Learn English – Does anyone know where “crack down” comes from

etymology

There’s crack up, crack down, and crack on (?). I am curious about the origin of the phrase crack down. Also, what does it literally mean?

Best Answer

From http://www.etymonline.com:

  • crackdown (n)
    also crack down; 1935, from the verbal phrase (1915), from crack (v.) + down (adv.); probably from the sense of "to shoot at" (1913).

Of course now we need the etymology of crack:

  • crack (v.)
    Old English cracian "make a sharp noise," from Proto-Germanic *krakojan (cognates: Middle Dutch craken, Dutch kraken, German krachen), probably imitative. Related: Cracked; cracking. From early 14c. as "to utter, say, speak, talk," especially "speak loudly or boastingly" (late 14c.). To crack a smile is from 1835, American English; to crack the whip in the figurative sense is from 1886.

  • crack (n.)
    "a split, an opening," mid-15c., earlier "a splitting sound; a fart; the sound of a trumpet" (late 14c.), probably from crack (v.). Meaning "rock cocaine" is first attested 1985. The superstition that it is bad luck to step on sidewalk cracks has been traced to c.1890. Meaning "try, attempt" first attested 1830, nautical, probably a hunting metaphor, from slang sense of "fire a gun."

From the action of making a cracking sound we get the various associations. When you crack down on something you are shooting it down as if with a gun that makes the cracking sound when fired.

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