crush Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun leather that has had its grain pattern accentuated
    crushed leather.
  2. noun a dense crowd of people
    press; jam.
  3. noun temporary love of an adolescent
    puppy love; calf love; infatuation.
  4. noun the act of crushing
    crunch; compaction.
  5. verb come down on or keep down by unjust use of one's authority
    suppress; oppress.
    • The government oppresses political activists
  6. verb to compress with violence, out of natural shape or condition
    squelch; squeeze; squash; mash.
    • crush an aluminum can
    • squeeze a lemon
  7. verb come out better in a competition, race, or conflict
    shell; beat; trounce; beat out; vanquish.
    • Agassi beat Becker in the tennis championship
    • We beat the competition
    • Harvard defeated Yale in the last football game
  8. verb break into small pieces
    • The car crushed the toy
  9. verb humiliate or depress completely
    smash; demolish.
    • She was crushed by his refusal of her invitation
    • The death of her son smashed her
  10. verb crush or bruise
    jam.
    • jam a toe
  11. verb make ineffective
    break down.
    • Martin Luther King tried to break down racial discrimination
  12. verb become injured, broken, or distorted by pressure
    • The plastic bottle crushed against the wall

WordNet

Crush transitive verb
Etymology
OE. cruschen, crousshen, Of. cruisir, croissir, fr. LL. cruscire, prob. of Ger. origin, from a derivative of the word seen in Goth. kruistan to gnash; akin to Sw. krysta to squeeze, Dan. kryste, Icel. kreysta.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Crushed present participle & verbal noun Crushing
Definitions
  1. To press or bruise between two hard bodies; to squeeze, so as to destroy the natural shape or integrity of the parts, or to force together into a mass; as, to crush grapes.
    Ye shall not offer unto the Lord that which is bruised, or crushed, or broken, or cut. Lev. xxii. 24.
    The ass . . . thrust herself unto the wall, and crushed Balaam's foot against the wall. Num. xxii. 25.
  2. To reduce to fine particles by pounding or grinding; to comminute; as, to crush quartz.
  3. To overwhelm by pressure or weight; to beat or force down, as by an incumbent weight.
    To crush the pillars which the pile sustain. Dryden.
    Truth, crushed to earth, shall rise again. Bryant.
  4. To oppress or burden grievously.
    Thou shalt be only oppressed and crushed alway. Deut. xxviii. 33.
  5. To overcome completely; to subdue totally.
    Speedily overtaking and crushing the rebels. Sir. W. Scott.
Crush intransitive verb
Definitions
  1. To be or become broken down or in, or pressed into a smaller compass, by external weight or force; as, an eggshell crushes easily.
Crush noun
Definitions
  1. A violent collision or compression; a crash; destruction; ruin.
    The wreck of matter, and the crush of worlds. Addison.
  2. Violent pressure, as of a crowd; a crowd which produced uncomfortable pressure; as, a crush at a peception.
    Politics leave very little time for the bow window at White's in the day, or for the crush room of the opera at night. Macualay.

Webster 1913