crunchverb/kɹʌnt͡ʃ/

• 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.
  • And their white tusks crunch'd o'er the whiter skull,
• 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.
  • 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.
• 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[…]
• 6

  automotivetransportvehiclesTo cause the gears to emit a crunching sound by releasing the clutch before the gears are properly synchronised.

• 7

  computingengineeringmathematicsTo compress (data) using a particular algorithm, so that it can be restored by decrunching.

  • PackIt will not crunch executables, unless told to do so.
• 8

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

crunchnoun/kɹʌnt͡ʃ/

• 1

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

  • I like the crunch of those crackers.
• 2

  cookingfoodlifestyleA noisy crackling sound; the sound usually associated with crunching.

  • 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
• 3

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

• 4

  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.
  • 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.
• 5

  A critical moment or event.

  • The crunch is characterized by extremely depressed liquidity and deteriorated balance sheet positions for households, corporations, and financial institutions[…]
• 6

  slangcomputingengineeringmathematicsA critical moment or event.

• 7

  slangA critical moment or event.

  • But a supply crunch, which is already affecting the drive, could slow it down further.
• 8

  exercisehobbieslifestyleA 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.