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cracks

Dialect
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

Australian slang for experts; in poetry, it creates a distinctively local, informal register, often emphasizing a character's practical mastery in a harsh environment.

Detailed Definition
Here “the cracks” means the finest bush riders, not physical breaks or flaws. The word reflects Australian colloquial usage connected with skill and excellence, especially in a competitive setting.
Example
Example in poetry:
“So all the cracks had gathered to the fray” gives cracks a dialectal sense of lively boys or fellows; “The village cracks came whistling down the lane” uses the regional plural for people; In Scots and northern speech, a crack may be a lad rather than a split in stone; Context distinguishes these human “cracks” from “cracks in the wall”
Additional Notes
In “all the cracks had gathered,” “cracks” is Australian slang for expert riders rather than its usual everyday meanings.; Found in the poem, The Man from Snowy River by Banjo Paterson
Also Known As
fissures breaks fractures
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