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Glite Dictionary
to crack a skull

to crack a skull

8.8
To get a serious head injury that breaks the skull
  • idiom
  • NSFW
translation icon : fracturarse el cráneo
  • If you don't wear a helmet while riding, you might crack a skull in an accident.

Examples

  • He fell off his bike and cracked a skull on the pavement.

  • I've been fighting for as long as I can remember, and I'll crack a skull or two if I have to.

    The Debt Collector (2018)

  • The boxer accidentally cracked a skull during the intense match.

Synonyms

to break
vsto crack a skull
∞ 1.0

To change a large bill into smaller bills

means suffering a violent head injury that damages head bones
to fracture
vsto crack a skull
91 4.7

To break a hard object, for example a bone or rock

refers to suffering a severe head injury that splits head bones

Antonyms

to heal
481 1.2

To become healthy again after an injury, illness, or emotional pain

How Severe

to crack a skull
  • NSFW
8.8
concussion
144 5.3
bruise
266 1.6
to bump
111 1.0

Surface Forms

crack a skull infinitive
cracked a skull past
cracked a skull past participle
cracking a skull present participle
cracks a skull third person singular

Morphology

crack + a + skull

The meaning 'to suffer a severe head injury' is directly and literally derivable from combining 'crack' (to break) with 'skull' (the bony case of the head); a B1 learner who knows both words would readily infer a skull being broken. This is a straightforward, non-idiomatic physical composition found across languages, so it is transparent rather than metaphorical or unpredictable.

Etymology

Crack a skull comes from a simple, literal image: hitting the hard bone of the head so it makes a loud crack, like breaking a nut. Because to crack a skull is to break that hard shell, the phrase now means 'to suffer a severe head injury'.