verb (used with object)
- to press or squeeze with a force that destroys or deforms.
- to squeeze or pound into small fragments or particles, as ore, stone, etc.
- to force out by pressing or squeezing; extract: to crush cottonseeds in order to produce oil.
- to rumple; wrinkle; crease.
- to smooth or flatten by pressure: to crush leather.
- to hug or embrace forcibly or strongly: He crushed her in his arms.
- to destroy, subdue, or suppress utterly: to crush a revolt.
- to overwhelm with confusion, chagrin, or humiliation, as by argumentation or a slighting action or remark; squelch.
- to oppress grievously.
- Archaic. to finish drinking (wine, ale, etc.).
verb (used without object)
- to become crushed.
- to advance with crushing; press or crowd forcibly.
noun
- the act of crushing; state of being crushed.
- a great crowd: a crush of shoppers.
- Informal.
- an intense but usually short-lived infatuation.
- the object of such an infatuation: Who is your latest crush?
verb (mainly tr)
- to press, mash, or squeeze so as to injure, break, crease, etc
- to break or grind (rock, ore, etc) into small particles
- to put down or subdue, esp by forceto crush a rebellion
- to extract (juice, water, etc) by pressingto crush the juice from a lemon
- to oppress harshly
- to hug or clasp tightlyhe crushed her to him
- to defeat or humiliate utterly, as in argument or by a cruel remark
- (intr) to crowd; throng
- (intr) to become injured, broken, or distorted by pressure
noun
- a dense crowd, esp at a social occasion
- the act of crushing; pressure
- a drink or pulp prepared by or as if by crushing fruitorange crush
- informal
- an infatuationshe had a crush on him
- the person with whom one is infatuated
noun
- vet science a construction designed to confine and limit the movement of an animal, esp a large or dangerous animal, for examination or to perform a procedure on it
v.mid-14c., from Old French cruissir (Modern French écraser), variant of croissir “to gnash (teeth), crash, break,” perhaps from Frankish *krostjan “to gnash” (cf. Gothic kriustan, Old Swedish krysta “to gnash”). Figurative sense of “to humiliate, demoralize” is c.1600. Related: Crushed; crushing. Italian crosciare, Catalan cruxir, Spanish crujirare “to crack” are Germanic loan-words. n.1590s, “act of crushing,” from crush (v.). Meaning “thick crowd” is from 1806. Sense of “person one is infatuated with” is first recorded 1884; to have a crush on is from 1913. see have a crush on.