failure of his first poem, The Candidate, had reduced him to great distre , he boldly laid his case before Edmund Burke. That great man read his manuscripts, received him into his house at Bea- -To utter a loud or sudden sharp sound. cons field, and introduced him to his friends; and the -To make crazy or deranged; to weaken the intellect. "He thought none poets till their brains were cracked." Roscommon. -To thrust out; to utter smartly or pungently. "He takes his chirping point, he cracks his jokes." - Pope . To puff; to praise with exaggeration; - preceding up ; as, to crack up the merits of an article. (Colloq.) -To break into for a burglarious purpose; as, to crack a house. (Slang.) Fig . 707.-CRABBE'S BIRTHPLACE. -v. i. To burst partially; to split; to open in chinks; as, to crack one's skull. "By misfortune it cracked in the cooling." - Boyle. "As loud As thunder, when the clouds in autumn crack." -Shaks. -To break into pieces; to become worthle or ruined; as, his credit is cracked . -To boast; to swagger; to talk big or pompously; with of. (Colloq.) "And Ethiops of their sweet complexion crack." -Shaks. -n. The sharp, abrupt sound which is made when a hard, brittle substance partially bursts, rends, or breaks, or when hard bodies come into collision, .; a sharp or loud sound uttered suddenly or with vehemence; a violent report; as, the crack of ice. "What, will the line stretch out to th' crack of doom?"-Shaks. -A disruption; a chink or fi ure; a narrow breach; a crevice; a partial separation of the parts of a substance; as, a crack in the ground. "Contusions, when great, do usually produce a fi ure or crack of the skull."- Wiseтап . -Crazine of intellect; partial derangement of the mental faculties; lunacy; as, a crack in the brain. -A crazed person; one who is insane. "Parliament... looks upon me as a crack and a projector." Add is on. poem of The Library, published on his recommendation, was received with great applause. His reputa- - That change of the voice which occurs at puberty. "Now our voices Have got the mannish crack ."-Shaks. tion was increased by The Village , which appeared in 1783; and the publication of The Newspaper , in 1785, closed the first series of his works. In the meantime, orders having been obtained for him, he became chaplain -Breach of chastity; as, she has a crack in her reputa to the Duke of Rutland, married happily, and received in succe ion several moderate preferments. In 1807 he published The Parish Register , to which were added Sir Eustace Grey, and other small poems; and The Borough , the most various and energetic of his works, made its appearance in 1810. In 1813, soon after the death of his wife, he was presented to the living of Trow bridge, in Wilts hire, where he spent the remainder of his quiet and honorable life. His Tales of the Hall were pubCrab'bed, a . Rough; peevish; austere; cynical;-applied in a mental, moral, or spiritual sense; as, a crabbed lished in 1819. D. 1832. old maid. terial things. "A man... of swarth complexion, and of crabbed hue." Spenser. being flattened like that of the beaver, and its scaly cov--Harsh; rough; sour; unpleasing; - in relation to ma- ering is partly concealed by scattered hairs. It is easily domesticated, and its manners in captivity are very mild. The C. has two kinds of fur: long ruddy hair, which gives the tone of color; and a brownish ash-colored fur at its base, which, like that of the beaver, is used largely in the manufacture of hats. The fur is known in com- merce under the names of Racoonda and Nutria . Coyse'vox, ANTOINE, an eminent French sculptor, B. at Lyons, 1640, D. 1720. Coys'trel, n. Same as COISTREL, q . v . -Difficult; perplexing; not easy to comprehend. "Lucretius hath chosen a subject naturally crabbed."-Dryden. Crab'bedly, adv . Peevishly; roughly; morosely; with perplexity. tion. "I cannot believe this crack to be in my dread mistre ."-Shaks. -A common harlot; a prostitute; as, a crack on the town. -A boast; a bounce; a piece of brag. "Leasings, backbitings, and vain-glorious cracks."-Spenser. -A forward lad; one with pertne and a umption of language. A moment; an immediate space of time; as, I'll be there in a crack . (Vulgar.) -A horse famous for its speed; as, a racing crack . -a. Something above the common in point of excellence; as, a crack orator, a crack horse, a crack ship. Crack'-brained, a . Having the intellect impaired; crazy. "The ill-grounded sophisms of those crack - brained fellows." Pope .