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crash 1 (krăsh)
Share:
v. crashed, crash·ing, crash·es
v.intr.
1.
a. To break violently or noisily; smash: The dishes crashed to pieces on the floor.
b. To undergo sudden damage or destruction on impact: The car crashed into a tree.
2. To make a sudden loud noise: The cymbals crash at the end of each measure.
3. To move noisily or so as to cause damage: went crashing through the woods.
4. To undergo a sudden severe downturn, as a market or economy.
5. Computers To stop functioning due to a crash.
6. Slang To undergo a period of unpleasant feeling or depression as an aftereffect of drug-taking.
7. Slang
a. To find temporary lodging or shelter, as for the night.
b. To fall asleep from exhaustion.
v.tr.
1. To cause to crash: crashed the truck into the signpost.
2. To dash to pieces; smash: crashed the ice with a sledgehammer.
3. Informal To join or enter (a party, for example) without invitation.
n.
1. A sudden loud noise, as of an object breaking: She looked up when she heard the crash outside.
2.
a. A smashing to pieces.
b. A collision, as between two automobiles. See Synonyms at collision.
3. A sudden severe downturn: a market crash; a population crash.
4. Computers
a. A sudden failure of a hard drive caused by damaging contact between the head and the storage surface, often resulting in the loss of data on the drive.
b. A sudden failure of a program or operating system, usually without serious consequences.
5. Slang Mental depression after drug-taking.
adj.
Informal
Of or characterized by an intensive effort to produce or accomplish: a crash course on income-tax preparation; a crash diet.
Idiom:
crash and burn Slang
To fail utterly.

[Middle English crasschen; probably akin to crasen, to shatter; see CRAZE.]

crasher n.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
 

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

    Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

    Indo-European Roots

    Semitic Roots

    The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.