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📕 rednote ID(小红书号)：3881567312

Crush: Two Meanings, Usage & Common Mistakes (2 meaning)

Meaning 1：have a crush (on) (crush)

crush 🔊

/krʌʃ/

vt.

To have a strong feeling of liking or love for someone you don't know very well, often making you feel shy.

Illustration of having a crush: a shy person secretly admiring someone from afar.

have a crush (on) 🔊

➕

/hæv ə krʌʃ ɒn/

vt.

To develop a brief, intense feeling of romantic infatuation or admiration for someone, often characterized by shyness or nervousness.

📁 Category：School Education 🔖 Level：Elementary

📘 Details & Usage

📖 Root Explanation

From Latin 'cruscire' (to crunch, crush), via Old French 'cruissir'.

💡 Mnemonic

Think 'CR' (your heart beating for someone) + 'USH' (you push shyly away). You 'CRUSH' a can or your feelings.

📖 Example

At the school party, she was too shy to talk to the boy she crushed on. 🔊 During the school social event, she felt too nervous to speak to the boy she had romantic feelings for.

🔗 Collocations

have a crush on – To feel a temporary infatuation for a specific person.

crush hard – To have an extremely strong, often obvious infatuation.

secret crush – An infatuation that one keeps hidden from others.

🔄 Synonyms

admire (vt.) – To regard with respect and warm approval, less intense than a crush.

fancy (vt.) – (British English) To feel a desire or liking for someone.

idolize (vt.) – To admire or love someone very much, often to an extreme degree.

🚫 Antonyms

dislike (vt.) – To feel distaste for or hostility toward someone.

🌱 Derivatives

crusher (n.) – (Informal) A person who is the object of someone's romantic infatuation.

crushing (adj.) – (Of news or disappointment) devastating, causing great emotional distress.

📖 Cultural Story

Originating from the sound of breaking or grinding, 'crush' entered English in the 14th century. Its emotional meaning of infatuation emerged in the 19th century, paralleling the idea of being 'crushed' by overwhelming feelings. The term 'school crush' is a staple of Western teenage culture, frequently depicted in media.

Meaning 2：press or squeeze with force (crush)

crush 🔊

/krʌʃ/

vt.

To press something very hard so that it breaks or loses its shape.

Illustration of crushing with force: a boot stepping on and flattening dry leaves.

press or squeeze with force 🔊

➕

/pres ɔː skwiːz wɪθ fɔːs/

vt.

To apply extreme pressure to something, causing it to break, become deformed, or be compressed into a smaller volume.

📁 Category：Objects & Materials 🔖 Level：Elementary

📘 Details & Usage

📖 Example

Please remember to crush the plastic bottles before putting them in the recycling bin to save space. 🔊 Kindly recall to flatten the plastic bottles by applying force prior to disposing of them in the recycling container to conserve space.

🔗 Collocations

crush into pieces – To break something completely into many small fragments.

crush a rebellion – To use force to violently suppress an uprising.

crush grapes – To press grapes in order to extract juice, especially for winemaking.

🔄 Synonyms

squash (vt.) – To flatten or squeeze something soft, often until it loses its original shape.

pulverize (vt.) – To crush or grind something into a very fine powder or dust.

smash (vt.) – To break something violently into pieces, often with a loud noise.

🚫 Antonyms

repair (vt.) – To restore something damaged or broken to a good condition.

mend (vt.) – To fix something that is broken or torn.

🌱 Derivatives

crusher (n.) – A machine or device used for crushing materials.

crushing (adj.) – Overwhelmingly powerful or severe.

crushable (adj.) – (Of an object) able to be crushed or flattened easily.