crunch

I UK [krʌntʃ] / US verb
Word forms "crunch":
present tense I/you/we/they crunch he/she/it crunches present participle crunching past tense crunched past participle crunched

1) [intransitive/transitive] to bite hard food, causing it to make a loud noise

Jane was crunching a peppermint noisily.

2)

a) [intransitive] to make a noise like something being crushed

Leaves crunched under our feet as we walked up the path to the house.

b) to move on a surface that makes the noise of something being crushed

They crunched across splintered glass and wood to the door.

3)

a) [transitive] informal if you crunch numbers, you do a lot of calculations

b) if you crunch information, you deal with large amounts of it quickly

II UK [krʌntʃ] / US noun
Word forms "crunch":
singular crunch plural crunches

1)

a) [singular] the loud noise that something hard makes when you bite it

the crunch of crisps

b) a noise like something being crushed

I could hear the crunch of someone's feet on the gravel.

2)

a) the crunch

informal the time when something important or difficult happens or must be decided if/when it comes to the crunch:

If it comes to the crunch, can I rely on you to support me?

b) [only before noun] extremely important, usually because of having a major effect on the result of a situation

a crunch match

crunch time:

July 1 is crunch time for us.

3) [countable, usually singular] mainly American informal a situation that is very difficult because you do not have enough of something, especially time or money

a credit/budget crunch