ass crack of dawn
An intensifier, used in the same contexts as crack of dawn, but more intenseAn intensifier, used in the same contexts as crack of dawn, but more intense.
Meaning
1 senses(Canada, US, uncountable, vulgar)An intensifier, used in the same contexts as crack of dawn, but more intense.
Origin
From ass crack jocularly replacing crack in the (preexisting) noun phrase crack of dawn (=From ass crack jocularly replacing crack in the (preexisting) noun phrase crack of dawn (= "break of dawn"); although ass crack (cleft, gap) and crack (break) are cognate, the jocularity nonetheless rests on the disjunction that is cognitively close to (albeit by some standards not technically) a pun.
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Lessons for this word
1 lessons- A1Countable and uncountable nouns — Because it can be uncountable
See also
neighbours in the dictionaryDictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.