Adjacent Words

crunch definitions

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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: the sound of something crunching; "he heard the crunch of footsteps on the gravel path"
2: a critical situation that arises because of a shortage (as a shortage of time or money or resources); "an end-of-the year crunch"; "a financial crunch"
3: the act of crushing [syn: crush, crunch, compaction] v
1: make a crushing noise; "his shoes were crunching on the gravel" [syn: crunch, scranch, scraunch, crackle]
2: press or grind with a crushing noise [syn: crunch, cranch, craunch, grind]
3: chew noisily; "The children crunched the celery sticks" [syn: crunch, munch]
4: reduce to small pieces or particles by pounding or abrading; "grind the spices in a mortar"; "mash the garlic" [syn: grind, mash, crunch, bray, comminute]

Merriam Webster's

I. verb Etymology: alteration of craunch Date: 1706 intransitive verb 1. to chew or press with a crushing noise 2. to make one's way with a crushing noise transitive verb 1. to chew, press, or grind with a crunching sound 2. process; especially to perform mathematical computations on <crunch numbers> • crunchable adjective II. noun Date: 1832 1. an act of crunching 2. a sound made by crunching 3. a tight or critical situation: as a. a critical point in the buildup of pressure between opposing elements ; showdown b. a severe economic squeeze (as on credit) c. shortage <an energy crunch> 4. a conditioning exercise performed from a supine position by raising and lowering the upper torso without reaching a sitting position

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v. & n. --v. 1 tr. a crush noisily with the teeth. b grind (gravel, dry snow, etc.) under foot, wheels, etc. 2 intr. (often foll. by up, through) make a crunching sound in walking, moving, etc. --n. 1 crunching; a crunching sound. 2 colloq. a decisive event or moment. Etymology: earlier cra(u)nch, assim. to munch

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Crunch Crunch (kr[u^]nch), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Crunched (kr[u^]ncht); p. pr. & vb. n. Crunching.] [Prob. of imitative origin; or cf. D. schransen to eat heartily, or E. scrunch.] 1. To chew with force and noise; to craunch. And their white tusks crunched o'er the whiter skull. --Byron. 2. To grind or press with violence and noise. The ship crunched through the ice. --Kane. 3. To emit a grinding or craunching noise. The crunching and ratting of the loose stones. --H. James.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Crunch Crunch, v. t. To crush with the teeth; to chew with a grinding noise; to craunch; as, to crunch a biscuit.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(crunches, crunching, crunched) 1. If you crunch something hard, such as a sweet, you crush it noisily between your teeth. She sucked an ice cube into her mouth, and crunched it loudly... Richard crunched into the apple. VERB: V n, V into/on n 2. If something crunches or if you crunch it, it makes a breaking or crushing noise, for example when you step on it. A piece of china crunched under my foot... He crunched the sheets of paper in his hands. = scrunch VERB: V, V n • Crunch is also a noun. She heard the crunch of tires on the gravel driveway. N-COUNT; SOUND 3. If you crunch across a surface made of very small stones, you move across it causing it to make a crunching noise. I crunched across the gravel. ...wheels crunching over a stony surface. VERB: V prep/adv, V prep/adv 4. You can refer to an important time or event, for example when an important decision has to be made, as the crunch. He can rely on my support when the crunch comes... The Prime Minister is expected to call a crunch meeting on Monday. N-SING: usu the N, oft N n • If you say that something will happen if or when it comes to the crunch, you mean that it will happen if or when the time comes when something has to be done. If it comes to the crunch, I'll resign over this. PHRASE: V inflects 5. To crunch numbers means to do a lot of calculations using a calculator or computer. I pored over the books with great enthusiasm, often crunching the numbers until
1:00 a.m. VERB: V n 6. A situation in which a business or economy has very little money can be referred to as a crunch. (BUSINESS) ...a financial crunch that could threaten the company's future. = crisis N-COUNT: usu supp N

Moby Thesaurus

appulse, atomize, bang, bang into, belch, bind, bite, blare, blat, bray, break into pieces, break to pieces, break up, brunt, bulldozing, bulling, bump, bump into, burr, buzz, cackle, cannon, carambole, carom, carom into, caw, champ, chaw, chew, chirr, chomp, chump, clang, clangor, clank, clash, climacteric, clutch, collide, collision, come into collision, complication, concuss, concussion, confront each other, convergence of events, crack up, crack-up, crash, crash into, craunch, crisis, critical juncture, critical moment, critical point, croak, crossroads, crucial period, crump, crush, crux, cut to pieces, dash into, demolish, diffuse, disperse, disrupt, embarrassing position, embarrassment, emergency, encounter, exigency, extremity, fall foul of, fine how-do-you-do, fission, foul, fragment, grate, grind, groan, growl, grumble, hammering, hell to pay, high pressure, hinge, hit, hit against, hobble, hot water, how-do-you-do, hurt, hurtle, imbroglio, impact, imperativeness, impinge, impingement, jam, jangle, jar, juncture, knock, knock against, make mincemeat of, masticate, mauling, meet, meeting, mess, mince, mix, moment of truth, morass, munch, onslaught, parlous straits, pass, percuss, percussion, pickle, pinch, plight, predicament, press, pressure, pretty pass, pretty pickle, pretty predicament, pulverize, push, quagmire, quicksand, ramming, rasp, repercussion, rub, ruminate, run into, scatter, scranch, scrape, scratch, scrunch, shatter, shiver, shock, showdown, sideswipe, slam into, sledgehammering, slough, smack into, smash, smash into, smash up, smash-up, smashing, snarl, snore, splinter, spot, squash, squeeze, squish, stew, sticky wicket, strait, straits, stress, strike, strike against, swamp, tension, thrusting, tight spot, tight squeeze, tightrope, tricky spot, turn, turning point, twang, unholy mess, urgency, whomp