Definition

1. Noun:

   • The act of crushing: The action of applying great pressure to something, often resulting in its deformation or destruction.
   • Temporary love of an adolescent: An intense, often brief infatuation, especially experienced by a young person.
   • A dense crowd of people: A large, tightly packed group of people.
   • Leather that has had its grain pattern accentuated: Leather treated to highlight its natural surface texture.

2. Verb:

   • To compress with violence, out of natural shape or condition: To press or squeeze something so hard that it becomes deformed, broken, or flattened.
   • To break into small pieces by pressure: To cause something to disintegrate into fragments.
   • To subdue or overwhelm completely: To defeat or suppress something or someone utterly, often in a psychological or emotional sense.
   • To come out better in a competition, race, or conflict: To defeat an opponent decisively.
   • To crowd or press into a confined space: To force people or things into a tight area.
   • To become injured, broken, or distorted by pressure: To undergo deformation or damage from being pressed.

Examples of Usage

• Noun:

  • The crush of the crowd made it difficult to move. (The dense crowd made movement hard.)
  • She had a crush on her math teacher in high school. (She had an adolescent infatuation for her math teacher.)
  • The machine applies a powerful crush to the cans for recycling. (The machine applies a strong act of crushing to the cans.)

• Verb:

  • Please don't crush the bread when you pack the groceries. (Please don't compress and deform the bread.)
  • The army moved in to crush the rebellion. (The army moved in to suppress the rebellion completely.)
  • Our team crushed their opponents in the final match. (Our team defeated their opponents decisively.)
  • Too many people were crushed into the tiny elevator. (Too many people were pressed into the small elevator.)

Advanced Usage

• "to crush on someone": To have a romantic infatuation with someone.
  • He's been crushing on his coworker for months. (He has had an infatuation with his coworker.)
• "to get a crush on": To begin to feel an infatuation for someone.
  • I think I'm getting a crush on the new student. (I think I'm starting to feel infatuated with the new student.)

Variants and Related Words

• Crusher (n): A machine or person that crushes.
  • The ore crusher broke down. (The machine for crushing ore stopped working.)
• Crushing (adj): Overwhelming; devastating.
  • The news was a crushing blow to her hopes. (The news was a devastating blow.)
• Crushable (adj): Capable of being crushed.
  • The package contains crushable items. (The package contains items that can be deformed by pressure.)

Synonyms

• Verb: Squeeze, squash, smash, pulverize, overwhelm, defeat, subdue.
• Noun: Infatuation, passion, crowd, throng, press.

Related Phrasal Verbs

• Crush down: To press or force something down.
  • Crush down the soil around the plant. (Press the soil down firmly around the plant.)
• Crush out:
  • To extinguish by pressing (e.g., a cigarette).

    • He crushed out his cigar in the ashtray. (He extinguished his cigar by pressing it.)
  • To extract by crushing.

    • Crush out the juice from the grapes. (Extract the juice by crushing the grapes.)
• Crush up: To break something into very small pieces or powder by crushing.
  • Crush up the pills before mixing them with food. (Break the pills into powder.)

Related Idioms

• Crush it: (Informal) To perform a task with exceptional success and energy.
  • You're going to crush it in your presentation today! (You are going to do amazingly well in your presentation!)
• Have a crush on: To be infatuated with someone.
  • It's obvious she has a crush on him. (It's obvious she is infatuated with him.)

Noun

1. the act of crushing
2. temporary love of an adolescent
3. a dense crowd of people
4. leather that has had its grain pattern accentuated

Verb

1. become injured, broken, or distorted by pressure
   • The plastic bottle crushed against the wall
2. make ineffective
   • Martin Luther King tried to break down racial discrimination
3. crush or bruise
   • jam a toe
4. humiliate or depress completely
   • She was crushed by his refusal of her invitation
   • The death of her son smashed her
5. break into small pieces
   • The car crushed the toy
6. come out better in a competition, race, or conflict
   • Agassi beat Becker in the tennis championship
   • We beat the competition
   • Harvard defeated Yale in the last football game
7. to compress with violence, out of natural shape or condition
   • crush an aluminum can
   • squeeze a lemon
8. come down on or keep down by unjust use of one's authority
   • The government oppresses political activists