crash¹ (krăsh)

v., crashed, crash·ing, crash·es.

v.intr.

1. 1. To break violently or noisily; smash.
   2. To undergo sudden damage or destruction on impact: Their car crashed into a guardrail. The airplane crashed over the ocean.
2. To make a sudden loud noise: breakers crashing against the rocks.
3. To move noisily or so as to cause damage: went crashing through the woods.
4. To undergo a sudden severe downturn, as a market or economy.
5. Computer Science. To stop functioning due to a crash.
6. Slang. To undergo a period of unpleasant feeling or depression as an aftereffect of drug-taking.
7. Slang.
   1. To find temporary lodging or shelter, as for the night.
   2. To go to sleep.

v.tr.

1. To cause to crash.
2. To dash to pieces; smash.
3. Informal. To join or enter (a party, for example) without invitation.

n.

1. A sudden loud noise, as of an object breaking.
2. 1. A smashing to pieces.
   2. A collision, as between two automobiles. See synonyms at collision.
3. A sudden severe downturn: a market crash; a population crash.
4. Computer Science.
   1. A sudden failure of a hard drive caused by damaging contact between the head and the storage surface, often resulting in the loss of data on the drive.
   2. A sudden failure of a program or operating system, usually without serious consequences.
5. Slang. Mental depression after drug-taking.

adj. Informal
Of or characterized by an intensive effort to produce or accomplish: a crash course on income-tax preparation; a crash diet.

idiom:

crash and burn Slang.

1. To fail utterly.
2. To fall asleep from exhaustion.
3. To wipe out, as in skateboarding.

[Middle English crasschen, probably akin to crasen, to shatter. See craze.]

crasher crash'er n.

crash² (krăsh)
n.

1. A coarse, light, unevenly woven fabric of cotton or linen, used for towels and curtains.
2. Starched reinforced fabric used to strengthen a book binding or the spine of a bound book.

[From Russian krashenina, colored linen, from krashenie, coloring, from krasit', to color.]

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

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