crushing

adj, noun — 6 senses

crushing

adj

/ˈkɹʌ.ʃɪŋ/

Etymology By surface analysis, crush + -ing.

1

That crushes; overwhelming.

  • a crushing defeat
  • The fruits of these kickstarted endeavors began to show in 1915, first in the deployment of a new range of depth charges. These were, mercifully, smaller than Jellicoe's "crushing hand of God" prototype, and, whilst practically just as lethal to submarines, they were significantly less risky to the launching ship, and could also be carried in larger numbers.2019 July 24, Drachinifel, 11:06 from the start, in Anti-Sub Warfare in WW1 - From Hammers to Hunter-Killers, archived from the original on 24 Nov 2022:
1 more example
  • The TSSA union stated that he had been carrying out maintenance and died as a result of crushing injuries.2020 December 16, Paul Clifton, “Investigation begins after death at Eastleigh depot”, in Rail, page 12:
2

Devastatingly disheartening.

  • crushing blow
  • crushing guilt
1 more example
  • Oh, your dog has leukemia? That’s crushing.
Synonyms
gutting
Derived terms
crushingly, crushingness, noncrushing

crushing

noun

Etymology By surface analysis, crush + -ing.

1

The action of the verb to crush.

2

A former method of execution by placing heavy weights on the victim.

3

In plural Crushed material.

  • oilseed crushings
4

The act of subjecting sugarcane to crushing.

  • Mr. Holtze speaks with feeling upon this subject. His own experience had shown him the folly of planting sugar in dry soil, at a distance from water; the natural consequence was that, though the cane grew on the ironstone ridges of Palmerston, it would not throw up sufficient juice to make a good crushing.1887, Harriet W. Daly, Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia, page 265:

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.