Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(a) a lie; a boast, an act of bragging, exaggeration; 1990s+ use may be a euph. for crap n.¹ (4)

1522		Skelton Why Come Ye Nat to Courte? line 256: For all theyr crack and bost.
c.1525		J. Rastell Gentleness and Nobility line 22: But I wold thou knewist it, for all thy krakkys, I am able to bye now all the land That thou hast.
1550		J. Coke Eng. and Fr. Heralds iii (1877) 92: Crackes, lyes, vauntes, bostes and fables.
1560		Becon Early Works (1843) 244: But to what point came all his proud cracks?
1576		G. Whetstone ‘Ortchard of Repentance’ Rocke of Regard 21: Beare with his talk, his crakes, and [...] tauntes.
1590		Spenser Faerie Queene II xi : Leasinges, backbytinges and vain-glorious crakes.
1621–51		R. Burton Anatomy of Melancholy I. ii. III. xiv. 122: Out of this fountain [conceit] proceed all those cracks and brags.
1773		O. Goldsmith She Stoops to Conquer Act II: That’s a damned confounded — crack.
1829		Belfast News-Letter 2 Jan. 4/2: James an me were so tickled with Cursecowl’s wild, outrageous [...] humersome way of telling his crack.
1997		C. McPherson Weir 17: Jimmy talking all that crack with Finbar.

(b) (orig. Irish/Scot., also craic) talk; a conversation, a chat; often constr. with the, with an added suggestion that the talk takes place within a pleasant social setting, while sense 1e refers to the setting itself; thus on the crack, conversing; cite 2021 (2) suggests an event, a circumstance; no speech is implied [although the ety remains SE crack, recent use has incorporated Irish craic; ult. OE cracian, a crack].

1725		A. Ramsay Gentle Shepherd II i: Come sit down, / And gie’s your Cracks – What’s a’ the News in Town?
1770		H. Clinker Hist. of the Haveral Wives (1799) 2: Two old wives, Maggy and Janet, at their rocks, began their crack as follows.
1804		R. Anderson ‘The Twee Auld Men’ Cumberland Ballads (1805) 88: What, Gabriel! come swat thy ways down on the sattle, / I long for a bit of a crack.
1817		W. Scott Rob Roy (1883) 257: I’ll speak to these gentlemen in a gliffing – But first I maun hae a crack wi’ an auld acquaintance here.
1834		‘Jack Downing’ Andrew Jackson 68: While in crack with the gineral [she] made a slapdash at the snappers.
1845		J. Lindridge Sixteen-String Jack 269: Aw wad like nought better than to have yen or twee hours crack with thou, ower a jug o’ ale.
1865		E. Waugh Barrel Organ 13: Hasto no news? Thae’rt seldom short of a crack o’ some sort.
1880		Henley & Stevenson Deacon Brodie II tab.IV i: I had a crack wi’ the laddie.
1888		Cambridge Indep. Press 1 June 3/7: The minister an’ me got on the crack. He says to me [etc.].
1889		H. Smart Long Odds I 39: [He]enjoyed himself immensely, running into the city constantly to have a crack with his old friends.
1895		Mirror of Life 12 Jan. 14/1: Johnny and we, a few years back, had a big ‘crack’ on the merits of Tom Sayers.
1898		(con. 1875) F.T. Bullen Cruise of the ‘Cachalot’ 198: It was not often we got a chance for a ‘wee bit crack,’ as the Scotch say.
1905		Sun. Times (Perth) 1 Jan. 4/8: ’Twas scores of early birds he found / To have a taste and crack.
1908		L. Doyle Ballygullion 14: Sit down on the ditch, an we’ll have a crack till ye come round a bit. [Ibid.] 23: There was always good crack to be had there, too; for the widow was the terror av the country for her tongue.
1914		C. Holme Lonely Plough (1931) 78: There was a frivolous tendancy to regard the meeting more as a friendly ‘crack’ than a call to business.
1919		J. Buchan Mr Standfast (1930) 584: Have ye ony special taste ye could lead the crack on to, if ye’re engaged in conversation?
1929		N. Jacob Man Who Found Himself (1952) 79: Tha’s been ‘avin’ a rare crack wi’ them old fellers.
1933		J. Spenser Limey 242: I’ll be mighty glad when we’ve had a man-size ‘crack’ (talk) to Stan.
1953		L. Doyle Back to Ballygullion 50: I was sitting in the office of my friend, Sandy Morrison, one day, hoping for some ‘crack’.
1965		L. Dunne Goodbye to The Hill (1966) 55: When one or two of the mots had a bit of crack with him he blushed again.
1982		E. Mac Thomáis Janey Mack, Me Shirt is Black 10: The selling, the crack, the good manners, the friendliness.
1994		(con. 1970s) G. Byrne Pictures in my Head 64: It was typical of many excursions to town for the craic on Saturday nights.
1999		Observer Rev. 26 Sept. 2: I’d have a proper crack with you. But if you said the wrong thing, I’d bat you one.
2000		P. Howard Miseducation of Ross O’Carroll-Kelly (2004) 107: I meet the guys [...] and we’re having the crack.
2012		R. Milward Kimberly’s Capital Punishment (2023) 399: On account of [embalming] being [...] ‘better craic’ than doing plumbing.
2015		L. McInerney Glorious Heresies 113: ‘And then you all hug or some shit and Tony goes home to resume gargling himself into the ground. Great craic’.
2021		Breen & Conlon Hitmen 238: ‘I had a bit of craic with D last night’.
2021		L. McInerney Rules of Revelation 268: [used neutrally , the setting is a funeral] The boys carried the coffin to the hearse [...] ‘It’s too hot for this craic,’ Yvette said.

(c) (orig. US) a telling, sharp remark.

1893		Sun (NY) 21 May 28/1: ‘He winks at me not to make any crack, an’ drops me a quarter’.
1899		W.J. Kountz Billy Baxter’s Letters 81: When we entered any of the big restaurants I would send her along ahead, and I would trail to hear the cracks.
1905		H. Green Actors’ Boarding House (1906) 121: Didn’t you ketch on to why I was making that crack?
1914		M. Glass Potash and Perlmutter 283: Lookyhere, Abe [...] before you would make some cracks about my Minnie’s family, how about your Rosie’s brother, the one what —.
1929		W.R. Burnett Little Caesar (1932) 38: One crack out of any of you and they’ll pat you with a spade.
1939		J. Weidman What’s In It For Me? 5: She began angrily, but stopped before the crack passed her lips.
1949		Wodehouse Mating Season 24: Popping out at him [...] and making offensive cracks about Jonah and the Whale.
1957		Kerouac On The Road (1972) 241: I was in a movie with a boy and he made a crack about my mother.
1962		F. Norman Guntz 76: After a few dirty cracks from Tosher the ponce all was well.
1979		‘Iceberg Slim’ Airtight Willie and Me 43: I knew it was an off key crack as soon as it exploded against my ears.
1982		(con. 1972) J. Ehrlichman Witness to Power 287: ‘Kicking the press is an art,’ Nixon continued. ‘Your flabby-and-dumb crack was good.’.
1998		G. Burn Happy Like Murderers 191: So he says, ‘What’s the crack then? What’s wrong?’.
2000		N. Griffiths Grits 131: Ut was tha fuckin crack agen abou’ beun naïve.
2012		W. Keyser ‘Carny Lingo’ in http://goodmagic.com 🌐 Crack — A phrase an individual carny polishes and tweaks until it is super-effective at getting the attention of passing marks.

(d) (orig. US) a joke.

1900		Ade More Fables in Sl. (1960) 124: They wanted to [...] hand the Merited Rebuke to some of the Husbands and Brothers who had been making Funny Cracks.
1914		R. Lardner You Know Me Al (1984) 87: I made some crack about Violet and Hazel just to tease Florrie.
1929		M. Levin Reporter 57: The one about the robber, and the crack about the ass’s milk.
1934		(con. 1920s) J.T. Farrell Young Manhood in Studs Lonigan (1936) 353: She made a dirty crack about Fran Reilley.
1946		Mezzrow & Wolfe Really the Blues 109: Man, t’ain’t no crack but a solid fact.
1956		K. Williams Diaries 17 Mar. 124: Lines, business, cracks — corn — the lot [...] just get your laughs any way you can and devil take the hindmost.
1969		R. Rendell Best Man To Die (1981) 12: Charlie’s crack could be taken as a compliment.
1977		L. Heinemann Close Quarters (1987) 240: Some tried to laugh and make light cracks, but the wounded sat stoically.
1987		T. Wolfe Bonfire of the Vanities 169: He somehow had learned of the Dead Mouse crack.
1997		S. Armitage ‘Eclipse’ in CloudCuckooLand 124: They think it’s a good crack, leaving me playing blind man’s buff.
2000		Observer Screen 5 Mar. 7: The telly audience laughs at Fayed’s first great crack, ‘you can call me Al Capone if you like’.
2014		A. Tucher ‘Desperation’ in ThugLit Sept. [ebook] She considered making a crack about liking desperation in a man.
2023		A. Nette Orphan Road 136: Chance let the crack go through to the keeper.

(e) (also craic) fun, amusement, informal entertainment; thus cracksome adj., jolly, amusing; also used of people.

1925		L. Mackay Mourne Folk 71: Man, he was the best crack ivir I heerd!
1933		(con. 1820s) E. O’Tuathail Munterloney Folk Tales n.p.: When we came back we invited a few of the neighbours in and we had the two quarts of poitín and all in all we had some crack [BS].
1961		T. Murphy Whistle in the Dark (1978) Act II: We could bring him, like, for the crack.
1988		R. Doyle Commitments 142: I like the girls. They’re better crack than most o’ the young ones I know. [...] Wha’ abou’ the music? – It’s okay, said Dean. – It’s good crack, yeh know.
1994		F. Mac Anna Ship Inspector 204: Yis are a bit loud and your man can’t sing but yis are good crack.
1999		N. Cohn Yes We have No 115: If you could work a fiddle, that was considered great craic.
2003		Guardian G2 30 May 7: There was no television in those days and so they created their own entertainment, ‘We would gather in each others’ cottages for a bit of craic’.
2007		N. ‘Razor’ Smith Raiders 188: Just for the crack, we bought some of those Santa hats that street traders sell.
2015		L. McInerney Glorious Heresies 289: Izzy bounced over. ‘You’re no craic.’ ‘I am usually. I’m just fffffucked’.
2021		P Howard Braywatch 313: You used to be hilarious, Honor. Now you’re zero focking craic.

(f) (US campus) a witty or funny person.

1976		Eble Campus Sl. Nov. 1: crack – a funny or witty person.
1996		Eble Sl. and Sociability 44: The field that I call destruction is the largest and encompasses several hundred slang items built on forms that in general usage refer to kinds of injury, harm, decomposition, or incapacitation: [...] crack ‘witty person’.

(g) (Irish) insulting speech.

2000		P. Howard Miseducation of Ross O’Carroll-Kelly (2004) 11: They stort giving me the usual crack, roysh – ‘Are you getting a spice burger from the noggin Grill later?’.
2019		A. Killilea Boyo-wulf at https://boyowulf.home.blog 14 Apr. 🌐 Then some mad feen went through a time of shite craic.

(h) a topic, no humour or entertainment suggested.

2015

L. McInerney Glorious Heresies 310: [of a murder plan] ‘I’m sure you have lads better qualified for this kind of craic’.

(a) (also bum-crack, cracker) breaking wind.

[1350		The Frere and Boy (1836) lxx: Than her tayle be weythe Lowd began to blow [...] The weyfe was fferd of a crake Nat on worde more sche spake].
1573		Mery Jests of the Widow Edyth n.p.: And eke at supper he stoode at her back, / So neare that, and if she had let a crack / Never so styll, he must have had knowledge.
1596		J. Harington Metamorphosis of Ajax D: To break a little winde [...] A King can cause no more, a cracke doth doe no lesse.
1604		Marston Malcontent III iii: As Irishmen do bum-cracks.
1604		Middleton Phoenix I iv: cap.: Away sail I, fare thee well. tang.: A lusty crack of wind go with thee.
1630		Tom Thumbe in Hazlitt III (1866) line 113: But as the tinker climb’d a stile, by chance he let a cracke.
1652		Laughing Mercury 25 Aug. - 8 Sept. 175: [She] let such a Bum-cracke that with the winde of her Morter-piece she blew down London-bridge.
1654		Mercurius Fumigosus 6 5 July 44: The Devill [...] let fly such a crack, that he blew down three Wind-mills in Barbycan.
c.1660		‘Fryar & Boye’ in Furnivall & Hales Bishop Percy’s Folio Manuscript of Loose and Humorous Songs (1868) 16: Ffull curstlye shee lookt on him tho; / that looke another cracke lett goe / which did a thunder rise. [Ibid.] 23: As shee dancet [...] fast her tayle did double each cracke, / loud as a water Mill.
1660		J. Howell Thērologia n.p: I find here two Proverbs verified, the one is a homely one, viz. Chanter a un Asne, il vous donnera un pet, Sing to an Asse and he will give you a Bum-crack.
1668		R. Wild Iter boreale 17: I smell your Fizzle, though it make no Crack.
1700		‘Andrew & Maudlin’ in Playford Pills to Purge Melancholy II 66: Kate Laughed heartily at this same smack, / And loud she did answer it with a Bum-crack.
1719		in D’Urfey Pills to Purge Melancholy I 28: To examine if the Crack, Came from him or the Lords in Lawn.
1722		Arse Musica title page: To Don Fart-in-hand-o Puff-in dorst, Professor of Bombast in the University of Crack-o, on the Benefit of Farting.
1820		Pleasant Hist. of Poor Robin 11: She burst into laughter, let such a crack that the grains flew about his face.
c.1825		Friar and Boy 9: A crack like roaring thunder. [Ibid.] 11: With that cracker she let fly, / Which seemed to shake the ground. [...] The little boy replied, / My mother has a good report, / You hear from her b--ks--e.
1909		Joyce letter 82 Dec. to Nora Barnacle in Ellman Sel. Letters (1975) 185: You had an arse full of farts that night, [...] big fat fellows, long windy ones, quick little merry cracks and a lot of tiny little naughty farties.
2001		G. Coughlan Everyday Eng. and Sl. 🌐 Crack (n): fartnote.

(b) a pistol.

1841

W.J. Neale Paul Periwinkle 427: ‘Most likely he’s got a pair of cracks in that pocket.’ ‘Cracks, gentlemen! what do you mean?’ ‘What do we mean? you never heard pistols called cracks before.’.

(c) dry wood.

1859, 1860		Hotten Dict. of Modern Sl. etc.
1861		(con. 1840s–50s) H. Mayhew London Labour and London Poor (1968) I 328/2: The next process is to look for some crack (some dry wood to light a fire); this is the boy’s work.
1873		Sl. Dict.

(d) a shot from a weapon.

1873		W.H. Thomes Slaver’s Adventures 120: I wish you a good day, unless you would like to take a crack at me, just for friendship’s sake.
1894		Mirror of Life 8 Dec. 3/3: ‘Pa won’t hurt you. If he wanted to, he’d bored you the first crack’.
1922		S. Lewis Babbitt (1974) 212: Pulled out that old revolver [...] and took a crack at her.
1931		D. Runyon ‘The Lily of St. Pierre’ Runyon on Broadway (1954) 134: It is the last crack which brings Louie down.
1937		D. Fuchs Low Company 270: Who the hell let out that first crack anyway?

(a) any person, animal or thing that approaches perfection.

1632		J. Shirley Hyde Park IV iii: 1st gent.: What dost think, Jockey? 2nd gent.: The crack o’ the field’s against you.
1746		W. Dunkin Parson’s Revels (2010) 62: [T]he bold Aeneas, Crack / Of Ilium.
1791		J. O’Keeffe Wild Oats (1792) 34: This new actor you brag of – that crack of your company.
1798		T. Morton Speed the Plough I i: Dame Grundy’s butter was quite the crack of the market.
1812		‘George Barnwell Travesti’ in H. Smith Rejected Addresses 119: Determin’d to be quite the crack o, / He lounged at the Adam and Eve, And call’d for his gin and tobacco.
c.1825		Friar and Boy 27: The lad his name was Jack [...] He prov’d so arch a crack, / That scarce was such another.
1832		Egan Bk of Sports 194: But tom to Time must bend and yield, / Although was — ‘once the crack’.
1841		‘The Devil In Search Of A Wife’ Dublin Comic Songster 108: He was of Dublin swells the crack.
1842		Whip & Satirist of NY & Brooklyn (NY) 16 Apr. n.p.: He has associated with the greatest masters of the art [i.e. prize-fighting] [...] Ward, Byrne, Bendigo and all the cracks.
1842		Whip & Satirist of NY & Brooklyn (NY) 3 Dec. n.p.: Her establishment is ther ‘crack’ of the city for boarding ladies amnd their ‘friends’.
1848		Era (London) 4 June 3/4: The cracks hadn’t come, so they [the general public] set to work chaffing each other.
1855		C. Kingsley Westward Ho III 286: He sailed with my father Captain Will, when they were both two little cracks aboard of a trawler.
1864		Herald (Glasgow) 5 Apr. n.p.: ‘Report of R.N.Y. Club.’ This vessel, (one of Fyfe’s cracks) being almost new, and coppered, will be free from the objectionable fouling which is so great a drawback to the use of iron yachts [F&H].
1879		C.J. Kickham Knocknagow 451: ‘The general opinion was that she was “a nice crack” – whatever that means’. ‘A “crack” is a person who dresses too stylishly. But Bessy’s taste is so exquisite, it is impossible to find fault with her in that respect.’.
1879		London Life 23 Aug. 7/1: [of racehorses] Hark! the saddling bell is ringing, and the cracks are led out [...] before their admirers and backers.
1888		‘Rolf Boldrewood’ Robbery Under Arms (1922) 325: [of a racehorse] There was a big field, with two or three cracks up from Sydney.
1889		H. Smart Long Odds I 172: [of a racehorse] ‘Mr Bramton, knowing nothing about racing, would probably feel flattered and grateful to a man like himself for taking the management of his ‘crack’ off his hands.
1894		Mirror of Life 17 Feb. 7/3: He has definitely decided to go over to the States [...] and race with the American cracks.
1895		‘Banjo’ Paterson ‘The Man from Snowy River’ Man from Snowy River (1902) 3: So all the cracks had gathered to the fray. / All the tried and noted riders from the stations near and far.
1904		Sydney Sportsman (Surry Hills, NSW) 6 July 6/3: ‘I’m not getting any younger, you know, and I’m always being steered up against stronger cracks’.
1909		N.Z. Truth 27 Feb. 6/4: Billy Elliott, the New Zealand crack, was first in the ring.
1910		Sun. Times (Perth) 27 Mar. 2nd sect. 11/1: What start Roberts will concede James has not yet been arranged, but presumably he will engage him on the same conditions as he met the cracks in India recently.
1913		J. London Valley of the Moon (1914) 31: See the red-head with the spikes [...] San Francisco’s set on him winning. He’s their crack, an’ there’s a lot of bets up.
1936		‘Banjo’ Paterson Shearer’s Colt 63: He was a real crack, but he turned unmanageable at the barrier so they refused his nominations.

(b) a fop, a dandy.

1698

N. Ward ‘The Cock-Pit Combat’ Writings (1704) 135: From Cobler and Crack, to the Knight and the Noble, / By Stanch Politicians, the matter was Stated.

(c) a jolly, high-spirited party.

1909		(ref. to 18C) J. Ware Passing Eng. of the Victorian Era 96/1: Crack (Jovial, 18 cent.). A roystering meeting, derived from ‘cracking’ and finishing a bottle of wine.
1998		I. Welsh Filth 177: We’re having a crack here, a drink.

(d) the current fashion; the fashionable world, the social and sporting élite.

c.1786		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue ms. additions n.p.: The Crack, or All the Crack. The fashionable theme, the Go.
1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue (2nd, 3rd edn) n.p.:
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1832		Egan Bk of Sports [as cit. 1788] .

(a) an instant, a very brief moment; usu. as in a crack

1725		implied in in a crack
1838		‘I Dreamt Last Night As I Lay On My Bed’ Rambler’s Flash Songster 37: He jumped into bed, and in less than a crack, / The job it was done and all over.
1841		‘Don Giovanni or, The Man Vot Claps ’Em On The Peg’ Gentleman’s Spicey Songster 29: But he very soon learnt her to cock up her leg, / And in less than a crack, she was clap’d on the peg.
c.1850		‘Wakefield Gaol’ in R. Palmer Touch of the Times 252: I’d bone the tout in half a crack.
1884		Ally Sloper’s Half Holiday 7 June 47/1: But with scorn we fling them [i.e. gifts] back, / Fling them back in half a crack.
1887		W.S. Gilbert ‘The Bishop of Rum-Ti-Foo’ Fifty ‘Bab’ Ballads 57: ‘Right Reverend Sir, in half a crack!’ / Replied that dancing man.
1908		Truth (Brisbane) 12 Apr. 9/3: They’ll run a man to Tophet / In about a half a crack.
1910		Truth Perth) 9 Apr. 8/8: Coodn’t knock it off at onct, nor / Mend her ways in half a crack.
1972		(con. 1916) G. Swarthout Tin Lizzie Troop (1978) 98: What he’d do first crack in the morning was, put on a sorrowful phiz.
1984		Partridge DSUE (8th edn) 263/1: from ca. 1720.

(b) an opportunity, a try, a chance.

1837		implied in have a crack at
1873		J. O’Connor Wanderings of a Vagabond 383: ‘Well, I think I’ll take a crack for Jacob, anyhow,’ said Ashby.
1895		E. Townsend Chimmie Fadden Explains 42: De first crack his Whiskers makes to get down a present he near knocks over de dinky tree.
1908		B. Fisher A. Mutt in Blackbeard Compilation (1977) 144: I’ll just give the Prof a crack at my bean. He’ll be surprised to find so much brains under one dome.
1912		Day Book (Chicago) 25 Jan. 17/2: I wish you would put me down for those two seats old Mrs W. has [...] so I will have first crack at them in case anything happens to her.
1924		C.J. Dennis ‘A Holy War’ in Chisholm (1951) 78: ‘’Old on,’ I sez. ‘Just let me think for one / Brief ’arf-a-mo. I’d love a crack or two / At this flash gun.’.
1930		D. Hammett ‘The First Thin Man’ in Nightmare Town (2001) 351: We might as well go in and get hold of Boyer and Ray and get it over with at one crack.
1945		R.L. Bellem ‘Poison Payoff’ Hollywood Detective Dec. 🌐 She’d even answered the door herself, to get first crack at any caller.
1957		H. Simmons Corner Boy 158: Graduates from City College get first crack at the jobs around here.
1959		W. Hall Long and the Short and the Tall Act I: Very nice. I wouldn’t mind a crack at her myself.
1966		T. Keyes All Night Stand 17: I felt like having a second crack.
1974		D. Goines Swamp Man 176: That boy wants a crack at us just as bad as we want one at him.
1982		P. Redmond Tucker and Co 63: Don’t want to blow it, do you? We’ll probably only get one crack at it.
1992		G. Disher Paydirt [ebook] ‘I want another crack at the payroll’.
1998		C. Fleming High Concept 158: They were to be offered first crack at the sequel.
1999		Guardian Rev. 20 Aug. 11: The Puffy marketing brain can’t resist another crack at crossover paydirt.
2004		C. Hiaasen Skinny Dip 202: ‘How long have you been a bodyguard?’ ‘This here’s my first crack at it.’.
2005		M.B. ‘Chopper’ Read Chopper 4 41: You [...] come out with the drinks every few hours and get first crack at the lunch.
2010		L. Redhead Thrill City [ebook] It’s not like he didn’t have a crack, but she chose me.
2021		C. Hammer Opal Country 80: ‘They can go to heaven or they can go to hell, but we get first crack’.

(c) (US) a go, a time, an instance.

1870		C. White Magic Penny in Darkey Drama 5 Act I: One shillin’ a crack.
1896		J.F. Lillard Poker Stories 59: I’ve seen them betting a bale of cotton at a crack.
1905		Sporting Times 11 Mar. 2/3: The extortionate old harridan pulled out a bottle of very potent juniper, and under the spell of the third or fourth crack at it, Anita’s tongue loosened.
1917		Mencken letter Dec. in Bode New Mencken Letters (1977) 79: A very good sale. I think your review sold at least 150 of them at one crack.
1929		L. Thomas Woodfill of the Regulars 76: Bean sandwiches, which he proceeded to sell at a dollar a crack.
1947		Kerouac letter 13 Sept. in Charters I (1995) 129: Sleeping 20 hours at a crack in a big creaking bed.
1953		L. Uris Battle Cry (1964) 293: Banks [...] had been butchering our hair for over a year — at two bits a crack.
1962		H.S. Thompson letter 19 Oct. Proud Highway (1997) 356: They recently raised me to £175 a crack.
1978		R. Caron Go-Boy! 37: There was one guy [...] who owned a contraband library of pornographic books; he made a killing loaning them out at three bales [of tobacco] a crack.
1993		S. King Dolores Claiborne 285: The rich fella who used to give away a million bucks at a crack on that old TV show.