cracks

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of crack.

   Hairline cracks spread through the ceiling after the earthquake.

   Workers sealed the cracks in the pavement before winter set in.

   Note

   The counting form of the noun, used whenever there is more than one fissure, gap, wisecrack or sharp report: hairline cracks in plaster, a few cracks about his accent, the cracks of distant gunfire. The same spelling is also the present-tense verb, so read the neighbor. After a determiner or adjective it is the noun (the cracks, deep cracks). After a singular subject it is the verb (the ice cracks).

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of crack.

   The whip cracks loudly across the empty field.

   She finally cracks the code after hours of patient effort.

   Note

   One spelling serves every meaning of the verb in the present tense with a singular subject: the ice cracks, a witness finally cracks under questioning, a boy's voice cracks mid-sentence. The senses of breaking down often take under, as in cracks under pressure or cracks under interrogation. No auxiliary is needed here. For an ongoing action, use the progressive, is cracking.

   He never cracks under pressure, however hard they push.

   Her voice cracks whenever she reaches the high note.

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