different between channel vs crack

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?t?æn?l/
• Hyphenation: chan?nel
• Rhymes: -æn?l

Etymology 1

From Middle English chanel (also as canel, cannel, kanel), a borrowing from Old French chanel, canel, from Latin can?lis (“groove; canal; channel”). Doublet of canal.

Noun

channel (plural channels)

1. The physical confine of a river or slough, consisting of a bed and banks.

   The water coming out of the waterwheel created a standing wave in the channel.

2. The natural or man-made deeper course through a reef, bar, bay, or any shallow body of water.

   A channel was dredged to allow ocean-going vessels to reach the city.

3. The navigable part of a river.

   We were careful to keep our boat in the channel.

4. A narrow body of water between two land masses.

   The English Channel lies between France and England.
5. Something through which another thing passes; a means of conveying or transmitting.

   The news was conveyed to us by different channels.

   • 1859, John Call Dalton, A Treatise on Human Physiology

     The veins are converging channels.

   • 1790, Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France

     At best, he is but a channel to convey to the National Assembly such matter as may import that body to know.

6. A gutter; a groove, as in a fluted column.
7. (electronics) A connection between initiating and terminating nodes of a circuit.

   The guard-rail provided the channel between the downed wire and the tree.

8. (electronics) The narrow conducting portion of a MOSFET transistor.
9. (communication) The part that connects a data source to a data sink.

   A channel stretches between them.

10. (communication) A path for conveying electrical or electromagnetic signals, usually distinguished from other parallel paths.

    We are using one of the 24 channels.

11. (communication) A single path provided by a transmission medium via physical separation, such as by multipair cable.

    The channel is created by bonding the signals from these four pairs.

12. (communication) A single path provided by a transmission medium via spectral or protocol separation, such as by frequency or time-division multiplexing.

    Their call is being carried on channel 6 of the T-1 line.

13. (broadcasting) A specific radio frequency or band of frequencies, usually in conjunction with a predetermined letter, number, or codeword, and allocated by international agreement.

    KNDD is the channel at 107.7 MHz in Seattle.

14. (broadcasting) A specific radio frequency or band of frequencies used for transmitting television.

    NBC is on channel 11 in San Jose.

    • 2008, Lou Schuler, "Foreward", in Nate Green, Built for Show, page xi

      TV back then was five channels (three networks, PBS, and an independent station that ran I Love Lucy reruns), […]

15. (storage) The portion of a storage medium, such as a track or a band, that is accessible to a given reading or writing station or head.

    This chip in this disk drive is the channel device.

16. (technic) The way in a turbine pump where the pressure is built up.

    The liquid is pressurized in the lateral channel.

17. (business, marketing) A distribution channel
18. (Internet) A particular area for conversations on an IRC network, analogous to a chat room and often dedicated to a specific topic.
19. (Internet, historical) A means of delivering up-to-date Internet content.
    • 1999, Jeffrey S Rule, Dynamic HTML: The HTML Developer's Guide

      Netcaster is the "receiver" for channels that are built into Netscape 4.01 and later releases.
20. A psychic or medium who temporarily takes on the personality of somebody else.

Synonyms

• (narrow body of water between two land masses) passage, sound, strait
• (for television) side (dated British, from when there were only two channels), station (US)
• (groove, as in a fluted column) groove, gutter

Derived terms

Related terms

• canal

Descendants

• ? Japanese: ????? (channeru)
• ? Korean: ?? (chaeneol)
• ? Welsh: sianel

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English chanelen, from the noun (see above).

Verb

channel (third-person singular simple present channels, present participle channeling or channelling, simple past and past participle channelled or channeled)

1. (transitive) To make or cut a channel or groove in.
2. (transitive) To direct or guide along a desired course.

   We will channel the traffic to the left with these cones.

3. (transitive, of a spirit, as of a dead person) To serve as a medium for.

   She was channeling the spirit of her late husband, Seth.

4. (transitive) To follow as a model, especially in a performance.

   He was trying to channel President Reagan, but the audience wasn't buying it.

   When it is my turn to sing karaoke, I am going to channel Ray Charles.

Derived terms

• backchannel

Translations

Etymology 3

From a corruption of chainwale.

Noun

channel (plural channels)

1. (nautical) The wale of a sailing ship which projects beyond the gunwale and to which the shrouds attach via the chains. One of the flat ledges of heavy plank bolted edgewise to the outside of a vessel, to increase the spread of the shrouds and carry them clear of the bulwarks.

References

• channel at OneLook Dictionary Search

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /k?æk/
• Rhymes: -æk

Etymology 1

From Middle English crakken, craken, from Old English cracian (“to resound, crack”), from Proto-West Germanic *krak?n, from Proto-Germanic *krak?n? (“to crack, crackle, shriek”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gerh?- (“to resound, cry hoarsely”).

Cognate with Scots crak (“to crack”), West Frisian kreakje (“to crack”), Dutch kraken (“to crunch, creak, squeak”), Low German kraken (“to crack”), German krachen (“to crash, crack, creak”), Lithuanian gìrgžd?ti (“to creak, squeak”), Old Armenian ?????? (karka??), Sanskrit ?????? (gárjati, “to roar, hum”).

Verb

crack (third-person singular simple present cracks, present participle cracking, simple past and past participle cracked)

2. (intransitive) To form cracks.

   It's been so dry, the ground is starting to crack.

3. (intransitive) To break apart under pressure.

   When I tried to stand on the chair, it cracked.

4. (intransitive) To become debilitated by psychological pressure.

   Anyone would crack after being hounded like that.

5. (intransitive) To break down or yield, especially under interrogation or torture.

   When we showed him the pictures of the murder scene, he cracked.

6. (intransitive) To make a cracking sound.

   The bat cracked with authority and the ball went for six.

7. (intransitive, of a voice) To change rapidly in register.

   His voice cracked with emotion.

8. (intransitive, of a pubescent boy's voice) To alternate between high and low register in the process of eventually lowering.

   His voice finally cracked when he was fourteen.

9. (intransitive) To make a sharply humorous comment.

   "I would too, with a face like that," she cracked.

10. (transitive) To make a crack or cracks in.

    The ball cracked the window.

11. (transitive) To break open or crush to small pieces by impact or stress.

    You'll need a hammer to crack a black walnut.

12. (transitive) To strike forcefully.

    She cracked him over the head with her handbag.

13. (transitive) To open slightly.

    Could you please crack the window?

14. (transitive) To cause to yield under interrogation or other pressure. (Figurative)

    They managed to crack him on the third day.

15. (transitive) To solve a difficult problem. (Figurative, from cracking a nut.)

    I've finally cracked it, and of course the answer is obvious in hindsight.

16. (transitive) To overcome a security system or a component.

    It took a minute to crack the lock, three minutes to crack the security system, and about twenty minutes to crack the safe.

    They finally cracked the code.

17. (transitive) To cause to make a sharp sound.

    to crack a whip
18. (transitive) To tell (a joke).

    The performance was fine until he cracked that dead baby joke.

19. (transitive, chemistry, informal) To break down (a complex molecule), especially with the application of heat: to pyrolyse.

    Acetone is cracked to ketene and methane at 700°C.

20. (transitive, computing) To circumvent software restrictions such as regional coding or time limits.

    That software licence will expire tomorrow unless we can crack it.

21. (transitive, informal) To open a canned beverage, or any packaged drink or food.

    I'd love to crack open a beer.

    Let's crack a tube and watch the game.

    • 1894, The Strand (volume 8, page 569)

      Old Bouvet was waiting in the passage when I entered, and he asked me whether we might not crack a bottle of wine together.

22. (obsolete) To brag, boast.
23. (archaic, colloquial) To be ruined or impaired; to fail.

    • The credit […] of exchequers cracks, when little comes in and much goes out.

Derived terms

Related terms

• crazed (exhibiting fine-line cracks)

Translations

See also

• hack

Noun

crack (countable and uncountable, plural cracks)

2. A thin and usually jagged space opened in a previously solid material.

3. A narrow opening.
4. A sharply humorous comment; a wisecrack.

5. (slang) Crack cocaine, a potent, relatively cheap, addictive variety of cocaine; often a rock, usually smoked through a crack-pipe.
   1. (figuratively, humorous) Something good-tasting or habit-forming.
6. (onomatopoeia) The sharp sound made when solid material breaks.

7. (onomatopoeia) Any sharp sound.
8. A sharp, resounding blow.
   • 1853, Charles Dickens, Bleak House, ch 11:

     Mrs. Perkins, who has not been for some weeks on speaking terms with Mrs. Piper in consequence for an unpleasantness originating in young Perkins' having "fetched" young Piper "a crack," renews her friendly intercourse on this auspicious occasion.

9. (informal) An attempt at something.

10. (vulgar, slang) Vagina.

11. (informal) The space between the buttocks; the buttcrack.

12. (Northern England, Scotland, Ireland) Conviviality; fun; good conversation, chat, gossip, or humorous storytelling; good company.
    • 2001, William F. Gray, The Villain, iUniverse, p. 214:

      Being a native of Northumberland, she was enjoying their banter and Geordie good humour. This was what she needed — good company and good crack.

    • 2004, Bill Griffiths, Dictionary of North East Dialect, Northumbria University Press (quoting Dunn, 1950)

      "his a bit o' good crack — interesting to talk to"

    • 2006, Patrick McCabe, Winterwood, Bloomsbury 2007, p. 10:

      By the time we've got a good drunk on us there'll be more crack in this valley than the night I pissed on the electric fence!

13. (Northern England, Scotland, Ireland) Business; events; news.

    What's this crack about a possible merger.

14. (computing) A program or procedure designed to circumvent restrictions or usage limits on software.

15. (hydrodynamics, US, dated) An expanding circle of white water surrounding the site of a large explosion at shallow depth, marking the progress of the shock wave through the air above the water.
16. (Cumbria, elsewhere throughout the North of the UK) a meaningful chat.
17. (Internet slang) Extremely silly, absurd or off-the-wall ideas or prose.
18. The tone of voice when changed at puberty.
    • a. 1611, William Shakespeare, Cymbeline, Act 4, Scene 2

      And let us, Polydore, though now our voices / Have got the mannish crack, sing him to the ground, …

19. (archaic) A mental flaw; a touch of craziness; partial insanity.

20. (archaic) A crazy or crack-brained person.
21. (obsolete) A boast; boasting.
22. (obsolete) Breach of chastity.
    • a. 1611, William Shakespeare, Cymbeline, Act 5, Scene 5

      But think her bond of chastity quite crack'd, I having ta'en the forfeit. …

23. (obsolete) A boy, generally a pert, lively boy.
24. (slang, dated, Britain) A brief time; an instant; a jiffy.

Usage notes

• (Scots language, common in lowland Scotland and Ulster, conviviality): In the last few decades the word has been adopted into Gaelic; as there is no "k" in the Irish language the spelling craic has been devised.

Synonyms

• (vulgar: space between the buttocks): bum crack (UK), arse crack (UK), ass crack (US)
• (cocaine that is heat-altered at the moment of inhalation): crack cocaine
• (A crazy or crack-brained person): crackpot

Coordinate terms

• (phenomenon from underwater explosion): slick

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 2

1793 slang, of Unknown origin

Adjective

crack (not comparable)

1. Highly trained and competent.

2. Excellent, first-rate, superior, top-notch.

Derived terms

• crack train
• crack troops

Related terms

• crackerjack

Translations

Finnish

Etymology

From English crack.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?kræk/, [?kræk]

Noun

crack

1. crack (variety of cocaine)

Declension

French

Etymology

From English crack.

Noun

crack f (plural cracks)

1. crack (expert person)

crack f (uncountable)

1. crack (cocaine)

Portuguese

Etymology

From English crack.

Noun

crack m (plural cracks)

1. crack (variety of cocaine)
2. crack (computer program for bypassing license-related and other restrictions)

Further reading

• “crack” in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa.

Spanish

Etymology 1

From English crack.

Noun

crack m (plural cracks)

1. crack (variety of cocaine)
2. champion, ace, pro, wizard, dude (outstanding person)

Etymology 2

From English crash influenced by crack and crac.

Noun

crack m (plural cracks)

1. Alternative form of crac

Further reading

• “crack” in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014.