Dictionary

cracker en · NOUN

Pronunciation

/ˈkɹækə(ɹ)/
krăk'ə r
(Australia) audio

Etymology

From Middle English craker (“a boaster”), equivalent to crack (“to break, snap, utter, make a sound”) + -er. From crack (verb), the sound made when one is broken. The hard "bread" and "biscuit" sense is first attested in 1739. The computing senses of cracker, crack, and cracking were promoted in the 1980s as an alternative to hacker, by programmers concerned about negative public associations of hack, hacking (“creative computer coding”). See Citations:cracker. Various theories exist regarding the term's application to poor white Southerners. One theory holds that it originated with disadvantaged corn and wheat farmers (corncrackers), who cracked their crops rather than taking them to the mill. Another theory asserts that it was applied due to Georgia and Florida settlers (Florida crackers) who cracked loud whips to drive herds of cattle, or, alternatively, from the whip cracking of plantation slave drivers. Yet another theory maintains that the term cracker was in use in Elizabethan times to describe braggarts (see crack (“to boast”)); a letter from 1766 supports this theory.

Meanings

(obsolete) A noisy boaster; a swaggering fellow.
- What cracker is this same that deafs our ears? c. 1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Iohn”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]:
A dry, thin, crispy baked bread (usually salty or savoury, but sometimes sweet, as in the case of graham crackers and animal crackers).
A prawn cracker.
- There was feasting and joy from Shanghai to the Wall, What with dim-sims, chop-suey and crackers and all, And the donor of these, by the hook of my crook. Was Chiang Ki-Konglong, the Mandarin Cook. 1929 February 10, The Sunday Times, Sydney, page 26, column 7:
The final section of certain whips, which is made of a short, thin piece of unravelled rope, or which is a short piece of twisted string tied to the end of the whip, which produces a distinctive cracking sound when the whip is cracked.
A firecracker.
A Christmas cracker.
- It is customary in every part of China to fire off crackers on the last day and night of the year for the purpose of terrifying expelling the devils. 1911, James George Frazer, The Golden Bough, volume 9, page 146:
(UK) A northern pintail, a dabbling duck of species Anas acuta.
A person or thing that breaks a thing (e.g., nutcracker).
- a lobster and crab shell cracker
A person or thing that breaks a thing (e.g., nutcracker). ▸ Refinery equipment used to pyrolyse organic feedstocks. If catalyst is used to aid pyrolysis it is informally called a cat-cracker
(obsolete) A person or thing that breaks a thing (e.g., nutcracker). ▸ A pair of fluted rolls for grinding caoutchouc.
A person or thing that breaks a thing (e.g., nutcracker). ▸ One who cracks (i.e. overcomes) computer software or security restrictions.
- Likewise, early software pirates and "crackers" often used phrases like "information wants to be free" to protest the regulations against the copying of proprietary software packages and computer systems. 2002, Steve Jones, Encyclopedia of New Media, page 1925:
- It stated to one of the company's operators, “The Phantom, the system cracker, strikes again . . . Soon I will zero (expletive deleted) your desks and your backups on System A. I have already cracked your System B. 1984, Richard Sedric Fox Eells, Peter Raymond Nehemkis, Corporate Intelligence and Espionage: A Blueprint for Executive Decision Making, Macmillan, page 137:
(Australia, Ireland, New-Zealand, UK, slang) A fine, great thing or person (crackerjack).
- And just before the interval, Kolarov, who was having one of his better games in a City shirt, fizzed in a cracker from 30 yards which the Wolves stopper unconvincingly pushed behind for a corner. 2011 January 15, Saj Chowdhury, “Man City 4 - 3 Wolves”, in BBC:
- She's an absolute cracker!
- A cracker of a day.
- The show was a cracker!
An ambitious or hard-working person (i.e. someone who arises at the 'crack' of dawn).
(US, derogatory, ethnic, offensive, slur) An impoverished white person from the southeastern United States, originally associated with Georgia and parts of Florida; (by extension) any white person (slang).
- Check this shit: You got cracker farm boy Luke Skywalker, Nazi poster boy, blond hair, blue eyes. And then you got Darth Vader, the blackest brother in the galaxy, Nubian god! 1997, Kevin Smith, Chasing Amy, spoken by Hooper (Dwight Ewell):
- Brothers and the whiteys / Blacks and the crackers / Police and their backers / They're all political actors 1970, “(Don't Worry) If There's a Hell Below, We're All Going to Go”, in Curtis, performed by Curtis Mayfield:
- “You know that old cracker beat them boys.” 2019, Colson Whitehead, The Nickel Boys, Fleet, page 202:

Forms

Spelling	Features	Labels	Source
crackers	Number=Plur		lexicographic

Translations (74)

cmn 餅乾 /饼干 (crispy baked bread, usually salty or savoury) · ru сухо́е пече́нье (crispy baked bread, usually salty or savoury) · es galleta salada (crispy baked bread, usually salty or savoury) · pl krakers (crispy baked bread, usually salty or savoury) · fi voileipäkeksi (crispy baked bread, usually salty or savoury) · fr craquelin (crispy baked bread, usually salty or savoury) · fi pinko (ambitious or hard-working person) · csm lúp·u- (crispy baked bread, usually salty or savoury) · cmn 梳打餅 /梳打饼 (crispy baked bread, usually salty or savoury) · pt bolacha (crispy baked bread, usually salty or savoury) · bg твъ́рда бискви́та (crispy baked bread, usually salty or savoury) · eo krakeno (crispy baked bread, usually salty or savoury) · cmn 白皮豬 /白皮猪 (derogatory: white person) · ja 白んぼ (derogatory: white person) · fi rehvastelija (noisy boaster) · fr cracker (crispy baked bread, usually salty or savoury) · eo blankulaĉo (derogatory: white person) · ja クラッカー (short piece of string tied to the end of whip) · fi kalpeanaama (derogatory: white person) · fi murtaja (computing: one who cracks) · th ขนมปังกรอบ (crispy baked bread, usually salty or savoury) · th ฝรั่งขี้นก (derogatory: white person) · cmn 克力架 (crispy baked bread, usually salty or savoury) · pt crocante (crispy baked bread, usually salty or savoury) · hu keksz (crispy baked bread, usually salty or savoury) · fi krakkaamo (piece of refinery equipment) · unm kaxkahpòn (crispy baked bread, usually salty or savoury) · es saltina (crispy baked bread, usually salty or savoury) · es galleta de agua (crispy baked bread, usually salty or savoury) · eo biskvito (crispy baked bread, usually salty or savoury) · cs krekr (crispy baked bread, usually salty or savoury) · nv bááh dáʼákaʼí (crispy baked bread, usually salty or savoury) · de Crackerin (computing: one who cracks) · it mozzarella (derogatory: white person) · fa تردک (crispy baked bread, usually salty or savoury) · km នំកែកឃឺ (crispy baked bread, usually salty or savoury) · ru суха́рь (crispy baked bread, usually salty or savoury) · he קרקר (crispy baked bread, usually salty or savoury) · fi näkkileipä (crispy baked bread, usually salty or savoury) · mh būreej (crispy baked bread, usually salty or savoury) · fr cracker (computing: one who cracks) · fi särkijä (something that cracks) · ru кре́кер (crispy baked bread, usually salty or savoury) · ur کریکر (crispy baked bread, usually salty or savoury) · sv viting (derogatory: white person) · da kartoffel (derogatory: white person) · twf kèkeʼéna (crispy baked bread, usually salty or savoury) · fi murtaja (something that cracks) · de Cracker (computing: one who cracks) · ca galeta d'aigua (crispy baked bread, usually salty or savoury) · pl haker (computing: one who cracks) · yue 梳打餅 /梳打饼 (crispy baked bread, usually salty or savoury) · ja クラッカー (crispy baked bread, usually salty or savoury) · th แคร็กเกอร์ (crispy baked bread, usually salty or savoury) · de Cracker (crispy baked bread, usually salty or savoury) · fi rehentelijä (noisy boaster) · it cracker (crispy baked bread, usually salty or savoury) · eo kodrompisto (computing: one who cracks) · cmn 鬼佬 (derogatory: white person) · mi karihi (crispy baked bread, usually salty or savoury) · nan 阿啄仔 (derogatory: white person) · la tractum (crispy baked bread, usually salty or savoury) · tr kraker (crispy baked bread, usually salty or savoury) · eo retpirato (computing: one who cracks) · nan 紅毛番 /红毛番 (derogatory: white person) · ko 크래커 (crispy baked bread, usually salty or savoury) · fr crackeuse (computing: one who cracks) · sk kreker (crispy baked bread, usually salty or savoury) · fr crackeur (computing: one who cracks) · es galleta (crispy baked bread, usually salty or savoury) · fi hapankorppu (crispy baked bread, usually salty or savoury) · mh petkōj (crispy baked bread, usually salty or savoury) · pt branquelo (derogatory: white person) · pl białas (derogatory: white person)

wikipedia: Florida cracker · wikipedia: Earl of Dartmouth

cracker en · NOUN

Pronunciation

Etymology

Meanings

Forms

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Deriveds

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Synonyms

Translations (74)