Crase

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. An archaic verb meaning to rub out or efface marks from a surface ; an old adjective describing something frail, weak, or cracked
2. Obsolete term for erasing writing or markings ; a rare archaic adjective applied to anything feeble, fragile, or broken
3. A dated word meaning to wipe away or obliterate traces on a surface ; an antiquated way of describing something weakened or cracked

Etymology: "Crase" is simply an Early Modern spelling of "craze", so the history is that of "craze" itself. The word began in Middle English as "crasen", meaning to crush, break to pieces, or shatter, and it came into English from Old Norse "krasa", "to shatter". Its roots are imitative, built on the sharp crack and crunch of something breaking, a sound that many Scandinavian words still echo today. The surprise lies in how far the sense has travelled. The earliest meaning was entirely physical: a thing was crazed when it was smashed into fragments. The sense of breaking into pieces later moved into the mind, so that a person whose wits had cracked was said to be "crazed", and the modern meaning of wild or unbalanced folly grew out of that picture of a shattered mind.