Karen closed her accounts, only to have the criminal crack open the new ones she'd opened and drain those too.
Before this sentence, the passage stated that a criminal stole Karen's purse, which contained her ID card and some credit cards. Then the criminal used the credit cards to scam thousands of dollars from her.
So what does "crack" mean here? Is it a verb or noun? I feel it should be something like "deceive", but I cannot find a proper definition in my dictionary. If it is a verb, how do I interpret the word "open" after it? Does the word "crack" have some such use as crack do sth.? If it is a noun, what's the exact meaning of it? Thanks.
Best Answer
The verb crack is used here in the sense of to break. (When you break something, it is quite likely that it will also make a sound of cracking.)
Perhaps you might be a bit more familiar with this usage:
It is quite natural that the acts of "cracking" and "opening" usually come together. Thus, the phrase verb: crack open. Here is its definition by the Free Dictionary,
The sentence in your question means: the criminal cracked open the new accounts she had opened. Usually, to crack open a bank account is not an easy thing to do.
Also note that, crack open can also mean open just only a little (see "Would you please crack open the window?" in J.R.'s answer). I also recommend reading the whole of J.R.'s answer.