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Webster 1913 Edition

Crumb

Crumb

(krŭm)
,
Noun.
[AS.
cruma
, akin to D.
kruim
, G.
krume
; cf. G.
krauen
to scratch, claw.]
[Written also
crum
.]
1.
A small fragment or piece; especially, a small piece of bread or other food, broken or cut off.
Desiring to be fed with the
crumbs
which fell from the rich man’s table.
Luke xvi. 21.
2.
Fig.: A little; a bit;
as, a
crumb
of comfort
.
3.
The soft part of bread.
Dust unto dust, what must be, must;
If you can't get
crumb
, you'd best eat crust.
Old Song.
Crumb brush
,
a brush for sweeping crumbs from a table.
–
To a crum
,
with great exactness; completely.

Crumb

,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Crumbed
(krŭmd)
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Crumbing
(krŭm′ĭng)
.]
To break into crumbs or small pieces with the fingers;
as, to
crumb
bread
.
[Written also
crum
.]

Definition 2024

crumb

crumb

English

Noun

crumb ‎(plural crumbs)

  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.‎
    • Bible, Luke xvi. 21
      desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table
    • 1893, Walter Besant, The Ivory Gate, chapter II:
      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. (figuratively) A bit, small amount.
    a crumb of comfort‎
  3. The soft internal portion of bread, surrounded by crust.
    • Old song
      Dust unto dust, what must be, must; / If you can't get crumb, you'd best eat crust.
  4. A mixture of sugar, cocoa and milk, used to make industrial chocolate.
  5. (slang) A nobody, worthless person.
  6. (slang) A body louse.

Synonyms

  • (crumbled food): crumbling
  • (small amount): see also Wikisaurus:modicum.

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Verb

crumb ‎(third-person singular simple present crumbs, present participle crumbing, simple past and past participle crumbed)

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

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Etymology

From Middle English crumme, cromme, crume, crome, 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; and appeared 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

  • IPA(key): /kɹʌm/
  • Rhymes: -ʌm

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