Definition of "crackle" [crac•kle]

• To make a succession of slight sharp snapping noises: a fire crackling in the wood stove. (verb-intransitive)
• To show liveliness, energy, or intensity: a book that crackles with humor. (verb-intransitive)
• To become covered with a network of fine cracks; craze. (verb-intransitive)
• To crush (paper, for example) with sharp snapping sounds. (verb-transitive)
• To cause (china, for example) to become covered with a network of fine cracks. (verb-transitive)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Where I hunt, radio crackle is becoming as common as the jackhammer pounding of sapsuckers and three-toed woodpeckers."
• "The analogous expressions involving 5th and 6th derivatives are known as crackle and pop."
• "If we burn her, she gets stuffed in the flames, crackle, crackle, crackle, which is a bit of a shock if she's not quite dead, but quick. the audience starts booing and then we give you handful of ashes, which you can pretend are hers."