Etymology From Middle English crasshen, crasschen, craschen (“to break into pieces”), of uncertain origin. Perhaps from a variant of earlier *crasken, from crasen (“to break”) + -k (formative suffix); or from earlier *craskien, *craksien, a variant of craken (“to crack, break open”) (for form development compare break, brask, brash).
A sudden, intense, loud sound, as made for example by cymbals.
The piece ended in a crescendo, building up to a crash of cymbals.
After the lightning came the crash of thunder.
2
An automobile, airplane, or other vehicle accident.
She broke two bones in her body in a car crash.
Nobody survived the plane crash.
3
Computing, Engineering, Mathematics, Natural sciences, Physical sciences, Sciences A malfunction of computer software or hardware which causes it to shut down or become partially or totally inoperable.
My computer had a crash so I had to reboot it.
4
Business, Finance A sudden large decline in the value of money, stocks or other assets, etc., especially one that causes additional economic difficulties.
One of my favorites among the terms of groups of creatures is a crash of rhinoceros. I can imagine an African guide saying to his client, “Shoot, dammit, shoot! Here comes the whole bloody crash of rhinoceros!” […] Personally, I think I’d just as soon come across a crash of rhinoceros as a knot of toad.p. 1991, Patrick F. McManus, “Nincompoopery and Other Group Terms”, in The Grasshopper Trap, Henry Holt and Company, page 103
The largest group of black rhinos reported was made up of 13 individuals. A group of rhinos is called a crash.1998, E. Melanie Watt, Black Rhinos, page 19:
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Out in the water a crash of rhinoceros-like animals browse belly deep through a bed of aquatic plants.1999, Edward Osborne Wilson, The Diversity of Life, page 126:
The crash of rhinoceros at Tsavo now numbers almost 200.2003, Claude Herve-Bazin, Judith Farr, Kenya and Tanzania, page 23:
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Biology, Ecology, Natural sciences A sudden decline in any living form's population levels, often leading to extinction.
Etymology From Middle English crasshen, crasschen, craschen (“to break into pieces”), of uncertain origin. Perhaps from a variant of earlier *crasken, from crasen (“to break”) + -k (formative suffix); or from earlier *craskien, *craksien, a variant of craken (“to crack, break open”) (for form development compare break, brask, brash).
1
Quick, fast, intensive, impromptu.
crash course
crash diet
crash
verb
Etymology From Middle English crasshen, crasschen, craschen (“to break into pieces”), of uncertain origin. Perhaps from a variant of earlier *crasken, from crasen (“to break”) + -k (formative suffix); or from earlier *craskien, *craksien, a variant of craken (“to crack, break open”) (for form development compare break, brask, brash).
To collide with something destructively; to fall or come down violently.
When the car crashed into a house, the driver was heavily injured.
After driving into a tree last week, grandpa's crashed into a deer this morning.
2
To cause something to collide with something else, especially when this results in damage.
I'm sorry for crashing the bike into a wall. I'll pay for repairs.
3
To hit or strike with force.
Roy Hodgson's side were dominant and fully merited the lead given to them when Eric Dier crashed a 20-yard free-kick high past keeper Igor Akinfeev with 17 minutes left.2016 June 11, Phil McNulty, “England 1-1 Russia”, in BBC Sport:
Even the staid New York Times was gushing: “Rising to the glorious heights of his heyday, Babe Ruth, the Sultan of Swat, crashed out three home runs against the Pittsburgh Pirates Saturday afternoon but it was not enough."2022, John Nogowski, Last Time Out: Big-League Farewells of Baseball's Greats, page 8:
4
To make a sudden loud noise.
Thunder crashed directly overhead.
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Abbreviation, Ambitransitive, Ellipsis, Slang Ellipsis of gatecrash.
We weren't invited to the party so we decided to crash it.
Friday night I crashed your party Saturday I said, "I'm sorry" Sunday came and trashed me out again1980 March 7, Billy Joel, “You May Be Right”, in Glass Houses:
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"Anyway, sorry about crashing. I know you're doing a sort of 'talk freely about magic' thing, and I don't have any of my own, but..."2019 November 8, Dan Shive, El Goonish Shive (webcomic), Comic for Friday, Nov 8, 2019:
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Management To accelerate a project or a task or its schedule by devoting more resources to it.
Using the project plan, the team started to work out different scenarios to crash the schedule and bring the date to the regulatory deadline.2008, Rick A. Morris with Brette McWhorter Sember, Project management that works, page 109:
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Slang To make or experience informal temporary living arrangements, especially overnight.
Hey dude, can I crash at your pad?
Then before you know it you’ve missed the last train back and you’re crashing on the sofa.2017, Adam Kay, This Is Going to Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor:
'I been pissin' blood,' he said, grinning. Then frowning. 'Crash us a tenner, eh?'2005, Charlie Williams, Fags and Lager, page 29:
Crash us a cancer stick, Fitz: I could bloody murder a fag, as I delight in telling Americans2014, David Mitchell, The Bone Clocks, →ISBN, page 99:
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'I'll show you what needs doing. But first..." She hesitated. 'I don't suppose you could crash me a ciggy, while you're here, could you?'2015, Lucy Diamond, Summer at Shell Cottage, →ISBN:
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Slang To lie down for a long rest, sleep or nap, as from tiredness or exhaustion.
10
To experience a period of depression and/or lethargy after a period of euphoria, as after the euphoric effect of a psychotropic drug has dissipated.
Falling from cloud nine / Crashing from the high / I'm letting go tonight / Yeah, I'm falling from cloud nine2012, Katy Perry, Max Martin, Bonnie McKee, Dr. Luke, Cirkut, “Wide Awake”, in Teenage Dream: The Complete Confection, performed by Katy Perry:
To take a sudden and severe turn for the worse; to rapidly and catastrophically deteriorate.
And the unvarying lesson of history is that all such balance of power peaces have crashed into new conflicts, as soon as the unstable equilibrium was disturbed, witness the Peace of Westphalia, the Congress of Vienna, and, in our own time, Versailles.1945, Mario Pei, The American Road to Peace: A Constitution for the World, page 20:
In October 1929, the United States' stock market crashed, at the end of a buoyant decade in its domestic economy.1994, National Economic Review - Volumes 28-30, page 2:
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Despite the quotas determined by fisheries scientists, the Atlantic cod population crashed in the mid-1980s leading to a complete moratorium for fishing the species within Canadian waters.2003, W.M. Roth, Toward an Anthropology of Graphing, page 43:
Nature, propelled by its unidirectional increasing entropic disorder, without the containing Schrodinger and de Broglie λ = h/p waves, would have probably crashed out of existence long ago!2006, Ashok Sengupta, Chaos, Nonlinearity, Complexity, page 302:
I told him that if his patients got in trouble and started to crash, there are several things that I could do for him.2016, Thomas J. Cortez, It Happened on My Shift:
The analysis presented in Figure 5.2 highlights the importance of technological shocks, which were for example vital in explaining the Information Technology driven bubble of the late 1990s that crashed in 2001.2022, Ioanna T. Kokores, Monetary Policy and Financial Stability, page 147:
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EducationScotland To take a subject at higher level without having previously studied it.
Joe's crashing Higher Physics, even after I told him it was a bad idea.
The yearly allowance of clothing on this plantation, consisted of two tow-linen shirts—such linen as the coarsest crash towels are made of[…]1855, Frederick Douglass, chapter VI, in My Bondage and My Freedom. […], New York; Auburn, N.Y.: Miller, Orton & Mulligan […], →OCLC:
Unlocking the door of her bath-room she went inside, and soon emerged, bringing a rug, which she spread upon the floor of the gallery, and two huge hair pillows covered with crash, which she placed against the front of the building.1899, Kate Chopin, The Awakening: