crushing

Etymology

verb

1. present participle and gerund of crush

adj

1. That crushes; overwhelming.
   a crushing defeat
   The fruits of these kickstarted endeavors began to show in 1915, first in the deployment of a new range of depth charges. These were, mercifully, smaller than Jellicoe's "crushing hand of God" prototype, and, whilst practically just as lethal to submarines, they were significantly less risky to the launching ship, and could also be carried in larger numbers. 24 July 2019, Drachinifel, 11:06 from the start, in Anti-Sub Warfare in WW1 - From Hammers to Hunter-Killers, archived from the original on 2022-11-24
   The TSSA union stated that he had been carrying out maintenance and died as a result of crushing injuries. December 16 2020, Paul Clifton, “Investigation begins after death at Eastleigh depot”, in Rail, page 12
2. Devastatingly disheartening.
   crushing guilt
   Oh, your dog has leukemia? That’s crushing.

noun

1. The action of the verb to crush.
2. A former method of execution by placing heavy weights on the victim.
3. (in the plural) Crushed material.
   oilseed crushings
4. The act of subjecting sugarcane to crushing.
   Mr. Holtze speaks with feeling upon this subject. His own experience had shown him the folly of planting sugar in dry soil, at a distance from water; the natural consequence was that, though the cane grew on the ironstone ridges of Palmerston, it would not throw up sufficient juice to make a good crushing. 1887, Harriet W. Daly, Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia, page 265