crush

From Middle English cruschen (“to crush, smash, squeeze, squash”), from Old French croissir (“to crush”), from Late Latin *cruscio (“to brush”), from Frankish *krostjan (“to crush, squeeze, squash”). Akin to Gothic 𐌺𐍂𐌹𐌿𐍃𐍄𐌰𐌽 (kriustan, “to gnash”), Old Swedish krusa (“to crush”), Middle Low German krossen (“to break”), Swedish krysta (“to squeeze”), Danish kryste (“to squash”), Icelandic kreista (“to squeeze, squash”), Faroese kroysta (“to squeeze”).

• IPA^(key): /kɹʌʃ/

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• Rhymes: -ʌʃ

crush (plural crushes)

1. A violent collision or compression; a crash; destruction; ruin.
   • 1921, Alexis Thomson and Alexander Miles, Manual of Surgery

     The more highly the injured part is endowed with sensory nerves the more marked is the shock; a crush of the hand, for example, is attended with a more intense degree of shock than a correspondingly severe crush of the foot

2. Violent pressure, as of a moving crowd.
3. A crowd that produces uncomfortable pressure.

   a crush at a reception

4. A violent crowding.
5. A crowd control barrier.
6. An infatuation or affection for someone.

   I've had a huge crush on her since we met many years ago.

7. The human object of such infatuation or affection.
   • 2004, Chris Wallace, Character: Profiles in Presidential Courage

     It had taken nine years from the evening that Truman first showed up with a pie plate at her mother's door, but his dogged perseverance eventually won him the hand of his boyhood Sunday school crush.

8. A standing stock or cage with movable sides used to restrain livestock for safe handling.
9. (dated) A party or festive function.
   • 1890 Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray chapter 1

     Two months ago I went to a crush at Lady Brandon's.

10. (Australia) The process of crushing cane to remove the raw sugar, or the season that this process takes place in.

crush (third-person singular simple present crushes, present participle crushing, simple past and past participle crushed)

1. To press between two hard objects; to squeeze so as to alter the natural shape or integrity of it, or to force together into a mass.

   to crush grapes

   • 1769, Benjamin Blayney, King James Bible : Leviticus 22:24

     Ye shall not offer unto the LORD that which is bruised, or crushed, or broken, or cut

2. To reduce to fine particles by pounding or grinding

   Synonym: comminute

   to crush quartz

   • 1912, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Tarzan of the Apes, Chapter 1

     With a wild scream he was upon her, tearing a great piece from her side with his mighty teeth, and striking her viciously upon her head and shoulders with a broken tree limb until her skull was crushed to a jelly.

3. (figuratively) To overwhelm by pressure or weight.
   • 2011 November 11, Rory Houston, “Estonia 0-4 Republic of Ireland”, in RTE Sport‎:

     A stunning performance from the Republic of Ireland all but sealed progress to Euro 2012 as they crushed nine-man Estonia 4-0 in the first leg of the qualifying play-off tie in A Le Coq Arena in Tallinn.

   After the corruption scandal, the opposition crushed the ruling party in the elections

4. To oppress or grievously burden.
5. To overcome completely; to subdue totally.

   The sultan's black guard crushed every resistance bloodily.

   • 1814, Sir Walter Scott, Waverley

     the prospect of the Duke's speedily overtaking and crushing the rebels

6. (intransitive) To be or become broken down or in, or pressed into a smaller compass, by external weight or force

   an eggshell crushes easily

7. (intransitive) To feel infatuation or unrequited love.

   She's crushing on him.

   • 2011, May'lon Miranda, Love Is Blind, →ISBN, page 58:

     ... I could just let loose and be myself no holding back you know we just where to young kids in love, lust, crushing whatever you wanted to call it but we where living it up having fun when we where together the rest of the world didn't exist ...

   • 2013, Sarra Manning, Diary of a Crush: Kiss and Make Up, →ISBN:

     And the one subject that I get an A plus in every time, is the ancient art of crushing. I crush, therefore I am. I've decided to share the benefit of my wisdom and after months of hopelessly lusting after Dylan, I've REALISED that there are twelve degrees of crushing from the slightly embarrassing things most girls will do to catch the eye of the heir to their heart, to the verging on ridiculous stunts you pull when you're in the grip of a passion that renders you powerless.

   • 2013, Shozan Jack Haubner, Zen Confidential: Confessions of a Wayward Monk, →ISBN, page 130:

     "I respect your wiring," he explained, "but I'm crushing on you. And when I crush, I crush hard.” He thought it would be better if we stopped seeing each other for a while.

• crush in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

• Rusch, Schur, churs

Borrowed from English crush.

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈkɾɐʃ/, /ˈkɾɐ.ʃi/, /ˈkɹɐʃ/

crush m or m f (in variation) (plural crushes or crush)

1. (colloquial) crush (a love interest)