Green’s Dictionary of Slang

crack n.⁴

1. a burglar.

1749		B.M. Carew ‘The Oath of the Canting Crew’ in Farmer Musa Pedestris (1896) 50: No strange Abram, ruffler crack, / Hooker of another pack.
1827		Key of Pierce Egan’s Trip to Ascot Races [printed panorama] He had heard of Cracks, / Spicemen, Knucklers, and Sneaks! / And he longed to be at the head of a Party, To show his authority to lag or to twist.
1836		‘Moll Blowse of Saffron Hill’ in Flash Casket 98: Vhen pigmen grabb’d me for a crack, / And sent me to the Mill, / Von voman broght me scran and shag, / ’Tvos Moll Blowse of Saffron Hill.
1852		Bell’s Life in Sydney 6 Nov. 3/1: [heading] A ‘Crack’ Customer [He had] sneaked up stairs into his bed-room, and then and lhere taken, the liberty of applying certain skeleton keys to certain locks.
1879		Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 20 Dec. 11/3: [headline] St Louis Detectives Capture Two of the Most Notorious ‘Cracks’ in the Business.
1879		Sporting Times 1 Mar. 1/1: There used to be a regiment of the Line with so many burglars recruited into its ranks that it was called the ‘crack regiment’.
1901		Truth (Sydney) 29 Sept. 7/3: When the Cracks tip in a crib, the / Kinchin if he nose ’is book, / Smothers up the way they entered.

2. a burglary, a break-in.

1811		Lex. Balatronicum n.p.: His pall nosed and he was twisted for a crack; his confederate turned king’s evidence, and he was hanged for burglary.
1816		Morn. Post (London) 20 July 4/1: They shortly decided [to] go to what is termed a ‘flash house’ [...] and bring out those who were to act as their companions in the ‘crack’.
1823		‘Jon Bee’ Dict. of the Turf, the Ring, the Chase, etc. 59: A Crack — House-breaking.
1838		Paul Pry 20 Sept. 178/8: We shall be furnished next week with the particulars of the Cornhill Crack, when Williams lost all his swag, although pro- tected by Chubb's patent locks, which to the finished crackman are as much use[...] than if the premises were fastened by a piece of twine.
1844		Yorks. Gaz. 4 May 6/5: The prisoner observed to her that he had made a fine 'crack,' and handed her some articles.
1848		G.W.M. Reynolds Mysteries of London II (2nd series) 369: I have got my own clasp-knife – a darkey – and a small jimmey [...] and blowed if it shall be my fault, should we fail in the crack to-night.
1851		‘Greenhorn’ [G. Thompson] Bristol Bill 38/1: Bill was on the watch for a chance to make a ‘crack’ .
1855		W. Phillips Wild Tribes of London 71: Wonder what Ned’s been up to; some of his pals have made a crack, no doubt.
1865		Leaves from Diary of Celebrated Burglar 89/2: The morning after the ‘crack’ I told Joe that I thought Leeds would be rather too hot for us for a time.
1867		Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 7 Sept. n.p.: Now that they have got him in ‘quod’ why don’t they [...] try him for that ‘crack’.
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn).

In compounds

crack lay (n.) [lay n.³ (1)]

(UK Und.) house-breaking.

c.1786		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue ms. additions n.p.: The Crack lay, of late is used in the Cant l;anguage to Signify the Art and Mystery of Housebreaking.
1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue (2nd, 3rd edn).
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.

In phrases

do a crack (v.)

to commit a burglary.

1834		Sun (N.Y.) 20 June 2/2: Off. — Well, what’s going on? Con. — Oh, nothing of consequence since I came out — only a little ‘knuckling’ just to keep my hand in. I can’t find a ‘Pal,’ and you know nobody can do a ‘Crack’ without one.
1887		W.E. Henley ‘Villon’s Straight Tip’ in Farmer Musa Pedestris (1896) 176: Dead-lurk a crib, or do a crack; / Pad with a slang, or chuck a mag.
1895		J. Caminada Twenty-Five Years of Detective Life I 50: It was hoped that the persons doing these ‘jobs,’ or ‘cracks,’ as we call them, might be brought to justice.
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn).

(go) on the crack

(to go) out burgling.

1791		‘A London Ken-cracking Song’ in Confessions of Thomas Mount 20: Upon the crack, ye need no doubt.
1833		‘The City Youth’ in Out-and-Outer in Spedding & Watt (eds) Bawdy Songbooks (2011) IV 139: His nob is never idle, or his daddles ever slack, / All day he’s on the buzz-lift, and at night upon the crack.
1842		Egan ‘The By-Blow of the Jug’ in Farmer Musa Pedestris (1896) 145: And ever anxious to get his whack – / When scarcely ripe, he went on the crack.
1931		Irwin Amer. Tramp and Und. Sl. 137: On the Crack. – Out for burglary or other theft.