▪ I. crust, n.
(krʌst)
Forms: 4 crouste, 5 croste, 5–6 cruste, 4– crust.
[In some senses ad. L. crusta, in others immed. a. OF. crouste (mod. croûte), Pr. and It. crosta:—L. crusta hard surface, rind, shell, incrustation. In F. the earliest recorded popular sense is the crust of bread, but medical writers used it in sense 3 after L. at an early date.]
1. a. The outer part of bread rendered hard and dry in baking. Opposed to crumb.
| a 1330 Otuel 954 Anawe of Nubie he smot, That neuere eft crouste he ne bot. 1398 [see crusting vbl. n. 1]. c 1430 Two Cookery-bks. 53 Saue þe sydys and al þe cruste hole with-owte. 1583 Hollyband Campo di Fior 191 Make cleane his bread, If there be either ashes or coles in the cruste. 1620 Venner Via Recta i. 22 The like may be said of the crust of bread. 1825 Scott 2 Jan. in Lockhart, When we do get bread to eat, we complain that the crust is hard. 1871 When I was a little Girl (ed. 2) 25 You know there can't be crust without crumb. |
b. (with a and pl.) The hard outer part of a loaf or roll of bread; a portion of this external part such as belongs to a single slice of bread.
| c 1325 in Pol. Songs (Camden) 204 A rowȝ bare trenchur, other a crust: The begger that the crust ssal hab. c 1420 Liber Cocorum (1862) 16 A crust of bread thou bray withalle. c 1450 Two Cookery-bks. 113 Nym crostes of whyt bred. 1594 Shakes. Rich. III, ii. iv. 28 My Vnkle grew so fast, That he could gnaw a crust at two houres old. a 1704 R. L'Estrange (J.) Men will do tricks, like dogs, for crusts. 1871 When I was a little Girl (ed. 2) 24, I had a piece of bread and butter for my luncheon every morning, and the crust of it was often a serious incumbrance to me..Bread-crusts are not nice things. |
c. By extension: A scrap of bread which is mainly crust or is hard and dry: often applied slightingly to what is much more than crust.
| 1561 T. Norton tr. Calvin's Inst. Pref., Some..doe plenteously glut themselves, and other some live with gnawing of poore crusts. 1592 Warner Alb. Eng. vii. xxxvii. (1612) 182 My hap was harder than to owne in that distresse a Crust. 1697 W. Dampier Voy. (1698) I. xi. 313 Sauce..which makes it eat very savory: much better than a crust of Bread alone. 1821 Clare Vill. Minstr. I. 66 Parents..Who in distress broke their last crust in twain..that I might be fed. 1837 Lytton E. Maltravers i. i, Bring me a cup of beer, and crust of bread. 1886 H. F. Lester Under two Fig Trees 42 To have a ‘crust’ as she calls it, or in reality a good deal of cheese and bread and beer. |
d. fig.
| 1593 Tell-Troth's N.Y. Gift 12 Such crustes of small comfort. 1749 Fielding Tom Jones xi. i. heading, A Crust for the Critics. |
e. A livelihood, a living. Austral. and N.Z. slang.
| 1916 C. J. Dennis Songs Sentimental Bloke 120 Crust, sustenance; a livelihood. 1944 G. McCarthy in Coast to Coast 149 He's still there..Makin' a crust too. 1949 E. De Mauny Huntsman in Career ii. 128 ‘What do you do for a crust?’ ‘I work on a newspaper.’ 1969 Coast to Coast 1967–8 100 You'd have to work pretty hard for that, I'd reckon, and your old man too. What does he do for a crust? |
2. The paste forming the covering of a pie.
| 1598 Epulario B iv b, Make a crust of thicke past like a Pie crust. 1712 Addison Spec. No. 482 ¶4 Learning how to season it [a buck], or put it in crust. 1771 Goldsm. Haunch of Venison 54 A pasty; it shall, and it must, And my wife, little Kitty, is famous for crust. |
3. A hard dry formation on the surface of the body, caused by a burn, an ulcer, or disease of the skin; a scab or eschar.
| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. vii. xvii. (1495) 235 A crouste of blood. c 1400 Lanfranc's Cirurg. 70 We moten brenne þe heed of þe veyne..wiþ hoot iren & þilke hoot iren myȝte make an hard cruste. 1543 Traheron Vigo's Chirurg. 275 b, Eschara is the herdnes, or cruste y{supt} remayneth after the burnynge of a wounde, or ulcer. 1602 Shakes. Ham. i. v. 72 A most instant Tetter barked..with vile and loathsome crust All my smooth Body. 1876 Duhring Dis. Skin 47 Crusts are effete masses of dried materials composed of the products of disease of the skin. |
4. † a. The upper or surface layer of the ground. Obs., having passed into b. Geol. The outer portion of the earth; that part of the body of the earth accessible to investigation.
Used first in accordance with the notion that the interior of the earth was an ‘abyss’ of waters, subsequently in reference to the theory of an interior in a state of fusion.
| 1555 Eden Decades 234 An other kynde of Rubies..found in the mountaynes in the vpper crust or floure of the earth. 1611 Speed Theat. Gt. Brit. xxxiv. (1614) 67/1 In the very crust of the ground, without any deepe digging. 1666 Boyle in Phil. Trans. 2 Apr. 185 The elevation of steams from the Crust or Superficial parts of the Earth. 1747 Gentl. Mag. XVII. 433 The whole earth, in the opinion of some philosophers, is but a kind of bridge, or crust to the great body of waters included in it. 1851 Herschel Stud. Nat. Phil. iii. iv. 294 The rocks and stones which compose the external crust of the globe. |
5. a. A more or less hard coating, concretion, or deposit on the surface of anything; an incrustation.
| 1540 R. Hyrde tr. Vives' Instr. Chr. Wom. i. ix. (R.) Except thou wilt neuer wash out the crust, but goe so with a crust of paynting to bedde. 1618 Bolton Florus iii. iv. 176 While they ride upon the false crusts of yce breaking under. 1684 Bunyan Pilgr. ii. 138 Precious Stones are covered over with a homely Crust. 1726 Leoni Alberti's Archit. I. 58 a, Lay..over all a Crust made of Sand, Mortar, and Ashes. 1756 C. Lucas Ess. Waters I. 146 It looked more like a saline crust. 1838 Thirlwall Greece III. xxi. 179 The water..[was] covered with a thin crust of ice. 1869 Phillips Vesuv. iv. 121 The crust formed over the lava. |
b. crust of wine: see quot.
| 1863 T. G. Shaw Wine, etc. iv. 145 In every wine..a portion of the vegetable and other matters which constitute its ‘distinctiveness’ must inevitably be precipitated to the bottom of the vessel; this is called lees in the cask, and crust or deposit in the bottle. |
c. orig. U.S. The hardened surface of snow suitable for crust-hunting.
| 1809 A. Henry Travels 146 The crust upon the snow cutting his legs..to the very bone. 1860 [cf. crusting vbl. n. 2]. 1876 Forest & Stream VI. 18/1 We had waited for a ‘crust’ through days of rain, thaw, and fog. 1890 N. Hibbs in Big Game N. Amer. 27 The Moose would come when the crust formed on the snow in the mountains. 1966 T. Armstrong et al. Gloss. Snow & Ice 13 Crust, a hard snow surface upon a softer layer. |
6. The hard external covering of an animal or plant; a shell, test, husk, etc.; spec. the hard chitinous integument or ‘shell’ of Crustaceans.
| 1615 Crooke Body of Man 121 This Crust is spongie, hauing smal holes..that by these hollowe passages..the thinner part of the Chylus might pierce. 1653 Walton Angler 101 This Caterpiller gives over to eat, and..comes to be coverd over with a strange shell or crust. 1776 Withering Brit. Plants (1796) I. 322 There is a sort of leathery crust over the seed. 1834 Good Study Med. (ed. 4) IV. 464 [The skin] was shed annually like the crust of a lobster. |
7. fig. a. Something figured as an outer covering or shell diffcult to penetrate, or merely superficial.
| 1651–3 Jer. Taylor Serm. for Year (1678) 369 A universal crust of Hypocrisie that covers the face of the greatest part of Mankind. a 1655 Vines Lord's Supp. (1677) 320 He may be overgrown with a crust, a coldness. a 1853 Robertson Lect. i. (1858) 105 Break through the crust of his selfishness. |
b. Impudence, effrontery. slang.
| 1900 Dialect Notes II. 31 Crust, forwardness. 1923 Wodehouse Inimitable Jeeves xiv, The blighter had the cold, cynical crust to look me in the eyeball without a blink. 1954 ― Jeeves & Feudal Spirit xi. 97 Actually having the crust to come barging in here! |
† 8. A plank cut from the outside of a tree-trunk.
| 1486 Nottingham Rec. III. 255, iij. crustes..to ley on þe same Brigge vnder þe gravell. 1563 Louth Churchw. Acc. III. 28 (in Peacock N.W. Linc. Gloss.) For a crust of a plank to a brigge. 1569 Nottingham Rec. IV. 136 For a kruste and a planke. |
9. Angling. The surface film of water. ? Obs.
| 1653 W. Lauson Secr. Angling in Arb. Garner I. 194 If the wind be rough, and trouble the crust of the water. Ibid., This fly..moved in the crust of the water is deadly in an evening. |
10. Leather Manuf. The state of sheep or goat skins when merely tanned and left rough preparatory to being dyed or coloured.
| 1686 Lond. Gaz. No 2125/4 About 350 of the best Kids, some ready pared, and some in the Crust not staked. 1882 Worcester Exhib. Catal. iii. 50 Crust and coloured skivers. |
11. The outer part or ‘wall’ of a horse's hoof.
| 1847 Youatt Horse xviii. 372 The crust or wall, is that portion which is seen when the foot is placed on the ground. |
† 12. fig. A crusty person. Obs.
| 1594 Merry Knack in Hazl. Dodsley VI. 539 What an old crust it is!.. I think the villain hath a face hardened with steel. a 1640 Day Peregr. Schol. (1881) 44 An old crust, with a back bent like a bowe with carieing tables. |
13. a. Comb., as crust-hardened, crust-like adjs.; † crust-clung a. (see quot.); crust-lizard, book-name of Heloderma horridum; † crust-roll, a kind of thin crusted pancake.
| c 1430 Two Cookery-bks. 46 Cruste Rolle.—Take..Flowre of whete; nym Eyroun and breke þer-to..rolle it on a borde also þinne as parchement..frye hem, and serue forth. 1610 W. Folkingham Art of Survey i. x. 24 Crust-clung and Soale-bound soyles. 1688 Holme Armoury iii. 333/2 Crust Clung, or Soil Bound, is an hard sticking together of the Earth, that nothing will grow on it. 1884 Sat. Rev. 7 June 741/1 Old crust-hardened politicians. |
b. spec. in Geol. (see 4 b), as crust-block, crust-creep, crust-fold, crust-fracture, crust-lag, crust-movement, crust-strain, crust-stress, crust-torsion.
| 1897 Geogr. Jrnl. June 669 There are two primary and permanent kinds of crust-movements. 1900 Ibid. Jan. 48 The great Rocky Mountain-Andes fold,..the longest and most continuous crust-fold of the present day. Ibid. Oct. 457 That phenomena of crust-torsion were induced by any combination of crust-pressures. Ibid., The original cause of crust-strains. Ibid. 460 Old crust-forms and crust-fractures, especially such as allow occasional intrusion and outlet of volcanic material, are determining factors in the distribution of the subsequent deposits. Ibid. 461 Gigantic crust-creep of overthrust masses. 1903 Trans. Edin. Geol. Soc. VIII. 177 The form of the sill-complex was capable of being re-moulded periodically in harmony with the localised crust-stresses. 1907 19th Cent. Aug. 220 The remarkable crust-movements exhibited over a wide area. 1926 Chambers's Jrnl. 598/2, I would..hazard also the suggestion that crust-lag may be a potent factor, in conjunction with shrinkage of the earth's crust, in the causation of earth-tremors and earthquakes. 1929 Encycl. Brit. II. 980/2 According to current views of the mechanics of mountain-folding, a crust-block of old and hard rocks is always present, which receives the pressure of the thrust causing the folding. 1934 Nature 15 Dec. 940/2 In one crust-block (west of the volcano), the tilting occurred in the same direction as before. |
▪ II. crust, v.
(krʌst)
[f. prec. n., after F. crouster, croûter, L. crustāre.]
1. trans. To cover as with a crust, to encrust.
| 1545 R. Ascham Toxoph. (Arb.) 157 Snowe..whyche was harde and crusted by reason of the frost. 1570 Levins Manip. 194/22 To cruste, crustare. 1607 Shakes. Timon iii. vi. 109 Of Man and Beast, the infinite Maladie Crust you quite o're. 1614 W.B. Philosopher's Banquet (ed. 2) 162 The meates become crusted and baked. 1836 Macgillivray tr. Humboldt's Trav. ii. 34 Rocks..scantily crusted with lichens. 1892 Illustr. Mag. Sept. 879 North winds begin to crust over the pools and streams with ice. |
b. fig.
| c 1616 Chapman Homer, Battaile of Frogs, &c. Ep. Ded. (R.), Being crusted with their couetous leprosies. 1767 Johnson Lett. 19 Aug., Ill health..has crusted me into inactivity. 1883 Froude Short Stud. IV. ii. vi. 250 The truth had been crusted over with fictions. |
2. intr. To form or contract a crust; to become covered with a crust or hardened surface. Also fig.
| c 1430 Two Cookery-bks. 32 Stere it faste þat it crouste noȝt. 1649 G. Daniel Trinarch., Hen. IV, ccclxxvii, Aged Tyrrannie whose Oyle Crusts in the Lampe. a 1698 Temple (J.), The place that was burnt..crusted and healed in very few days. 1765 A. Dickson Treat. Agric. 471 The soil..will only crust a little above. 1820 Hazlitt Lect. Dram. Lit. 26 The tide of fancy and enthusiasm..settles and crusts into the standing pool of dulness, criticism, and vertù. |
3. trans. To form into a crust; to make hard like a crust.
| 1671 Narborough Jrnl. in Acct. Sev. Late Voy. i. (1711) 182 The main Body of Ice that lyeth crusted about the Shore. 1857 W. Collins Dead Secret v. v. (1861) 227 The dirt of half a century, crusted on the glass. |
4. U.S. and Canada. To hunt (deer, etc.) on the crust of snow; to crust-hunt.
| 1860 [see crusting vbl. n. 2]. 1888 Forest & Stream XXX. 46/3 The guides and hunters..going over the border..on the deep snows, and crusting deer and moose. Ibid. 165/1 A good deal of crusting deer is being done..this winter. |