cracked up
In its archaic sense, cracked-up meant broke or penniless — to have one's financial situation crack apart completely.
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christianity is overrated and being a christian isn't what it's cracked up to be.
told my girlfriend that my boyfriend's staple diet appears to consist mostly of bread and she cracked up over the line for 15 seconds before replying 'you're in love with the muffin man'
That's a tough break and I hate to hear this. :/ Hope you're able to get your new car soon. Being an adult is definitely expensive and lately not all it's cracked up to be. 😔 🫶
Conservatives have everything they’ve asked for over the last few decades, and they’re still miserable little shits. It’s almost as if their desire to live in a resource stripped dystopian hell world without insurance…
The idiom "not all it’s cracked up to be" is derived from an archaic meaning of crack, which is to brag about something or to praise something effusively.
Definitions
In its archaic sense, cracked-up meant broke or penniless — to have one's financial situation crack apart completely. This is distinct from the more familiar modern use of cracked up as in not all it's cracked up to be (meaning not as good as claimed) or the informal sense of cracking up (laughing hard or having a breakdown). The penniless meaning has largely fallen out of use but is worth knowing for historical slang literacy.
He arrived back in London cracked-up after six months abroad, relying on friends for a meal and a floor to sleep on.
Comments
(archaic, slang) ; penniless.
“christianity is overrated and being a christian isn't what it's cracked up to be.”
— Bluesky· May 2026“told my girlfriend that my boyfriend's staple diet appears to consist mostly of bread and she cracked up over the line for 15 seconds before replying 'you're in love with the muffin man'”
— Bluesky· May 2026“That's a tough break and I hate to hear this. :/ Hope you're able to get your new car soon. Being an adult is definitely expensive and lately not all it's cracked up to be. 😔 🫶”
— Bluesky· May 2026“Conservatives have everything they’ve asked for over the last few decades, and they’re still miserable little shits. It’s almost as if their desire to live in a resource stripped dystopian hell world without insurance or opportunities isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. 🤷🏼♂️”
— Bluesky· May 2026“The idiom "not all it’s cracked up to be" is derived from an archaic meaning of crack, which is to brag about something or to praise something effusively.”
— r/etymology· Apr 2026
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Other words near "cracked up" (C)
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Semantically related
- crack up71%
(slang, intransitive) To smoke crack cocaine.
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(New Zealand, colloquial) Funny; hilarious.
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To affect the image of something.
- crum up66%
An old slang phrase with two distinct meanings: originally it meant to delouse someone or treat them for lice — a very practical activity in wartime and barracks slang. It also evolved to mean ruining or messing something up badly, much like 'screw up' or 'balls up.' The second meaning is the more relatable one for modern audiences — when you crum up a plan, a presentation, or a relationship, you've thoroughly wrecked it through incompetence or bad luck.