crush

Etymology

From Middle English cruschen (“to crush, smash, squeeze, squash”), from Old French croissir (“to crush”), from Late Latin *crusciō (“to brush”), from Frankish *krustijan (“to crush, squeeze, squash”), from Proto-Germanic *kreustaną (“to crush, grind, strike, smash”). Akin to Middle Dutch crosen (“to bruise, crush”), Middle Low German krossen, krȫsen (“to break, shatter”), Old Swedish krusa (“to crush”), Swedish krysta (“to squeeze”), Danish kryste (“to squash”), Icelandic kreista (“to squeeze, squash”), Faroese kroysta (“to squeeze”), Gothic 𐌺𐍂𐌹𐌿𐍃𐍄𐌰𐌽 (kriustan, “to gnash”).

noun

1. A violent collision or compression; a crash; destruction; ruin.
   The more highly the injured part is endowed with sensory nerves the more marked is the shock; a crush of the hand, for example, is attended with a more intense degree of shock than a correspondingly severe crush of the foot 1921, Alexis Thomson, Alexander Miles, Manual of Surgery
2. Violent pressure, as of a moving crowd.
3. A violent crowding.
4. A crowd that produces uncomfortable pressure.
   a crush at a reception
5. (slang) A group or gang.
   Then there was another set who called themselves the "Ragged Thirteen"; and the account says "they looked it." And, like most diggers, this "crush," to quote my authority, could handle the cards a bit. 1887, Harriet W. Daly, Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia, page 302
6. A crowd control barrier.
7. A drink made by squeezing the juice out of fruit.
   "Look," said Crabbe, warm orange crush in his hand. 1958, Anthony Burgess, The Enemy in the Blanket (The Malayan Trilogy), published 1972, page 292
8. (informal) An infatuation with somebody one is not dating.
   I've had a huge crush on her since we met many years ago.
   And I needed to get my schoolgirl crush under control. There was no way Brín felt anything anywhere near what I felt for him. He saw me as a friend. 2019, Emma Lea, A Royal Enticement
   1. (informal, by extension) The human object of such infatuation or affection.
      It had taken nine years from the evening that Truman first showed up with a pie plate at her mother's door, but his dogged perseverance eventually won him the hand of his boyhood Sunday school crush. 2004, Chris Wallace, Character: Profiles in Presidential Courage
9. A standing stock or cage with movable sides used to restrain livestock for safe handling.
10. (dated) A party or festive function.
11. (Australia) The process of crushing cane to remove the raw sugar, or the season when this process takes place.
12. (television, uncountable) The situation where certain colors are so similar as to be hard to distinguish, either as a deliberate effect or as a limitation of a display.
    black crush; white crush
13. (uncountable, sexuality) A paraphilia involving arousal from seeing things destroyed by crushing.
    Just as they say that marijuana leads to harder drugs, Gallegly is claiming that crush is a "gateway fetish"—a term I've never heard before. He claims that if someone starts with bugs they'll end up escalating to human babies in no time. 2000, Katharine Gates, Deviant Desires: Incredibly Strange Sex, page 137

verb

1. To press between two hard objects; to squeeze so as to alter the natural shape or integrity, or to force together into a mass.
   to crush grapes
   Ye shall not offer unto the Lord that which is bruised, or crushed, or broken, or cut 1769, Benjamin Blayney, King James Bible, Leviticus 22:24
2. To reduce to fine particles by pounding or grinding.
   to crush quartz
3. (figurative) To overwhelm by pressure or weight.
   After the corruption scandal, the opposition crushed the ruling party in the elections
   We believe the invasion has reached its peak. The task remaining is to crush it. Our men are confident, the United Nations command is confident, that it will be crushed. September 1, 1950, Harry S. Truman, 2:02 from the start, in MP72-73 Korea and World Peace: President Truman Reports to the People, Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives Identifier: 595162
   A stunning performance from the Republic of Ireland all but sealed progress to Euro 2012 as they crushed nine-man Estonia 4-0 in the first leg of the qualifying play-off tie in A Le Coq Arena in Tallinn. November 11, 2011, Rory Houston, “Estonia 0-4 Republic of Ireland”, in RTE Sport
4. (figurative, colloquial) To do impressively well at (sports events; performances; interviews; etc.).
   They had a gig recently at Madison Square—totally crushed it!
5. To oppress or grievously burden.
6. To overcome completely; to subdue totally.
   The sultan's black guard crushed every resistance bloodily.
   the prospect of the Duke's speedily overtaking and crushing the rebels 1814, Sir Walter Scott, Waverley
7. (intransitive) To be or become broken down or in, or pressed into a smaller volume or area, by external weight or force.
   an eggshell crushes easily
8. (intransitive, transitive) To feel infatuation or unrequited love.
   She's crushing on him.
   Then walked in / The girl I'm crushin' / And the kid spilled juice / On my Mom's new cushion 2000, “Aaron’s Party (Come Get It)”, performed by Aaron Carter
   ... I could just let loose and be myself no holding back you know we just where to young kids in love, lust, crushing whatever you wanted to call it but we where living it up having fun when we where together the rest of the world didn't exist ... 2011, May'lon Miranda, Love Is Blind, page 58
   And the one subject that I get an A plus in every time, is the ancient art of crushing. I crush, therefore I am. I've decided to share the benefit of my wisdom and after months of hopelessly lusting after Dylan, I've REALISED that there are twelve degrees of crushing from the slightly embarrassing things most girls will do to catch the eye of the heir to their heart, to the verging on ridiculous stunts you pull when you're in the grip of a passion that renders you powerless. 2013, Sarra Manning, Diary of a Crush: Kiss and Make Up
   "I respect your wiring," he explained, "but I'm crushing on you. And when I crush, I crush hard." He thought it would be better if we stopped seeing each other for a while. 2013, Shozan Jack Haubner, Zen Confidential: Confessions of a Wayward Monk, page 130
9. (film, television) To give a compressed or foreshortened appearance to.
   He frames his subject in distant close-ups (we feel the distance, due mostly to the crushed perspective brought about by the telephoto lens). 2003, Michel Chion, The Films of Jacques Tati, page 78
   They realise that trajectories, space expansion and crushing are different with different lenses, whether wide angle or telephoto, and that actors' eyelines will be altered. 2010, Birgit Bräuchler, John Postill, Theorising Media and Practice, page 319
10. (transitive, television) To make certain colors so similar as to be hard to distinguish, either as a deliberate effect or as a limitation of a display.
    My old TV set crushes the blacks when the brightness is lowered.