(usually of an aircraft) to descend steeply and rapidly, before hitting the ground
to perform or cause to perform a crash dive
First recorded in 1915–20
First recorded in 1925–30
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
In the morning, a plane was sighted; an immediate crash dive was ordered, but the ship did not descend far enough, fast enough.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 15, 2020
Henry Erwin of the Army Air Forces, who during World War II grabbed a burning white phosphorous flare and threw it out of the cockpit of a B-29 while it was in a crash dive.
From New York Times ● Sep. 23, 2011
O'Connor and Smithson were pushed down into the control room while the U-boat made a crash dive.
From Time Magazine Archive
The Twelfth, said the Daily Herald, was a "crash dive into banality."
From Time Magazine Archive
He turned—gazed, jumped back, and pushed the button for a crash dive.
From World's War Events Volume 3 Beginning with the departure of the first American destroyers for service abroad in April, 1917, and closing with the treaties of peace in 1919. by Churchill, Allen L. (Allen Leon)
The film is a series of flights and falls, airy dreams that crash-dive into disaster.
From Time ● Feb. 20, 2014
The whole film is a series of flights and falls, airy ambitions that crash-dive into compromise and tragedy.
From Time ● Sep. 2, 2013
Meanwhile, Cincinnati's attendance had crash-dived from 2.6 million at the 1976 crest of the Red Machine to 1.2 million in 1983.
From Time Magazine Archive
I crash-dived at once, but could not get under before the enemy fired a second shot at us, which fortunately missed us.
From The Diary of a U-boat Commander With an Introduction and Explanatory Notes by Etienne by King-Hall, Stephen, Sir
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
