Word forms: plural, 3rd person singular presenttense crunches, present participle crunching, past tense, past participle crunched
1. verb
If you crunch something hard, such as a sweet, you crush it noisily between your teeth.
She sucked an ice cube into her mouth, and crunched it loudly. [VERB noun]
Richard crunched into the apple. [V + into/on]
Synonyms: chomp, champ, munch, masticate More Synonyms of crunch
2. verb
If something crunches or if you crunch it, it makes a breaking or crushing noise, for example when you step on it.
A piece of china crunched under my foot. [VERB]
He crunched the sheets of paper in his hands. [VERB noun]
Crunch is also a noun.
She heard the crunch of tires on the gravel driveway. [+ of]
3. verb
If you crunch across a surface made of very small stones, you move across it causing it to makea crunching noise.
I crunched across the gravel. [VERB preposition/adverb]
...wheels crunching over a stony surface. [VERB preposition/adverb]
4. singular noun [oft NOUN noun]
You can refer to an important time or event, for example when an important decision has to be made, as thecrunch.
Tomorrow, though, is the crunch.
He can rely on my support when the crunch comes.
The Prime Minister is expected to call a crunch meeting on Monday.
See if it comes to the crunch/when it comes to the crunch
5. verb
To crunch numbers means to do a lot of calculations using a calculator or computer.
I pored over the books with great enthusiasm, often crunching the numbers until 1:00a.m. [VERB noun]
6. countable noun
A situation in which a business or economy has very little money can be referred to as a crunch.
[business]
The U.N. is facing a cash crunch.
...a financial crunch that could threaten the company's future.
7. countable noun
Crunches are exercises that you do to strengthen your stomach muscles. They involve sitting up from a lying position with your legs straight, bent, or raised.
He spends hours doing crunches and squats in the gym.
crunch in British English
(krʌntʃ)
verb
1.
to bite or chew (crisp foods) with a crushing or crackling sound
2.
to make or cause to make a crisp or brittle sound
the snow crunched beneath his feet
3. (transitive) informal
to perform calculations on (numbers or data) on a large scale
noun
4.
the sound or act of crunching
5. short for abdominal crunch
6. the crunch
adjective
7. informal
critical; decisive
crunch time
Also called: craunch
Derived forms
crunchable (ˈcrunchable)
adjective
crunchy (ˈcrunchy)
adjective
crunchily (ˈcrunchily)
adverb
crunchiness (ˈcrunchiness)
noun
Word origin
C19: changed (through influence of munch) from earlier craunch, of imitative origin
crunch in American English
(krʌntʃ)
verb intransitive, verb transitive
1.
to bite or chew with a noisy, crackling sound
2.
to press, grind, tread, fall, etc. with a noisy, crushing sound
3. Informal
to process (a vast quantity of numbers or other data) rapidly
using a computer to crunch population statistics
noun
4.
the act or sound of crunching
5.
an exercise much like a sit-up, in which the upper body is raised only slightly off the floor rather than to an upright position
6. US, Informal
a tight situation; specif., an economic squeeze
7. US, Slang
a showdown
Word origin
earlier craunch, of echoic orig.
More idioms containing
crunch
when it comes to the crunch
Examples of 'crunch' in a sentence
crunch
Yesterday the twins began crunch talks and emerged visibly upset.
The Sun (2016)
All clubs have been monitoring various players but now we are approaching crunch time where action is required if squads are to be bolstered.
The Sun (2017)
IT'S crunch time for the finalists in this year's Tipstar competition.
The Sun (2016)
It's crunch time - finesse or drop?
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
All 38 members of the LINK network are meeting next week for crunch talks.
The Sun (2017)
The lack of overlap between the two companies makes antitrust problems unlikely, although it also limits cost synergies from crunching the two businesses together to $400 million.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
This was the year when credit crunch turned into financial panic.
Times, Sunday Times (2008)
Yet the global credit crunch is not at all like that.
Times, Sunday Times (2008)
He could hear the loud rustle of the " little darlings" crunching through the leaves.
Clerk, Jayana & Siegel, Ruth Modern Literatures of the Non-Western World: Where the Waters Are Born (1995)
How has the credit crunch affected your business?
Times, Sunday Times (2009)
It has gone dead over the past few weeks as the credit crunch bites.
Times, Sunday Times (2007)
The reliance on number crunching was also misleading.
Times, Sunday Times (2008)
The selection is made through number crunching and meetings with fund managers to assess their skill.
Times, Sunday Times (2014)
That coincided with the global credit crunch and the economy almost ground to a halt.
Times, Sunday Times (2010)
And then you hear a distant crunching noise and then a large mushroom cloud became visible.
Times, Sunday Times (2015)
Others in the toy company crunch numbers and plot graphs.
Christianity Today (2000)
The firm blamed the collapse on a cash crunch as suppliers demanded to be paid upfront.
The Sun (2012)
But they will head into that crunch clash having taken only a solitary point from their last three games.
The Sun (2013)
There is a particular kind of crunching sound known only to those who have been involved in a traffic accident.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
The depressing thing is that the credit crunch will probably cause a lot of projects like these to go belly up.
Times, Sunday Times (2008)
Tell her this is crunch time.
The Sun (2009)
He must have known that we all needed cheering up as we struggle with the credit crunch and financial doom and gloom.
The Sun (2008)
Here, people are dealing with the credit crunch by saving money.
The Sun (2008)
The group is blaming the credit crunch, saying that its lending costs have risen.
Times, Sunday Times (2009)
This is a crunch moment for the Coalition.
The Sun (2011)
One viewer who crunched the figures reckoned it could sell on for 750,000.
Times, Sunday Times (2007)
The ex-England boss will hold crunch talks about his future when he returns from holiday tomorrow.
The Sun (2015)
Apparently with the credit crunch an awful lot of people are giving up or abandoning their dogs because they can't afford to look after them.
Times, Sunday Times (2009)
WOULD you like to get some advice from Mrs Crunch?
The Sun (2013)
These crunches work the abdominal muscles, which are used to stabilise the torso, protect the internal organs and keep the stomach area tight.
Times, Sunday Times (2013)
In other languages
crunch
British English: crunch VERB
If you crunch something hard, such as a sweet, you crush it noisily between your teeth.
She sucked an ice cube into her mouth, and crunched it loudly.
He crunched into an apple.
American English: crunch
Brazilian Portuguese: mastigar
Chinese: 嘎吱嘎吱地咬嚼
European Spanish: mascar
French: croquer
German: knabbern
Italian: sgranocchiare
Japanese: バリバリとかむ
Korean: 아삭아삭 씹어 먹다
European Portuguese: mastigar
Latin American Spanish: mascar
All related terms of 'crunch'
crunch time
the critical moment
the crunch
the critical moment or situation
credit crunch
A credit crunch is a period during which there is a sudden reduction in the amount of money that banks and other lenders have available to lend .
abdominal crunch
to raise (oneself or another) from a recumbent to an upright or alert sitting posture
crunchtime
the tense , critical phase of an activity
when it comes to the crunch
when a situation reaches a very important or difficult point and you must make a decision on how to progress
if it comes to the crunch/when it comes to the crunch
If you say that something will happen if or when it comes to the crunch , you mean that it will happen if or when the time comes when something has to be done.
Chinese translation of 'crunch'
crunch
(krʌntʃ)
vt
(with teeth) 嘎吱嘎吱地咬嚼 (gāzhīgāzhī de yǎojiáo)
(underfoot) 使发(發)出刺耳的碎裂声(聲) (shǐ fāchū cì'ěr de suìliè shēng)
vi
[gravel, wheels]发(發)出嘎吱声(聲) (fāchū gāzhī shēng)
n
(c) (= sound) 嘎吱声(聲) (gāzhī shēng)
(= moment of truth)
the crunch关(關)键(鍵)时(時)刻 (guānjiàn shíkè)
if/when it comes to the crunch如果/当(當)必须(須)得做点(點)什么(麼)的时(時)候 (rúguǒ/dāng bìxū děi zuò diǎn shénme de shíhou)
(verb)
Definition
to bite or chew with a noisy crushing sound
She sucked an ice cube and crunched it loudly.
Synonyms
chomp
champ
munch
Sheep were munching their way through a yellow carpet of leaves.
masticate
Her mouth was working, as if she was masticating some tasty titbit.
chew noisily
grind
phrase
See the crunch
Additional synonyms
in the sense of masticate
Definition
to chew food
Her mouth was working, as if she was masticating some tasty titbit.
Synonyms
chew,
eat,
champ,
crunch,
munch
in the sense of munch
Definition
to chew noisily and steadily
Sheep were munching their way through a yellow carpet of leaves.