The tyrants of Laputa, my friend reminded me, controlled the land beneath them by occasionally lowering the island's adamantine base to flatten rebellious cities - literally crushing the opposition.

One good hit from a helmeted head to a non-helmeted head could literally crush a man's skull.

Superman would literally crush LL's body in his arms, while simultaneously ripping her open from crotch to sternum, gutting her like a trout.

When it hits a vehicle it can "literally crush Gadhafi's tanks without causing massive explosions that can harm nearby civilians."

Then how about a race where participants build their own cars, chain their bumper to an ambulance or hold a vote to literally crush a competitor's car?

This serpentine Zord was so massive that it could literally crush the Ranger's Zords underfoot (with the exception of Carrier Zord, Tor) and had the power to destroy whole planets.

Also, when he challenged King Heafstaag, a mighty barbarian leader in Icewind Dale, Wulfgar literally crushed the King's head like a melon with his bare hands.

In the Detroit Free Press, Harry Bullion wrote: "Like an avalanche, slow to start but a blizzard when it gained momentum, the Maize and Blue eleven literally crushed the Suckers, buried them, as it were, under a decisive defeat."

According to a report published in The Tribune on 16 March 1966, a spokesperson for the organisation stated that "the Sikh Scheduled Castes had been reduced to a position of mere serfs by the Sikh landlords who would literally crush the Mazhabi Sikhs if Punjabi Suba was formed."