English · Idiom Candidate

crack up

Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Sense 1

Both English Tiếng Việt

Meaning · English

to laugh loudly or become amused

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

cười lớn hoặc bị làm cho vui

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Literally: break into pieces

Where it’s used: Used Widespread English

Examples

The audience cracked up at the comedian's joke

AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)

Sources & notes

Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-30; pending editor spot-check.

Sense 2

Meaning · English

to boast or praise.—Ancient English.

Era: ca. 1874 (Victorian)

Where it’s used: Origin British & Irish English

Sources & notes

Historical definition reproduced from Hotten’s The Slang Dictionary (1874, public domain; Project Gutenberg #42108, retrieved 2026-07-31). Reflects the attitudes of its era.

Topics: Historical slang (1800s)

Common questions

What does “crack up” mean?

to laugh loudly or become amused Literally: break into pieces

Is “crack up” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.