crack a book
English
Verb
crack a book (third-person singular simple present cracks a book, present participle cracking a book, simple past and past participle cracked a book)
- (informal) To open up one's books, especially in order to study.
- You had better crack the books if you want to have any chance of graduating this year.
Usage notes
The article a is not used exclusively, often it is replaced with the or a pronoun; e.g. "crack the books" or "crack some books". This idiom is also sometimes used without an intermediate determiner, e.g. "Cracking books is not optional in this class."