crash out

present singular third person crashes out · participle present crashing out · participle past crashed out · past crashed out

1. informalTo fall asleep from exhaustion.

   He crashed out after a long day of work.

   1 more example

   We walked by Eric's room across the hall and I thought maybe he was still up, or maybe crashed out?

   2006, G. S. Morrison, A Rock and Roll Fantasy, page 85

   Synonyms: crash

2. informalcomputingTo terminate with an unhandled error; to crash.

   Harry didn't know why but the computer crashed out all of a sudden.

3. informalTo be eliminated from a competition.

   He crashed out at the second round of the tournament.

   2 more examples

   After 23 miles, John crashed out of his third attempt at the elusive 40-mile world track record, unable to do any more than clutch his knotted stomach as Lynn Hughes, the vibrant son of a Welsh miner, swept in with a new British best of 4 hours.

   2011, Bill Jones, The Ghost Runner: The Tragedy of the Man They Couldn't Stop

   They joined Sunderland and Middlesbrough in crashing out of the competition at the third-round stage this season.

   2011 January 8, Paul Fletcher, “Stevenage 3 - 1 Newcastle”, in BBC, archived from the original on 29 Feb 2012

4. transitiveTo produce or create rapidly; to bang out.

   1 more example

   Pasternak told me that she and Hewitt “met halfway between Devon and London in a field, and he said, ‘Diana wants the story told but with two conditions. One, it has to come out before Morton’s second book, and two, it has to be a love story.’ ” To oblige her, Pasternak says she crashed it out in five weeks.

   2022 April 5, Tina Brown, “How Princess Diana’s Dance With the Media Impacted William and Harry”, in Vanity Fair, archived from the original on 02 Dec 2022

5. chemistryTo rapidly precipitate.

   These solutions, however, were unstable and immediately crashed out.

   2006, Adam M. Schwartzberg, Synthesis, Optical Properties, and Sensing with Gold Nanoparticles, Aggregates, and Hollow Gold Nanospheres, page 135

   2 more examples

   One of the biggest challenges of in vitro assays is dealing with compounds that have low aqueous solubility that crash out of solution when they are added to the assay buffer or culture medium.

   2013, Jie Jack Li, E. J. Corey, Drug Discovery: Practices, Processes, and Perspectives

   A supersaturated solution is unstable; solute molecules may crash out of solution given the slightest perturbation.

   2015, John T. Moore, Chris Hren, Peter J. Mikulecky, U Can: Chemistry I For Dummies, page 267

6. slangTo become uncontrollably angry or upset; to rage, snap.

   If I had a boss like that, I'd crash out too.

   3 more examples

   Losing six games in a row was enough to make my friend start crashing out.

   But instead of crashing out over, say, Haitian immigrants allegedly eating cats and dogs in Ohio, Piker’s guests will argue over things like “What’s the best cheese?” or “Is Five Guys a fast-food restaurant?”

   2024 September 18, Levi Winslow, “Streamer Hasan Piker Is Twitch’s Foremost Debate Lord”, in Complex, archived from the original on 22 Sep 2024

   “It’s kind of this forewarning of like, ‘Hey you’re annoying me, I’m going to crash out,’” he said, “or like, ‘This project I’m working on is going to make me crash out.’”

   2025 June 17, Nicole Stock, “Why Is Everybody ‘Crashing Out’?”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 18 Jun 2025

   Synonyms: lose one's cool, fly off the handle, go apeshit, throw a fit, erupt, snap

7. USslangTo break out of a prison.
8. InternetAfrican-American VernacularTo act out recklessly and violently, often in a way that leads to self-destruction or serious consequences, typically in enraged reaction to something.

plural crash outs · alternative crashout

1. InternetAfrican-American VernacularA reckless individual, often with nothing to lose; a person prone to crashing out.

   The combination of excessive social media, lack of sleep, and unhealthy caffeine use creates plenty of crash outs.

   2 more examples

   Niggas really be crash outs wit no motion biggest life asset be a pistol that shit crazy

   2023 February 14, @1lonerlifestyle, Twitter, archived from the original on 05 Jul 2024

   calling all crashouts in atlanta, please put this nigga in a blender 🙏🏾

   2024 February 8, @JrMoneyGetting, Twitter, archived from the original on 05 Jul 2024

2. InternetAfrican-American VernacularAn instance of being uncontrollably angry or upset.

   The McDonald's employee's crash out was recorded on multiple phones and went viral online.

   1 more example

   Ms. Toro, a 30-year-old project manager, documented her “crash out” in a video that has raced to more than 600,000 views, joining the ranks of countless TikTok users who have employed some iteration of the phrase to describe their burst of emotions — and at times, intentional overreactions.

   2025 June 17, Nicole Stock, “Why Is Everybody ‘Crashing Out’?”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 18 Jun 2025