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CRACKING
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
The act of cracking something
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Nouns denoting acts or actions
Hypernyms ("cracking" is a kind of...):
break; breakage; breaking (the act of breaking something)
Derivation:
crack (hit forcefully; deal a hard blow, making a cracking noise)
Sense 2
Meaning:
A sudden sharp noise
Example:
he can hear the snap of a twig
Synonyms:
crack; cracking; snap
Classified under:
Hypernyms ("cracking" is a kind of...):
noise (sound of any kind (especially unintelligible or dissonant sound))
Derivation:
crack (make a very sharp explosive sound)
Sense 3
Meaning:
The process whereby heavy molecules of naphtha or petroleum are broken down into hydrocarbons of lower molecular weight (especially in the oil-refining process)
Classified under:
Nouns denoting natural processes
Hypernyms ("cracking" is a kind of...):
chemical action; chemical change; chemical process ((chemistry) any process determined by the atomic and molecular composition and structure of the substances involved)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "cracking"):
hydrocracking (the process whereby hydrocarbon molecules of petroleum are broken down into kerosene and gasolene by the addition of hydrogen under high pressure in the presence of a catalyst)
Derivation:
crack (break into simpler molecules by means of heat)
crack (reduce (petroleum) to a simpler compound by cracking)
II. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Very good
Example:
we had a grand old time
Synonyms:
bang-up; bully; corking; cracking; dandy; great; groovy; keen; neat; nifty; not bad; old; peachy; slap-up; smashing; swell
Classified under:
Similar:
good (having desirable or positive qualities especially those suitable for a thing specified)
Domain usage:
colloquialism (a colloquial expression; characteristic of spoken or written communication that seeks to imitate informal speech)
III. (verb)
Sense 1
-ing form of the verb crack
Context examples:
The abrupt sides of vast mountains were before me; the icy wall of the glacier overhung me; a few shattered pines were scattered around; and the solemn silence of this glorious presence-chamber of imperial Nature was broken only by the brawling waves or the fall of some vast fragment, the thunder sound of the avalanche or the cracking, reverberated along the mountains, of the accumulated ice, which, through the silent working of immutable laws, was ever and anon rent and torn, as if it had been but a plaything in their hands.
(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)
A very cheerful wood-fire was sputtering and cracking in an open grate at the further end of the apartment.
(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
The fight had opened at long distance, and the rifles were cracking steadily.
(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)
As I waited I heard in the distance a gipsy song sung by merry voices coming closer, and through their song the rolling of heavy wheels and the cracking of whips; the Szgany and the Slovaks of whom the Count had spoken were coming.
(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)
I have said this was the worst thing possible for me, for helpless as she looked in this situation, with the canvas cracking like cannon and the blocks trundling and banging on the deck, she still continued to run away from me, not only with the speed of the current, but by the whole amount of her leeway, which was naturally great.
(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
Amazed and dizzy, the defenders, clutching at the cracking parapets for support, saw great stones, burning beams of wood, and mangled bodies hurtling past them through the air.
(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
This morning, as I was sitting on the edge of my bed cudgelling my brains, I heard without a cracking of whips and pounding and scraping of horses' feet up the rocky path beyond the courtyard.
(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)
Next instant, however, his blade had slipped into the fatal notch, there was a sharp cracking sound with a tinkling upon the ground, and he found a splintered piece of steel fifteen inches long was all that remained to him of his weapon.
(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
