crash

v. i. 1. To make a loud, clattering sound, as of many things falling and breaking at once; to break in pieces with a harsh noise. [ 1913 Webster ]

Roofs were blazing and walls crashing in every part of the city. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To break with violence and noise; as, the chimney in falling crashed through the roof. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. A loud, sudden, confused sound, as of many things falling and breaking at once. [ 1913 Webster ]

The wreck of matter and the crash of worlds. Addison. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Ruin; failure; sudden breaking down, as of a business house or a commercial enterprise; as, the stock market crash of 1929. [ 1913 Webster ]

The last week of October 1929 remains forever imprinted in the American memory. It was, of course, the week of the Great Crash, the stock market collapse that signaled the collapse of the world economy and the Great Depression of the 1930s. From an all-time high of 381 in early September 1929, the Dow Jones Industrial Average drifted down to a level of 326 on October 22, then, in a series of traumatic selling waves, to 230 in the course of the following six trading days.
The stock market's drop was far from over; it continued its sickening slide for nearly three more years, reaching an ultimate low of 41 in July 1932. But it was that last week of October 1929 that burned itself into the American consciousness. After a decade of unprecedented boom and prosperity, there suddenly was panic, fear, a yawning gap in the American fabric. The party was over. Wall street Journal, October 28, 1977. [ PJC ]

n. [ L. crassus coarse. See Crass. ] Coarse, heavy, narrow linen cloth, used esp. for towels. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. & t. to descend steeply and rapidly; -- of aircraft. [ WordNet 1.5 ]