cracker

Etymology
. From, the sound made when one is broken. The hard "bread" and "biscuit" sense is first attested in 1739. The computing senses of, , and were promoted in the 1980s as an alternative to , by programmers concerned about negative public associations of ,. 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, who cracked their crops rather than taking them to the mill. Another theory asserts that it was applied due to Georgia and Florida settlers 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 ); a letter from 1766 supports this theory.

Noun

 * 1) A dry, thin, crispy baked bread (usually salty or savoury, but sometimes sweet, as in the case of graham crackers and animal crackers).
 * 2) A short piece of twisted string tied to the end of a whip that creates the distinctive sound when the whip is thrown or cracked.
 * 3) A firecracker.
 * 4) A person or thing that cracks, or that cracks a thing (e.g. whip cracker; nutcracker).
 * 5) The final section of certain whips, which is made of a short, thin piece of unravelled rope and produces a cracking sound.
 * 6) A Christmas cracker.
 * 7) Refinery equipment used to pyrolyse organic feedstocks. If catalyst is used to aid pyrolysis it is informally called a cat-cracker
 * 8)  A fine, great thing or person (crackerjack).
 * 9) An ambitious or hard-working person (i.e. someone who arises at the 'crack' of dawn).
 * 10)  One who cracks (i.e. overcomes) computer software or security restrictions.
 * 11)  A noisy boaster; a swaggering fellow.
 * 12)  An impoverished white person from the southeastern United States, originally associated with Georgia and parts of Florida;  any white person (slang).
 * 13)  A police officer.
 * 14) A northern pintail, species of dabbling duck.
 * 15)  A pair of fluted rolls for grinding caoutchouc.
 * 1) An ambitious or hard-working person (i.e. someone who arises at the 'crack' of dawn).
 * 2)  One who cracks (i.e. overcomes) computer software or security restrictions.
 * 3)  A noisy boaster; a swaggering fellow.
 * 4)  An impoverished white person from the southeastern United States, originally associated with Georgia and parts of Florida;  any white person (slang).
 * 5)  A police officer.
 * 6) A northern pintail, species of dabbling duck.
 * 7)  A pair of fluted rolls for grinding caoutchouc.
 * 1)  A noisy boaster; a swaggering fellow.
 * 2)  An impoverished white person from the southeastern United States, originally associated with Georgia and parts of Florida;  any white person (slang).
 * 3)  A police officer.
 * 4) A northern pintail, species of dabbling duck.
 * 5)  A pair of fluted rolls for grinding caoutchouc.
 * 1)  A police officer.
 * 2) A northern pintail, species of dabbling duck.
 * 3)  A pair of fluted rolls for grinding caoutchouc.
 * 1)  A police officer.
 * 2) A northern pintail, species of dabbling duck.
 * 3)  A pair of fluted rolls for grinding caoutchouc.

Translations

 * Bulgarian: твъ́рда бискви́та
 * Central Sierra Miwok: lúp·u-
 * Chinese:
 * Mandarin: 梳打餅, 克力架,
 * Czech: krekr
 * Esperanto: krakeno
 * Finnish: hapankorppu, voileipäkeksi;
 * French: ,
 * German: ,
 * Hebrew:
 * Hungarian:
 * Italian:
 * Japanese:
 * Khmer: នំកែកឃឺ
 * Korean: ,
 * Latin:
 * Navajo: bááh dáʼákaʼí
 * Persian:
 * Polish:
 * Portuguese: ,
 * Romanian:
 * Russian:, сухо́е пече́нье,
 * Slovak: kreker
 * Spanish:, galleta de agua
 * Taos: kèkeʼéna
 * Thai: แคร็กเกอร์, ขนมปังกรอบ
 * Turkish:


 * Japanese:


 * Finnish: ,


 * Finnish: krakkaamo


 * Finnish:


 * Esperanto: kodrompisto, retpirato
 * Finnish:
 * French:, ,
 * German:, Crackerin
 * Polish:


 * Finnish: ,


 * Danish:
 * Esperanto: blankulaĉo
 * Finnish: kalpeanaama
 * Japanese: 白んぼ
 * Polish:
 * Portuguese:
 * Swedish:

Noun

 * 1) drug user