crack a smile
To smile. I got the baby to crack a smile by clapping and singing. The mood was so somber that no one cracked a smile in response to my joke. Finally, at long last, we got the grieving widow to crack a smile and laugh at a fond memory of her husband.
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.
crack a smile
to grin; to smile. I was tellin' my best jokes, but Jim never cracked a smile. She looked surprised, and then cracked a big, beautiful smile.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
crack a smile
Smile, as in Betty was a very serious person; she rarely cracked a smile. This colloquialism transfers crack in the sense of "break" to breaking a serious facial expression into a smile.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.