Meaning

To crush something, especially food, with a noisy crackling sound..

Definitions by Sense

1. To crush something, especially food, with a noisy crackling sound.
2. To be crushed with a noisy crackling sound.
3. (slang) To calculate or otherwise process (e.g. to crunch numbers: to perform mathematical calculations). Presumably from the sound made by mechanical calculators.
4. To grind or press with violence and noise.
5. To emit a grinding or crunching noise.
6. (automotive, transitive) To cause the gears to emit a crunching sound by releasing the clutch before the gears are properly synchronised.
7. (computing, transitive) To compress (data) using a particular algorithm, so that it can be restored by decrunching.
8. (software engineering, slang, transitive) To make employees work overtime in order to meet a deadline in the development of a project.

Example Sentences

When I came home, Susan was watching TV with her feet up on the couch, crunching a piece of celery.

And their white tusks crunch'd o'er the whiter skull,

Beetles crunched beneath the men's heavy boots as they worked.

That metadata makes it much easier for the search engine to crunch the data for queries.

The sound of our vessel crunching her way through the new ice is not easy to be described.

The departure was not unduly prolonged.[…]Within the door Mrs. Spoker hastily imparted to Mrs. Love a few final sentiments on the subject of Divine Intention in the disposition of buckets; farewells and last commiserations; a deep, guttural instigation to the horse; and the wheels of the waggonette crunched heavily away into obscurity.

There were sounds in the air above his head – sounds of the crunching and rattling of the loose, smooth stones as his neighbors moved about[…]

PackIt will not crunch executables, unless told to do so.

Word Forms

• crunches
• crunching
• crunched

Synonyms for crunch

Related Words

When Should You Use Crunch?

Use crunch when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.

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