[kruhnch] 
| 1. | to crush with the teeth; chew with a crushing noise. |
| 2. | to crush or grind noisily. |
| 3. | to tighten or squeeze financially: The administration's policy seems to crunch the economy in order to combat inflation. |
| 4. | to chew with a crushing sound. |
| 5. | to produce, or proceed with, a crushing noise. |
| 6. | an act or sound of crunching. |
| 7. | a shortage or reduction of something needed or wanted: the energy crunch. |
| 8. | distress or depressed conditions due to such a shortage or reduction: a budget crunch. |
| 9. | a critical or dangerous situation: When the crunch comes, just do your best. |
| 10. | crunch numbers, Computers.
|
crunch numbers
Perform numerous calculations or process a large amount of numerical data. For example, Preparing John's presentation to the Federal Reserve Board required many hours of crunching numbers. This term originated with the computer age and indeed still applies mostly to the operations of computers. [Slang; second half of 1900s]
