crack a smile

English

Pronunciation

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Verb

crack a smile (third-person singular simple present cracks a smile, present participle cracking a smile, simple past and past participle cracked a smile)

1. (idiomatic) To smile, especially while attempting not to.
   • 1995, Mobb Deep featuring Nas and Raekwon (lyrics and music), “Eye for a Eye (Your Beef Is Mines)”, in The Infamous‎^[1]:

     Life is a gamble, we scramble for money
     I might crack a smile, but ain't a damn thing funny

   • 2020, Dana Foote (lyrics and music), “Wrath”, in Party Favors, performed by Sir Chloe:

     I, I tried / To be complacent for a while / It got hard to crack a smile

2. (idiomatic) To begin to smile.

Related terms

• crack a book
• crack a fat
• crack a joke
• crack a window