crack-upn.
/ˈkrakʌp/, U.S. /ˈkrækˌəp/ Disintegration (under strain), collapse; a crash.
ΘΚΠ
the world > existence and causation > creation > destruction > breaking or cracking > [noun] > demolition > a ruin or wreck
fallinga1382
wracka1586
wrakea1627
land-wracka1657
wreck1814
rack-heap1850
wreckage1874
crack-up1926
1926 G. H. Maines & B. Grant Wise-crack Dict. 7/1 Crack up, wreck of an aeroplane.
1927 C. A. Lindbergh ‘We’ ii. 53 The propeller came in contact with the ground... My first ‘crack-up’!
1936 F. S. Fitzgerald in Esquire Apr. 39/1 How an..optimistic young man experienced a crack-up of all values.
1936 L. C. Douglas White Banners xix. 393 Then came this crack-up in the stock market.
1937 New Republic 19 May 37/1 No..aircraft in the world..has suffered so many crack-ups.
1938 Polit. Q. Jan.–Mar. 25 The dangerous crack-up in our foreign situation.
1958 Times Lit. Suppl. 23 May 286/5 Berlin under air attack,..and the final crack-up.
1963 S. Weintraub Private Shaw & Public Shaw vi. 178 Motorboats used to speed to the scene of a crack-up on the water.
Draft additions January 2011
colloquial. A nervous breakdown; an emotional collapse.
ΚΠ
1934 Los Angeles Times 23 Feb. i. 3/6 We have speeded up everything to the breaking point and are headed for a mental crack-up.]
1936 F. S. Fitzgerald in Esquire Feb. 41 (title) Crack-up: a desolately frank document from one for whom the salt of life has lost its flavor.
1938 I. F. Marcosson Turbulent Years 27 He always gave the impression of not having a nerve in his physical make-up. It was inconceivable therefore that he could have succumbed to a sudden crack-up.
1961 M. F. O'Connor Let. 21 Jan. (1979) 427 She is charming and very generous but headed for some major crack-up if she doesn't somehow get back some of what she lost in the psychiatrist's office.
2001 C. Glazebrook Madolescents 165 His crack-up happened one Saturday in Eldon Square, just outside that poncey French shoe shop. He totally lost it.
Draft additions January 2011
U.S. colloquial. A cause for hilarity; an amusing person or thing. Cf. crack v. Additions.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > pleasure > laughter > causing laughter > [noun] > that which causes or is subject of laughter
laughterOE
laughing game1530
laughing matter1549
laugh1689
scream1888
shriek1930
giggle1936
hoot1942
crack-up1961
laugher1973
the mind > emotion > pleasure > laughter > causing laughter > [noun] > one who or that which is comical
comedy1535
toy1542
jest1602
joke1670
comic1674
high comedy1707
humorous1753
comicality1796
funny1852
funniosity1871
hot sketch1917
pisser1918
riot1919
panic1921
cocasserie1934
yell1938
mess1952
crack-up1961
1961 M. Braly Felony Tank 52 Isn't that a crack-up? I bet he gave those two clowns a fit.
1988 Sunday Oregonian (Portland, Oregon) (Nexis) 3 Apr. f3 The downpour was amusing to some. ‘This is a crack-up,’ a drenched Vicki Borsheim [said].
1997 Chicago Tribune (Nexis) 19 Dec. c Christopher Walken draws laughs the moment he appears; the idea of his intense maniacal energy being directed to the part of a pest controller is a crackup.
2008 ‘G. Carol’ Eye to Eye 72 I like old Arianna. She's a crack up. ‘That's funny,’ I say. ‘I'm going to like working with you. You're hilarious.’
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1972; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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n.1926