Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To press between opposing bodies so as to break, compress, or injure.
  • intransitive verb To break, pound, or grind (stone or ore, for example) into small fragments or powder.
  • intransitive verb To put down with force; subdue.
  • intransitive verb To overwhelm or oppress severely.
  • intransitive verb To defeat overwhelmingly.
  • intransitive verb To crumple or rumple.
  • intransitive verb To hug, especially with great force.
  • intransitive verb To hit or propel with great force.
  • intransitive verb To press upon, shove, or crowd.
  • intransitive verb To extract or obtain by pressing or squeezing.
  • intransitive verb To be or become crushed.
  • intransitive verb To proceed or move by crowding or pressing.
  • noun The act of crushing or the pressure involved in crushing.
  • noun A great crowd.
  • noun A substance prepared by or as if by crushing, especially a fruit drink.
  • noun A usually temporary infatuation.
  • noun One who is the object of such an infatuation.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A violent collision or rushing together; a sudden or violent pressure; a breaking or bruising by pressure or by violent collision or rushing together.
  • noun Violent pressure caused by a crowd; a mass of objects crowded together; a compacted and obstructing crowd of persons, as at a ball or reception.
  • noun In Australia, a funnel-shaped, fenced lane or passageway for cattle.
  • noun In coal-mining: A general settlement of the strata above a coal-mine, due to failure of the pillars: generally accompanied by numerous local falls of roof-rocks in the workings.
  • noun A species of fault in coal.
  • noun The amount of cotton-seed crushed for oil during a given season: as, a large crush.
  • To press and bruise between two hard bodies; squeeze out of shape or normal condition.
  • To bruise and break into fragments or small particles, either by direct pressure or by grinding or pounding: as, to crush quartz.
  • To force down and bruise and break, as by a superincumbent weight: as, the man was crushed by the fall of a tree.
  • To put down; overpower; subdue absolutely; conquer beyond resistance: as, to crush one's enemies.
  • To oppress grievously.
  • To crowd or press upon.
  • To rumple or put out of shape by pressure or by rough handling: as, to crush a bonnet or a dress.
  • To destroy; frustrate: as, to crush out rebellion.
  • Synonyms Mash, etc. See dash.
  • To break, pound, pulverize, crumble, bray, disintegrate, demolish.
  • To overpower, prostrate, conquer, quell.
  • To be pressed out of shape, into a smaller compass, or into pieces, by external force: as, an egg-shell crushes readily in the hand.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • intransitive verb To be or become broken down or in, or pressed into a smaller compass, by external weight or force.
  • transitive verb To press or bruise between two hard bodies; to squeeze, so as to destroy the natural shape or integrity of the parts, or to force together into a mass.
  • transitive verb To reduce to fine particles by pounding or grinding; to comminute.
  • transitive verb To overwhelm by pressure or weight; to beat or force down, as by an incumbent weight.
  • transitive verb To oppress or burden grievously.
  • transitive verb To overcome completely; to subdue totally.
  • transitive verb to subdue or overwhelm (a person) by argument or a cutting remark; to cause (a person) to feel chagrin or humiliation; to squelch.
  • transitive verb [Obs.] to drink.
  • transitive verb To overcome or destroy completely; to suppress.
  • noun A violent collision or compression; a crash; destruction; ruin.
  • noun Violent pressure, as of a crowd; a crowd which produced uncomfortable pressure.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English crushen, from Old French croissir, of Germanic origin.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English cruschen, crousshen, Old French cruisir, croissir, from Late Latin *cruscio, from Frankish *krostjan. Akin to Gothic 𐌺𐍂𐌿𐌹𐍃𐍄𐌰𐌽 (kruistan, "to gnash"), Old Swedish krusa, krosa "to crush", Middle Low German krossen ("to break"), Swedish krysta ("to squeeze"), Danish kryste, Icelandic kreysta.

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Examples

Comments

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  • Amazing how it can mean to be infatuated with and adored, and at the same time, to pulverize.

    December 4, 2006

  • Perhaps someone can help me with what crush might mean in this - admittedly ridiculous - advertisement:

    "Guess who's joining you under the mistletoe? Go ahead - kiss your crush. KOTEX has you covered. Stock up for seasonal surprises. (Like your period.) Happy Holidays from Kotex. Kotex fits. Period. Check out Kotex.com."

    December 6, 2007

  • http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/crush definition 15b, presumably.

    December 6, 2007

  • "Don't let the winsome smile fool you... Crush earned her well-deserved moniker by smashing opponents into submission. Despite her girl-next-door looks, she's a powerful, fierce opponent who has no problem handling the women competitors, and then going back to breaking men's hearts."

    (Official biography on the NBC American Gladiators website)

    September 6, 2008