cruft

See also: Cruft

English

Etymology

Circa 1959, MIT Tech Model Railroad Club. Unknown origin; possibly from Cruft Hall, built in 1915 as a gift from a donor named Harriet Otis Cruft. Cruft Hall was the radar laboratory of Harvard's physics department during the Second World War, which contained much old and unused technical equipment. Possibly blend of crust +‎ fluff, both of which may form on old abandoned things, or influenced by crud.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɹʌft/
• Rhymes: -ʌft
• Hyphenation: cruft

Noun

cruft (uncountable)

1. (computing, informal) Anything old or of inferior quality.
2. (computing, informal) Redundant, old or improperly written code, especially that which accumulates over time; clutter.

Derived terms

• crufting
• crufty
• cruftware
• fancruft

Translations

anything old or of inferior quality

• Finnish: roska (fi)
• German: Überflüssiges n, Krempel m, Ramsch (de) m, Schrott (de) m, Müll (de) m
• Polish: rupiecie (pl) m pl, barachło (pl) n, szajs (pl) m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Russian: хлам (ru) m (xlam), барахло́ (ru) n (baraxló), ру́хлядь (ru) n (rúxljadʹ), старьё (ru) n (starʹjó) (old stuff)
• Turkish: fuzuli (tr)

Verb

cruft (third-person singular simple present crufts, present participle crufting, simple past and past participle crufted)

1. To generate cruft