crash pad

noun

Any place used for temporary lodging, especially without payment or permission.

Meanings

nouncrash pad (plural crash pads)

plural crash pads · alternative crashpad

  1. Any place used for temporary lodging, especially without payment or permission.
    1. aeronauticsA place of temporary lodging for airline flight crews.
      1 more example

      The first officer did not have a crash pad in the EWR area. A captain who had flown with the first officer when she was based at ORF stated that she planned to stay overnight at hotels once she began commuting from SEA to EWR. According to a cargo air carrier captain who met the first officer in December 2008 while they were jumpseat passengers, the first officer stated that she did not need a crash pad at EWR because she could stay in the crew lounge.

      2010 February 2, National Transportation Safety Board, “1.5.2 The First Officer”, in Aircraft Accident Report: Loss of Control on Approach, Colgan Air, Inc., Operating as Continental Connection Flight 3407, Bombardier DHC-8-400, N200WQ, Clarence Center, New York, February 12, 2009, archived from the original on 12 May 2022, page 13
  2. climbingA protective foam pad placed on the ground, used as protection in case of falling from the wall.

    Synonyms: crashmat, bouldering mat

  3. slangA room where one can recover after a bad trip.

    They may then go to a hippie clinic crash pad to be "talked down."

    1969, American Journal of Psychiatry, volume 125, number 4, page 154
    3 more examples

    Ideally, he could be referred to a nearby "crash pad" where a peer "guide" that he should have taken with him on his trip to begin with could bring him back to sanity in a safe, but nonmedical environment.

    1973, United States. Congress. House. Committee on Government Operations. Special Studies Subcommittee, Evaluating the Federal effort to control drug abuse

    Because of the fear of a bad trip (a bummer), many LSD users will not take the drug except in controlled settings or in a crash pad.

    1979, Jay Strack, Drugs and drinking: what every teen and parent should know, →ISBN, page 49

    One lovely scene in his bachelor apartment-turned-crash-pad is dominated by a 300-pound man having a bad trip on LSD, amid countless other frenzied happenings.

    1982, Michael Starks, Cocaine Fiends and Reefer Madness

Synonyms & antonyms

nounA protective foam pad placed on the ground, used as protection in case of falling from the wall.

Cite this entry
APA

crash pad. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/crash%20pad

MLA

“crash pad.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/crash%20pad. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “crash pad,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/crash%20pad.

Source: crash pad on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.