# crunch

Pronunciation: say "KRUNCH" /kɹʌnt͡ʃ/

## Verb

1. To make something, especially food, crackle loudly by crushing it.
   - Simple: To crush food or another hard thing, making a loud cracking sound.
   - _Children love to crunch hard candy at the movies._
   - _He crunched the dry leaves underfoot as he walked._
3. To give out a grinding sound, like that of something hard being crushed.
   - Simple: To make a grinding or cracking noise.
   - _The old wooden stairs crunch under heavy boots._
   - _Snow crunched beneath the tires as the car crept forward._
4. Of something brittle, to crackle noisily as it is crushed or trodden on.
   - Simple: To get crushed while making a loud cracking sound.
   - _The fallen leaves crunch satisfyingly beneath bare feet._
   - _The eggshells crunched as the truck rolled over them._
7. To perform calculations on or otherwise process large amounts of numbers or data. *(slang)*
   - Simple: To work out a lot of numbers or data, usually with a computer.
   - _Analysts crunch terabytes of sales data to spot trends._
   - _The software crunched the survey results in seconds._
9. To grind or press something with violence and noise.
   - Simple: To grind or press something hard, with force and noise.
   - _The glacier slowly crunched boulders beneath its enormous weight._
   - _Industrial crushers crunch scrap metal into compact bales._
13. To make the gears grind harshly by releasing the clutch before they are properly synchronized.
   - Simple: To make a car's gears grind noisily by letting the clutch out too soon.
   - _Learning to drive a stick shift, she crunched the gears at every stop sign._
   - _New drivers often crunch the gears before they master the clutch._
14. To use a compression algorithm to reduce the size of data while allowing the original to be recovered by decrunching.
   - Simple: To squeeze computer data into a smaller size so it can be opened again later.
   - _Engineers crunch the dataset before transmitting it over the slow link._
   - _The utility crunched the archive down to a fraction of its original size._
16. To make employees work overtime in order to meet a deadline in a project's development. *(slang)*
   - Simple: To make workers put in extra hours so a project gets finished on time.
   - _The publisher crunched the team for six weeks before the launch._
   - _Some studios crunch their developers to hit nearly impossible deadlines._

## Noun

2. A noisy crackling sound, such as the one heard when something hard is crushed.
   - Simple: A loud cracking or breaking sound.
   - _The satisfying crunch of fresh snow accompanied every step._
   - _A sudden crunch from the kitchen made her look up._
5. A critical or decisive moment or event.
   - Simple: A very important moment when something must be decided.
   - _When the crunch came, the negotiators finally reached a deal._
   - _Every athlete dreams of delivering in the crunch._
6. A shortage of something in demand, such as money, fuel, or housing. *(slang)*
   - Simple: A time when there is not enough of something, like money or fuel.
   - _The credit crunch made it hard for small businesses to borrow._
   - _A housing crunch in the city pushed rents to record highs._
8. An abdominal exercise based on a sit-up, but in which the lower back stays in contact with the floor.
   - Simple: An exercise for your stomach muscles, done by lifting your head and shoulders off the floor.
   - _The trainer demonstrated a proper crunch before the class began._
   - _He finished his workout with three sets of crunches._
10. A pressing problem that builds toward a crisis.
   - Simple: A serious problem that builds up until it turns into a crisis.
   - _The team faced a real crunch when funding dried up days before launch._
   - _A cash-flow crunch pushed the small business to the brink of closing._
11. A dessert made of fruit baked beneath a crisp, crunchy topping.
   - Simple: A baked dessert with fruit on the bottom and a crisp, crunchy layer on top.
   - _She baked an apple crunch for the church potluck._
   - _We served the rhubarb crunch warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream._
12. In cooking, small pieces made by crushing, or small pieces of any material with a crumbly or crunchy texture.
   - Simple: Small crunchy or crumbly bits of food, often made by crushing something.
   - _The granola bar was packed with toasted oat crunches._
   - _He picked a stray crunch of honeycomb off the cake and popped it into his mouth._
15. The overtime work needed to catch up and finish a project, usually in the final weeks before release. *(slang)*
   - Simple: The extra hours of work needed near the end of a project to finish it on time.
   - _The final crunch left the development team exhausted and burned out._
   - _Management announced another crunch to hit the December deadline._
17. A moderate level of distortion, especially in an amplified guitar's tone.
   - Simple: A medium amount of fuzzy, rough sound added to a guitar or amp.
   - _She rolled back the gain until the riff had just a touch of crunch._
   - _The pedal adds a warm crunch without burying the melody._
18. The symbol #, the crosshatch character found on telephone keypads and computer keyboards. *(US)*
   - Simple: The # symbol, found on a phone keypad or keyboard.
   - _Enter your account number on the keypad, then hit the crunch key to confirm._
   - _Any line that starts with a crunch is a comment, so the script skips it._

## Origin

From the earlier forms 'craunch' and 'cranch,' a word of imitative origin that echoes the crunching sound.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/crunch (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).