different between jostle vs crack

English

Etymology

Originally justle (“to have sex with”), formed from Middle English jousten, from the Old French joster (“to joust”), from Latin iuxt? (“next to”), from iung? (“join, connect”), equivalent to joust +? -le.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?d??s.?l/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?d??.s?l/
• Rhymes: -?s?l

Verb

jostle (third-person singular simple present jostles, present participle jostling, simple past and past participle jostled)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To bump into or brush against while in motion; to push aside.
   • 1792, Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, London: J. Johnson, Part 1, Chapter 13, Section 3, pp. 434-435,^[1]

     Besides, various are the paths to power and fame which by accident or choice men pursue, and though they jostle against each other, for men of the same profession are seldom friends, yet there is a much greater number of their fellow-creatures with whom they never clash. But women are very differently situated with respect to each other—for they are all rivals.

   • 1832, Isaac Taylor, Saturday Evening, Chapter 12, p. 214,^[2]

     It is not that there are several systems of movement, physical, intellectual, and moral, which are perpetually jostling each other, or which clash whenever they come in contact, and which move on by the one vanquishing the other. But, on the contrary, each of these economies takes its uninterrupted course, as if there were no other moving within the same space […]

   • 1849, Thomas Babington Macaulay, The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, London: Longman, Brown, Green and Longmans, Volume 1, Chapter 3, pp. 370-371,^[3]

     […] when the lord of a Lincolnshire or Shropshire manor appeared in Fleet Street, he was as easily distinguished from the resident population as a Turk or a Lascar. […] Bullies jostled him into the kennel. Hackney coachmen splashed him from head to foot. […]
2. (intransitive) To move through by pushing and shoving.
   • 1920, F. Scott Fitzgerald, This Side of Paradise, Book One, Chapter 3,^[4]

     Axia and Amory, acquaintances of an hour, jostled behind a waiter to a table at a point of vantage; there they took seats and watched.

3. (transitive) To be close to or in physical contact with.
   • 1859, Charles Darwin, On the Origin of Species, London: John Murray, Chapter 4, p. 114,^[5]

     […] the advantages of diversification of structure, with the accompanying differences of habit and constitution, determine that the inhabitants, which thus jostle each other most closely, shall, as a general rule, belong to what we call different genera and orders.

4. (intransitive) To contend or vie in order to acquire something.
   • 1819, Walter Scott, The Bride of Lammermoor, in Tales of My Landlord, Edinburgh: Archibald Constable, Third Series, Volume 1, Chapter 1, p. 22,^[6]

     Dick, who, in serious earnest, was supposed to have considerable natural talents for his profession, and whose vain and sanguine disposition never permitted him to doubt for a moment of ultimate success, threw himself headlong into the crowd which jostled and struggled for notice and preferment.

   • 1917, Rudyard Kipling, “The Children,” poem accompanying the story “The Honours of War” in A Diversity of Creatures, London: Macmillan, pp. 129-130,^[7]

     […] Our statecraft, our learning

     Delivered them bound to the Pit and alive to the burning

     Whither they mirthfully hastened as jostling for honour.

5. (dated, slang) To pick or attempt to pick pockets.

Translations

See also

• justle
• joust

Noun

jostle (plural jostles)

1. The act of jostling someone or something; push, shove.
   • 1722, Daniel Defoe, Moll Flanders, London: J. Cooke, 1765, p. 241,^[8]

     I had full hold of her Watch, but giving a great Jostle, as if somebody had thrust me against her, and in the Juncture giving the Watch a fair pull, I found it would not come, so I let it go that Moment, and cried out as if I had been killed, that somebody had trod upon my Foot […]

2. The action of a jostling crowd.
   • 1865, Harriet Beecher Stowe (under the pseudonym Christopher Crowfield), The Chimney-Corner, Boston: Ticknor & Field, 1868, Chapter 12, p. 291,^[9]

     For years to come, the average of lone women will be largely increased; and the demand, always great, for some means by which they many provide for themselves, in the rude jostle of the world, will become more urgent and imperative.

Translations

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.