crush
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /kɹʌʃ/
rhymes: -ʌʃ
Forms: form: crushes
form: crushing
form: crushed
form: crushed
Etymology: From Middle English cruschen (“to crush, smash, squeeze, squash”), from Old French croissir (“to crush”), from Late Latin *crusciō (“to crush”), from Frankish *krustijan (“to crush, squeeze, squash”), from Proto-Germanic *kreustaną (“to crush, grind, strike, smash”).
Cognate with Middle Low German tôkrosten (“to crush, shatter”), Swedish krysta (“to squeeze”), Danish kryste (“to squash”), Icelandic kreista (“to squeeze, squash”), Faroese kroysta (“to squeeze”), Gothic 𐌺𐍂𐌹𐌿𐍃𐍄𐌰𐌽 (kriustan, “to gnash”). Akin also to Middle Dutch crosen (“to bruise, crush”), Middle Low German krossen, krö̂sen, tôkrö̂sen (“to break, shatter”), Old Swedish krusa (“to crush”).
Senses: examples: text: to crush grapes
text: Ye shall not offer unto the Lord that which is bruised, or crushed, or broken, or cut
ref: 1769, Benjamin Blayney, King James Bible, Leviticus 22:24:
glosses: To press between two hard objects; to squeeze so as to alter the natural shape or integrity, or to force together into a mass.
examples: text: to crush quartz
text: With a wild scream he was upon her, tearing a great piece from her side with his mighty teeth, and striking her viciously upon her head and shoulders with a broken tree limb until her skull was crushed to a jelly.
ref: 1912 October, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “Tarzan of the Apes”, in The All-Story, New York, N.Y.: Frank A. Munsey Co., →OCLC; republished as chapter 1, in Tarzan of the Apes, New York, N.Y.: A[lbert] L[evi] Burt Company, June 1914, →OCLC:
synonyms: comminute
glosses: To reduce to fine particles by pounding or grinding.
examples: text: After the corruption scandal, the opposition crushed the ruling party in the elections
text: We believe the invasion has reached its peak. The task remaining is to crush it. Our men are confident, the United Nations command is confident, that it will be crushed.
ref: 1950 September 1, Harry S. Truman, 2:02 from the start, in MP72-73 Korea and World Peace: President Truman Reports to the People, Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives Identifier: 595162:
text: A stunning performance from the Republic of Ireland all but sealed progress to Euro 2012 as they crushed nine-man Estonia 4-0 in the first leg of the qualifying play-off tie in A Le Coq Arena in Tallinn.
ref: 2011 November 11, Rory Houston, “Estonia 0-4 Republic of Ireland”, in RTE Sport:
glosses: To overwhelm by pressure or weight.
examples: text: They had a gig recently at Madison Square—totally crushed it!
glosses: To do impressively well at (sports events; performances; interviews; etc.).
glosses: To oppress or grievously burden.
examples: text: The sultan's black guard crushed every resistance bloodily.
text: the prospect of the Duke's speedily overtaking and crushing the rebels
ref: 1814, Sir Walter Scott, Waverley:
glosses: To overcome completely; to subdue totally.
examples: text: an eggshell crushes easily
glosses: To be or become broken down or in, or pressed into a smaller volume or area, by external weight or force.
examples: text: She's crushing on him.
text: Then walked in / The girl I'm crushin' / And the kid spilled juice / On my Mom's new cushion
ref: 2000, “Aaron’s Party (Come Get It)”, performed by Aaron Carter:
text: ... I could just let loose and be myself no holding back you know we just where to young kids in love, lust, crushing whatever you wanted to call it but we where living it up having fun when we where together the rest of the world didn't exist ...
ref: 2011, May'lon Miranda, Love Is Blind, →ISBN, page 58:
text: And the one subject that I get an A plus in every time, is the ancient art of crushing. I crush, therefore I am. I've decided to share the benefit of my wisdom and after months of hopelessly lusting after Dylan, I've REALISED that there are twelve degrees of crushing from the slightly embarrassing things most girls will do to catch the eye of the heir to their heart, to the verging on ridiculous stunts you pull when you're in the grip of a passion that renders you powerless.
ref: 2013, Sarra Manning, Diary of a Crush: Kiss and Make Up, →ISBN:
text: "I respect your wiring," he explained, "but I'm crushing on you. And when I crush, I crush hard." He thought it would be better if we stopped seeing each other for a while.
ref: 2013, Shozan Jack Haubner, Zen Confidential: Confessions of a Wayward Monk, →ISBN, page 130:
glosses: To feel infatuation or unrequited love.
examples: text: He frames his subject in distant close-ups (we feel the distance, due mostly to the crushed perspective brought about by the telephoto lens).
ref: 2003, Michel Chion, The Films of Jacques Tati, page 78:
text: They realise that trajectories, space expansion and crushing are different with different lenses, whether wide angle or telephoto, and that actors' eyelines will be altered.
ref: 2010, Birgit Bräuchler, John Postill, Theorising Media and Practice, page 319:
topics: broadcasting
film
media
television
glosses: To give a compressed or foreshortened appearance to.
examples: text: My old TV set crushes the blacks when the brightness is lowered.
topics: broadcasting
media
television
glosses: To make certain colors so similar as to be hard to distinguish, either as a deliberate effect or as a limitation of a display.
Synonyms: sense: to squeeze into a permanent new shape
word: squash
sense: to pound or grind into fine particles
word: pulverize
word: pulverise
sense: to overwhelm
word: overtake
sense: to impress at
word: ace
word: slay at
word: kill
Derived terms: becrush
bone-crushing dog
croggle
crushability
crushable
crush a cup
crushed sugar
crushed velvet
crusher
crushing
crush it
crush on
crush out
recrush
soul-crushing
toe-crushing
uncrush