cruncher

[ kruhn-cher ]

/ ˈkrʌn tʃər /

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a person or thing that crunches.

Informal. a decisive blow, argument, event, or the like.

QUIZZES

Set some time apart to test your bracket symbol knowledge, and see if you can keep your parentheses, squares, curlies, and angles all straight!

Question 1 of 7

Let’s start with some etymology: What are the origins of the typographical word “bracket”?

First recorded in 1945–50; crunch + -er¹

If a pension fund expects to pay someone $10,000 in 10 years and anticipates it will earn 7% a year, compounded, today’s cost of that benefit — what numbers crunchers call its “present value” — shows up on its books as a liability of $5,083.
The Fed Saved the Economy but Is Threatening Trillions of Dollars Worth of Middle-Class Retirement|by Allan Sloan|October 21, 2020|ProPublica
At his worst, Ryan can come across as a heartless number cruncher—or the most physically fit accountant in Janesville, Wisconsin.
Which Joe Biden Will Show Up for Thursday’s Debate?|Matt Latimer|October 11, 2012|DAILY BEAST
It plays to all her strength as a superwonk policy cruncher.
Hillary and the 'Woman Thing'|Tina Brown|October 13, 2009|DAILY BEAST
Vell, then, clubs is trumps, an' we have got a big von vith a knot on the hend for Gran'mother Cruncher—see?
Tin-Types Taken in the Streets of New York|Lemuel Ely Quigg

But at the end of the first week Grandmother Cruncher's rheumatism was too much for her and she was compelled to retire.
Tin-Types Taken in the Streets of New York|Lemuel Ely Quigg
Aside from his duty to Grandmother Cruncher, he was not going to have his business run by outsiders—not if he knew himself!
Tin-Types Taken in the Streets of New York|Lemuel Ely Quigg
Mr. Cruncher reposed under a patchwork counterpane, like a Harlequin at home.
A Tale of Two Cities|Charles Dickens
"That there Roger Cly, master," said Mr. Cruncher, with a taciturn and iron-bound visage.
A Tale of Two Cities|Charles Dickens