CRUSH

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does crush mean? 

• CRUSH (noun)
  The noun CRUSH has 4 senses:

1. leather that has had its grain pattern accentuated

2. a dense crowd of people

3. temporary love of an adolescent

4. the act of crushing

  Familiarity information: CRUSH used as a noun is uncommon.

• CRUSH (verb)
  The verb CRUSH has 8 senses:

1. come down on or keep down by unjust use of one's authority

2. to compress with violence, out of natural shape or condition

3. come out better in a competition, race, or conflict

4. break into small pieces

5. humiliate or depress completely

6. crush or bruise

7. make ineffective

8. become injured, broken, or distorted by pressure

  Familiarity information: CRUSH used as a verb is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CRUSH (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Leather that has had its grain pattern accentuated

Classified under:

Nouns denoting substances

Synonyms:

crush; crushed leather

Hypernyms ("crush" is a kind of...):

leather (an animal skin made smooth and flexible by removing the hair and then tanning)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A dense crowd of people

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Synonyms:

crush; jam; press

Hypernyms ("crush" is a kind of...):

crowd (a large number of things or people considered together)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "crush"):

snarl-up; traffic jam (a number of vehicles blocking one another until they can scarcely move)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Temporary love of an adolescent

Classified under:

Nouns denoting feelings and emotions

Synonyms:

calf love; crush; infatuation; puppy love

Hypernyms ("crush" is a kind of...):

love (a strong positive emotion of regard and affection)

Sense 4

Meaning:

The act of crushing

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

compaction; crunch; crush

Hypernyms ("crush" is a kind of...):

compressing; compression (applying pressure)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "crush"):

grind; mill; pulverisation; pulverization (the act of grinding to a powder or dust)

Derivation:

crush (break into small pieces)

crush (to compress with violence, out of natural shape or condition)

• CRUSH (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they crush    ... he / she / it crushes   
Past simple: crushed   
Past participle: crushed   
-ing form: crushing   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Come down on or keep down by unjust use of one's authority

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

crush; oppress; suppress

Context example:

The government oppresses political activists

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "crush"):

keep down; quash; reduce; repress; subdue; subjugate (put down by force or intimidation)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Derivation:

crushing (forceful prevention; putting down by power or authority)

Sense 2

Meaning:

To compress with violence, out of natural shape or condition

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

crush; mash; squash; squeeze; squelch

Context example:

squeeze a lemon

Hypernyms (to "crush" is one way to...):

press (exert pressure or force to or upon)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "crush"):

wring (twist, squeeze, or compress in order to extract liquid)

stamp (crush or grind with a heavy instrument)

steamroller (crush with a steamroller as if to level)

tread (crush as if by treading on)

telescope (crush together or collapse)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something

Derivation:

crush (the act of crushing)

crusher (a device that crushes something)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Come out better in a competition, race, or conflict

Classified under:

Verbs of fighting, athletic activities

Synonyms:

beat; beat out; crush; shell; trounce; vanquish

Context example:

Harvard defeated Yale in the last football game

Hypernyms (to "crush" is one way to...):

defeat; get the better of; overcome (win a victory over)

"Crush" entails doing...:

win (be the winner in a contest or competition; be victorious)

Verb group:

beat; circumvent; outfox; outsmart; outwit; overreach (beat through cleverness and wit)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "crush"):

get over; master; overcome; subdue; surmount (get on top of; deal with successfully)

bat; clobber; cream; drub; lick; thrash (beat thoroughly and conclusively in a competition or fight)

outplay (excel or defeat in a game)

immobilise; immobilize (make defenseless)

checkmate; mate (place an opponent's king under an attack from which it cannot escape and thus ending the game)

overmaster; overpower; overwhelm (overcome by superior force)

outfight (to fight better than; get the better of)

best; outdo; outflank; scoop; trump (get the better of)

exceed; outdo; outgo; outmatch; outperform; outstrip; surmount; surpass (be or do something to a greater degree)

cheat; chicane; chouse; jockey; screw; shaft (defeat someone through trickery or deceit)

get the jump (be there first)

rout; spread-eagle; spreadeagle (defeat disastrously)

get the best; have the best; overcome (overcome, usually through no fault or weakness of the person that is overcome)

whomp (beat overwhelmingly)

mop up; pip; rack up; whip; worst (defeat thoroughly)

eliminate (remove from a contest or race)

walk over (beat easily)

outpoint; outscore (score more points than one's opponents)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Sentence example:

The fighter managed to crush his opponent

Sense 4

Meaning:

Break into small pieces

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Context example:

The car crushed the toy

Hypernyms (to "crush" is one way to...):

break up; fragment; fragmentise; fragmentize (break or cause to break into pieces)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "crush"):

bruise (break up into small pieces for food preparation)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Sentence example:

They crush the glass tubes

Derivation:

crush (the act of crushing)

crusher (a device that crushes something)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Humiliate or depress completely

Classified under:

Verbs of feeling

Synonyms:

crush; smash

Context example:

The death of her son smashed her

Hypernyms (to "crush" is one way to...):

abase; chagrin; humble; humiliate; mortify (cause to feel shame; hurt the pride of)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Sentence example:

The bad news will crush him

Sense 6

Meaning:

Crush or bruise

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

crush; jam

Context example:

jam a toe

Hypernyms (to "crush" is one way to...):

bruise; contuse (injure the underlying soft tissue or bone of)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 7

Meaning:

Make ineffective

Classified under:

Verbs of fighting, athletic activities

Synonyms:

break down; crush

Context example:

Martin Luther King tried to break down racial discrimination

Hypernyms (to "crush" is one way to...):

alter; change; modify (cause to change; make different; cause a transformation)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Sense 8

Meaning:

Become injured, broken, or distorted by pressure

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Context example:

The plastic bottle crushed against the wall

Hypernyms (to "crush" is one way to...):

break; come apart; fall apart; separate; split up (become separated into pieces or fragments)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Something is ----ing PP

Sentence example:

The glass tubes crush

 Context examples 

McFarlane turned to us with a gesture of despair, and sank into his chair once more like one who is crushed.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his breast, like one who is utterly crushed.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

And when the great Ivan fell across his legs, hurled there lifeless and crushed by a down-rushing rock, he remembered the blind eyes of Old Kinoos and was glad.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

From every side the books seemed to press upon him and crush him.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

He bowed with the look of a man who is utterly crushed, and slunk past me without a word.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

In this instance I could not see, but I could hear the impact of the blows—the soft crushing sound made by flesh striking forcibly against flesh.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Don't say such things, Jonathan, my husband; or you will crush me with fear and horror.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Toto did not approve of this new comrade at first, for he could not forget how nearly he had been crushed between the Lion's great jaws.

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)

The bone was crushed, but there was no great external injury.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

And indeed the doom that is closing on us both has already changed and crushed him.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)