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Phrase(s): crack open
[for something brittle] to break or split open. • The egg cracked open and a chick worked its way out. • The side of the mountain cracked open and molten lava flowed out., Phrase(s): crack something (wide) open
1. Lit. to crack or split something. • An incredible eruption cracked the volcano wide open. 2. Fig. to expose and reveal some great wrongdoing. • The police cracked the drug ring wide open. • The newspaper story cracked the trouble at city hall wide open.
McGrawhill's American Idioms And Phrasal Verbs