What it means
Properly exhausted, proper done in. It’s stronger and cheekier than just saying tired, the sort of state where your body’s gone on strike and even making toast feels ambitious. It comes from Cockney rhyming slang, with cream cracker rhyming with knackered, then turning into cream crackered in normal speech.
Usage examples
"Mate, I’m cream crackered, been up since sparrow’s fart, ran all over town, and the Central line was chaos. Cuppa, sofa, lights out."
"Three night shifts in a row, I'm absolutely cream-crackered, I could sleep standing up on the bus."
"After lugging boxes up four flights all day, we were both cream-crackered and ordered a takeaway."
"I’m cream crackered after that double shift, mate. My feet are filing for divorce."
"We did the school run, the big shop, then the train got delayed. I’m absolutely cream crackered."
Got something to say?
Edit, fix or tell us something. We review it and, if it is true, you will see it applied with your name on it.
Where it comes from
This is old Cockney rhyming slang from London. Cream cracker rhymes with knackered, so cream cracker became a playful stand-in, then people naturally stretched it into cream crackered when talking about being wiped out. It’s been kicking around British speech for ages and still gets used well beyond East London.
Other ways to say it
Editors of this term
Your vote counts
Is this real street talk or have we lost the plot? Cast your vote.
