E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
Crack,
as a crack man, a first-rate fellow; a crack hand at cards, a first-rate player; a crack article, an excellent one, i.e. an article cracked up or boasted about. This is the Latin crepo, to crack or boast about. Hence Lucretius ii. 1168, “crepas antiquum genus.”
1
“Indeed, la! ’tis a noble child; a crack, madam.”
Shakespeare: Coriolanus, i. 3.
A gude crack. A good talker.
2
“To be a gude crack … was essential to the trade of a ‘puir body’ of the more esteemed class.”—Sir W. Scott: The Antiquary (Introduction).
In a crack. Instantly. In a snap of the fingers, crep’itu digito’rum (in a crack of the fingers). (French, craquer.)
3
“Une allusion an bruit de l’ongle contre la doul que les Orientaux du moyen age touchaient du
doight quand ils voulaient affirmer solennellement une chose.” Hence—
