crumb

nounverbattested in dialogue

//kɹʌm//

A small piece which breaks off from baked food (such as cake, biscuit or bread).

noun

1
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.
desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table
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.
2
A small piece of any other solid substance.
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.
3
figurativeA bit, small amount.
a crumb of comfort
4
The soft internal portion of bread, surrounded by crust.
Dust unto dust, what must be, must; / If you can't get crumb, you'd best eat crust.
5
A mixture of sugar, cocoa and milk, used to make industrial chocolate.
6
slangA nobody; a worthless person.
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?
7
slangA body louse (Pediculus humanus).
8
Variant of crumb rubberEllipsis of crumb rubber.
Production of rubber granules, or crumb, is well-established in this country.

Etymology

From Middle English crome, cromme, crumme, crume, from Old English cruma (“crumb, fragment”), from Proto-Germanic *krumô, *krūmô (“fragment, crumb”). The b is unetymological, as in limb, and first appeared in the mid-15th century, influenced by crumble and words such as dumb, numb, and 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”).

verb

1
To cover with crumbs.
2
To break into crumbs or small pieces with the fingers; to crumble.
to crumb bread

Forms

plural: crumbs
past tense: crumbed
past participle: crumbed
present participle: crumbing
third person singular: crumbs

Cruise · A surname from Anglo-Norman.cruiser · A frigate or other vessel, detached from the fleet, to cruise…cruising · Sailing about without an exact destination, especially for…

crumb · A small piece which breaks off from baked food (such as cake, biscuit or bread).

Crumb · A surname.crumble · To fall apart; to disintegrate.Crumble · A surname.

The neighbouring pages — Alphabetical order follows the rules of the language, not byte values: an accent decides only between two otherwise identical words, and Spanish files Ñ as a letter of its own.