▪ I. † crim, v. Obs. or dial.
In 5 kreme, kryme, 6 crym(me, 8 cream.
[The form would be satisfied by an OE. *crymman:—*krumjan, f. cruma, crumb, n., q.v.]
trans. To crumble (bread, etc.); to scatter crumbs upon or into (a dish). b. intr. To crumble, fall to pieces.
| c 1430 Two Cookery-bks. 35 Take hard ȝolkys of Eyroun, & kryme a gode quantyte þer-to. 1530 Palsgr. 501/2, I crym breed into a dysshe..Thou haste eaten thy potage or I can crymme my dyssche. 1736 Pegge Kenticisms, Cream, to crumble. Hops, when they are too much dried, are said to cream, i.e. to crumble to pieces. ‘To cream one's dish’, to put the bread into it, in order to pour the milk upon it. 1880 in Parish & Shaw Kentish Gloss. (? from Pegge). |
▪ II. crim, n. U.S. and Austral. slang
abbrev. of criminal n. 2.
| 1909 in Webster. 1953 K. Tennant Joyful Condemned xxii. 212 Some of the fellow crims remarked on it in filthy language. 1970 Tel. (Brisbane) 29 June 4/1 (headline) Crims ‘in turmoil’. |