crunch

present singular third person crunches · participle present crunching · participle past crunched · past crunched

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

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

   1 more example

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

   1816, Lord Byron, The Siege of Corinth

2. To be crushed with a noisy crackling sound.

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

3. slangTo calculate or otherwise process (e.g. to crunch numbers: to perform mathematical calculations). Presumably from the sound made by mechanical calculators.

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

4. To grind or press with violence and noise.

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

   1854, E.K. Kane, “The United States Grinnell Expedition in Search of Sir John Franklin: a personal Narrative”, in The Living Age, page 517

   1 more example

   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.

   1921, Ben Travers, chapter 5, in A Cuckoo in the Nest, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1925, →OCLC

5. To emit a grinding or crunching noise.

   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[…]

   1849, Henry James, Confidence

6. transitiveautomotiveTo cause the gears to emit a crunching sound by releasing the clutch before the gears are properly synchronised.
7. transitivecomputingTo compress (data) using a particular algorithm, so that it can be restored by decrunching.

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

   1993, Michael Barsoom, “[comp.sys.amiga.announce] PackIt Announcement”, in comp.archives (Usenet)

8. slangtransitivecomputingTo make employees work overtime in order to meet a deadline in the development of a project.

plural crunches

1. A noisy crackling sound; the sound usually associated with crunching.
   1. Crunchiness.

      I like the crunch of those crackers.

   2. generally in the pluralcookingA small piece created by crushing; a piece of material with a friable or crunchy texture.

      Smear the peanut butter, fluff, and a bit of the nutella all over, even to the very edge of the wrap. Sprinkle the crunches on top and then start rolling from one of the non-trimmed edges

      2014 December 18, “Fluffernutter and Nutella Yule Log”, in The Lovely Crazy

   3. A dessert consisting of a crunchy topping with fruit underneath.

      Synonyms: crisp, crumble

2. A critical moment or event.

   It always pains me (slightly) when a flaming young radical like Neil Miller turns out when the crunch comes to be such an ardent defender of the status quo.

   1976 August 21, A. Nolder Gay, “Another View”, in Gay Community News, volume 4, number 8, page 4

   1 more example

   The friends, on the contrary, argue that Job does not "know", that only God knows; yet, when it comes to the crunch, they themselves seem to know as much as God knows: for example, that Job is a guilty sinner.

   1985, John C. L. Gibson, Job, page 237

   1. A problem that leads to a crisis.

      The crunch is characterized by extremely depressed liquidity and deteriorated balance sheet positions for households, corporations, and financial institutions[…]

      1994, Martin H. Wolfson, Financial Crises: Understanding the Postwar U.S. Experience, page 22

   2. slangcomputingThe overtime work required to catch up and finish a project, usually in the final weeks of development before release.
   3. slangA shortage.

      But a supply crunch, which is already affecting the drive, could slow it down further.

      2021 April 22, “Covid: India sets global record for new cases amid oxygen shortage”, in BBC News

3. exerciseA form of abdominal exercise, based on a sit-up but in which the lower back remains in contact with the floor.

   But even I draw the line at “doing crunches” in designer clothes. Fashion sneakers are for swanking around the shops, not for running in. And so, like everyone else, I wear grotty old tracksuits earmarked for Oxfam, and tragic free festival T-shirts that give away my age.

   2017 November 16, Jo Ellison, “Help: the gym has turned us into slobs”, in Financial Times

4. USThe symbol #.
5. entertainmentModerate distortion.