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Definition of crunch verb from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

crunch

verb
 
/krʌntʃ/
 
/krʌntʃ/
Verb Forms
present simple I / you / we / they crunch
 
/krʌntʃ/
 
/krʌntʃ/
he / she / it crunches
 
/ˈkrʌntʃɪz/
 
/ˈkrʌntʃɪz/
past simple crunched
 
/krʌntʃt/
 
/krʌntʃt/
past participle crunched
 
/krʌntʃt/
 
/krʌntʃt/
-ing form crunching
 
/ˈkrʌntʃɪŋ/
 
/ˈkrʌntʃɪŋ/
Phrasal Verbs
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  1. [transitive, intransitive] crunch (on) something to bite something noisily between your teeth when you are eating
    • She crunched her apple noisily.
    Extra Examples
    • He was crunching loudly on an apple.
    • He was crunching on a piece of toast.
    Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadverb
    • loudly
    • underfoot
    preposition
    • on
    See full entry
  2. [intransitive, transitive] crunch (something) to make a noise like something hard being pressed or crushed; to cause something to make a noise like this synonym scrunch
    • The snow crunched under our feet.
    • Snow crunched underfoot.
    Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadverb
    • loudly
    • underfoot
    preposition
    • on
    See full entry
  3. [intransitive] + adv./prep. to move over a surface, making a noise like the sound of something hard being pressed or crushed
    • I crunched across the gravel to the front door.
    Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadverb
    • loudly
    • underfoot
    preposition
    • on
    See full entry
  4. [transitive] crunch something (computing) to deal with large amounts of data very quickly
    • We are waiting for the results from officials who are still crunching numbers.
    see also number crunching
  5. Word Originearly 19th cent. (as a verb): variant of 17th-cent. cranch (probably imitative), by association with crush and munch.
See crunch in the Oxford Advanced American Dictionary
trait
noun
 
 
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