A Cracking Good Word

 I like crack.

The word, that is. Specifically, I like how wide-spanning it is. I like words that have many multiple meanings that are seemingly unrelated and distant from one another. Some words have many definitions but you can kind of trace how they're all connected. But "crack" covers a wide range and the connection points are, in many cases, at least not superficially obvious.

Let's trace some of the ways "crack" can be used:

First, of course, there is "crack" as in a gap or fissure ("A crack in the foundation").

There's also "crack" as in a loud noise ("A crack of lightning.").

Then there's "crack" as in to solve ("I cracked the case!").

There's "crack" as in elite ("Crack troops guarded the valley").

There's "crack" as in an attempt ("I'll take a crack at it").

There's "crack" as in making a joke ("'No soap, radio!' he cracked).

And of course there's also "crack" as in the drug -- crack cocaine.

That's a very expansive range -- and it doesn't count the related conjugates (i.e., crack as fissure is the noun, but there's also the verb form to crack -- to create such a fissure). Moreover, I don't intuitively see the pathway by which the various meanings came into being. The one exception is "crack" as solve, which I can imagine (though this is speculation) comes specifically from cracking a safe, i.e., solving the "puzzle" of a safe which results in opening it a crack. So those two I can perhaps tie together. But other than that? It's a mystery I cannot crack.