crumb
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See also: Crumb
English[edit]
Alternative forms[edit]
- crimb (dialectal)
Etymology[edit]
From Middle English crome, cromme, crumme, crume, from Old English cruma (“crumb, fragment”), from Proto-Germanic *krumô, *krūmô (“fragment, crumb”), from Proto-Indo-European *grū-mo- (“something scraped together, lumber, junk; to claw, scratch”), from *ger- (“to turn, bend, twist, wind”). The b is excrescent, as in limb and climb, appearing in the mid 15th century to match crumble and words like dumb, numb, thumb. Cognate with Dutch kruim (“crumb”), Low German Krome, Krume (“crumb”), German Krume (“crumb”), Danish krumme (“crumb”), Swedish dialectal krumma (“crumb”), Swedish inkråm (“crumbs, giblets”), Icelandic krumur (“crumb”), Latin grūmus (“a little heap”).
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
crumb (countable and uncountable, plural crumbs)
- A small piece which breaks off from baked food (such as cake, biscuit or bread).
- The pigeons were happily pecking at crumbs of bread on the ground.
- 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Luke 16:21:
- desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table
- 1892, Walter Besant, chapter II, in The Ivory Gate […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC:
- At twilight in the summer there is never anybody to fear—man, woman, or cat—in the chambers and at that hour the mice come out. They do not eat parchment or foolscap or red tape, but they eat the luncheon crumbs.
- A small piece of other material, such as rubber.
- 2012, Caroline Joy Adams, An Italic Calligraphy Handbook, page 79:
- Then erase any pencil lines with a good, soft eraser, rubbing gently, in only one direction. A dustbrush can be useful in removing any eraser crumbs.
- (figuratively) A bit, small amount.
- a crumb of comfort
- The soft internal portion of bread, surrounded by crust.
- 1861, Thomas Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxford:
- Dust unto dust, what must be, must; / If you can't get crumb, you'd best eat crust.
- A mixture of sugar, cocoa and milk, used to make industrial chocolate.
- (slang) A nobody; a worthless person.
- 1999, Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, Alice on the Outside, page 146:
- All Dad can think of is a gift certificate from the Melody Inn? And my crumb of a boyfriend doesn't even show up? This is a birthday?
- (slang) A body louse (Pediculus humanus).
Synonyms[edit]
- (crumbled food): crumbling
- (small amount): see also Thesaurus:modicum.
Derived terms[edit]
Related terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
small piece of biscuit, cake, etc
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(figurative) small amount
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soft internal portion of bread
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
Verb[edit]
crumb (third-person singular simple present crumbs, present participle crumbing, simple past and past participle crumbed)
- (transitive) To cover with crumbs.
- (transitive) To break into crumbs or small pieces with the fingers; to crumble.
- to crumb bread
Derived terms[edit]
Related terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
to cover with crumbs
to break into crumbs or small pieces with the fingers — see crumble
Categories:
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms inherited from Old English
- English terms derived from Old English
- English terms inherited from Proto-Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English 1-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- Rhymes:English/ʌm
- Rhymes:English/ʌm/1 syllable
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English uncountable nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms with usage examples
- English terms with quotations
- English slang
- English verbs
- English transitive verbs
- en:Lice