▪ I. † ˈcrumpling, n. and a. Obs.
[Cf. G. krümmling, dial. krumling, krümpling, crooked stick, crooked man, etc.: see crumb a., crump a. But in the n. sense 2, the word appears to be immediately associated with crumple vb. or n.]
A. n.
1. A crooked, or deformed person.
| a 1825 Forby Voc. E. Anglia, Crumplin, a diminutive and deformed person. |
2. A small dwarfed and shrivelled apple, cucumber, etc.: see quots.
| 1658 Evelyn Fr. Gard. (1675) 268 Putting each sort in a basket apart: I speak not here of the smallest, and the crumplings. 1693 ― De la Quint. Compl. Gard. Dict., Crumpling, or Guerkins are small Cucumbers to pickle, called in French Cornichons. a 1700 B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Crumplings, wrinkled Codlings, usually the least, but sweetest. 1710 Brit. Apollo III. 3/1 Ginger-Bread Babies and Crumplins. a 1825 Forby Voc. E. Anglia, Crumplin, a diminutive and mis-shapen apple. 1888 W. Somerset Word-bk., Crumpling, an apple which does not mature, but which shrivels on the tree. |
B. adj. ? Crooked, shrivelled, deformed.
| 1666 J. Smith Old Age (1752) 154 The locust and gras⁓hopper are both of them hard cragged crumpling creatures. 1755 Carte Hist. Eng. IV. 595 A little old crumpling fellow who made his fires was the best companion he had. |
▪ II. crumpling, vbl. n.
(ˈkrʌmplɪŋ)
[-ing1.]
The action of the verb crumple; a crumpled condition. Also attrib., as crumpling-irons.
| 1855 Thackeray Newcomes I. 233 In Miss Ethel's black hair there was a slight natural ripple..[which others] endeavoured to imitate by art, paper, and I believe crumpling irons. 1862 Dana Man. Geol. 650 The folding or crumpling of the clayey layer subjected to the pressure. 1866 A. Flint Princ. Med. (1880) 209 Crumpling and crackling sounds. |