| 释义 |
▪ I. crumb, n.|krʌm|
Forms: 1 cruma, 3–6 cromme, 3–7 crumme, 4–6 crome, 5 crom, crume, crwme, 5–6 crowm(e, 6 crumbe, 7 crumm, 5– crum, 7– crumb.
[OE. cruma masc., related to MDu. crūme f., Du. kruim, MLG. krōme, LG. krȫme, mod.Ger. krume, these having the vowel long. The ulterior derivation is obscure. The merely graphic b began to be added in the 16th c.; but crum continued to be the prevalent form to the end of the 18th c., and is recognized in 19th c. Dictionaries. Johnson has crum, crumb.
The b probably appeared first in the derivative crumble (where it has also invaded the pronunciation), after words of F. origin like humble; there was also the apparent analogy of OE. words like dumb, where b was retained in the spelling, though no longer pronounced: cf. thumb.]
1. a. A small particle of bread (or other friable food), such as breaks or falls off by rubbing, etc.
c975Rushw. Gosp. Matt. xv. 27 Welpas ek etaþ of cromum þe þe falleþ of beode. c1000Ags. Gosp. ibid. Þa hwelpas etað of þam crumum. a1110Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 330/13 Mica cruma. c1200Ormin 1474 Laf þatt iss wiþþutenn crummess. 1303R. Brunne Handl. Synne 6645 To ete hys fylle of þe crummes. c1400Lanfranc's Cirurg. 59 A crumme of breed. c1450St. Cuthbert (Surtees) 6758 All Northumbirlande prouynce He thoght as croms of bred to mynce. 1547Ordre of Communion, We be not woorthie..to gather up the cromes under thy table. 1568Bible (Bishops') Mark vii. 28 The childrens crumbes. 1632Sanderson 12 Serm. 472 Every crumme we put in our mouthes. 1797T. Bewick Brit. Birds (1847) I. 157 He hops round the house, picks up the crumbs. 1829G. R. Gleig Chelsea Pensioners (1840) 207 A few crums which remained in our havresacks. 1849James Woodman xi, We feed it with the crumbs from our table.
b. A small particle of anything; a grain, as of dust. Obs. exc. dial.
1387Trevisa Higden (Rolls) IV. 399 Was neuere founde gobet noþer cromme. c1470Harding Chron. cxxiv. xii, [He]..for his workes and buyldynges held eche crome. 1560P. Whitehorne tr. Macchiavelli's Arte of Warre (1573) Litle peeces or crummes of pitche. 1642Fuller Holy & Prof. St. v. iv. 369 To leave no crumme of dust behind. 1655H. Vaughan Silex Scint. i. 92 (Burial of Infant) Softly rest all thy Virgin-Crums! 1883Stevenson Treas. Isl. iii. xiv. (1886) 114 His eye..gleaming like a crumb of glass.
c. One of the irregularly-shaped and highly porous aggregates of particles found in soil having a crumb structure. (Cf. sense 3 b.)
1906[see crumb structure]. 1914T. L. Lyon et al. Soils (1920) vii. 109 The soil particles are not homogeneous as to size, and neither do all the particles function as simple grains, being gathered together in groups called granules, or crumbs. 1961J. MacBean Soil iii. 34 Clay soils which are treated with lime to allow of the flocculation or grouping together of the single particles into crumbs..are warmer and more easily worked.
d. In rayon manufacture (see quots.).
1927M. H. Avram Rayon Industry 259 Following the steeping operation the blocks of alkali-cellulose are shredded. In this operation, which is usually carried out in a machine called a shredder or disintegrator, the cellulose is reduced to very finely divided particles called crumbs. 1927T. Woodhouse Artif. Silk vi. 54 The action of the internal parts of the kneader breaks up the [alkali-cellulose] sheets effectively into small particles similar to small breadcrumbs, and hence these particles are called ‘crumbs’. 1959Chambers's Encycl. V. 643/2 Viscose process... The crumbs are placed in churns where the action of carbon disulphide causes the alkali-cellulose to change to cellulose xanthate.
2. fig.
a. A very small particle or portion (of something immaterial), a ‘scrap’.
a1535Fisher Wks. (1876) 408 [Not] one crum of merit. 1541Barnes Wks. (1573) 225 Some cromme of charitie within them. 1662Fuller Worthies, Berks., R. of Wallingford, This their clock gathering up the least crume of time. 1719D'Urfey Pills V. 76 To beg Some Crumbs of Comfort. 1801Scott Let. to G. Ellis 11 May, I think I could give you some more crumbs of information were I at home. 1890Dict. Nat. Biog. XXII. 339 Claverhouse's only crumb of comfort was that he saved the standards.
b. A body-louse. U.S. slang.
1863O. W. Norton Army Lett. (1903) 175 Fortunately, I am not troubled with the ‘crumbs’ now. 1898Scribner's Mag. XXIII. 440/1 Just then I felt something crawling on my neck. It was a crumb. 1925J. H. Mullin Adv. Scholar Tramp iii. 46 If there is crumbs hoppin' around on me, I don't want to encourage 'em too much.
c. A lousy or filthy person; an objectionable, worthless, or insignificant person. slang (orig. U.S.).
1918H. M. Rideout Key of Fields 236 A couple of crumbs want to kill you. 1930Wodehouse Very Good, Jeeves! iii. 83 This old crumb would be the occupant of the bed which I was proposing to prod with darning-needles. 1959D. Barton Loving Cup 236 He's an absolute crumb called Stuart Rowlandson. 1970Women Speaking Apr. 5/1 If a man doesn't like a girl's looks or personality, she's a..crumb.
3. a. The inner part of a loaf, not hardened in baking, and capable of being easily crumbled; the soft part of bread. Opposed to crust.
c1430Pilgr. Lyf Manhode i. xli. (1869) 25, I entermeted me neuere to make cruste ne cromme. c1440Anc. Cookery in Househ. Ord. (1790) 441 Pare away the cruste, and stepe the crome in vynegur. 1605Shakes. Lear i. iv. 217 He that keepes nor crust nor crum. 1726Leoni Alberti's Archit. I. 32 a, Make them thin, that they may have the more Crust and the less Crum. 1869E. A. Parkes Pract. Hygiene (ed. 3) 174 Taking the bread 1/6 crust and 5/6 crumb.
b. transf. Loosened and crumbled earth.
1805R. W. Dickson Pract. Agric. (1807) I. 16 It will give as much mould, or crumb, in the harrow, as any other furrow. 1881Whitehead Hops 45 There should be a good tilth, or crumb, at least a foot deep.
c. slang. Plumpness. Cf. crummy 3.
1844Dickens Mart. Chuz. xxix, ‘Too much crumb, you know’, said Mr. Bailey; ‘too fat, Poll.’
†4. Phr. to gather (or pick) up one's crumbs: to ‘pick up’ or recover strength or health; to improve in condition. Obs. exc. dial.
1588A. Ingram in Hakluyt Voy. II. ii. 130 Our men beganne to gather vp their crums and to recouer some better strength. c1645Howell Lett. 2 Feb. an. 1621 Thank God, I..am recovering and picking up my crums apace. 1840R. H. Dana Before Mast xxvii, [He] had ‘picked up his crumbs’..and [was] getting strength and confidence daily. 1888W. Somerset Word-bk. s.v., A person or animal improving in appearance is said to be picking up his crumbs.
5. Comb., as crumb rubber; crumb-catching ppl. adj.; crumb-brush, a brush for sweeping crumbs from a table; crumb-cloth, a cloth laid under a table to catch the crumbs and keep the carpet clean; sometimes laid over the greater part of a carpet; crumb structure [tr. G. krümelstruktur (E. Wollny 1882, in Forsch. auf d. Geb. d. Agrik.-Physik V. 146)], the condition of soil when its particles are aggregated into crumbs (sense 1 c).
1884Hugh Conway in Eng. Illustr. Mag. Dec. 176/1 Whittaker came in with the crumb brush.
1607T. Walkington Opt. Glass Ep. Ded. ⁋3 b, Sycophants and crum-catching parasites.
1843Mrs. Carlyle Lett. I. 196 The crumb cloth of the library. 1864E. A. Murray E. Norman I. 6 A rich carpet, covered by a linen crumb-cloth.
1956Gloss. Terms Rubber & Rubber-like Materials (ASTM Spec. Techn. Publ. No. 184) 28 Crumb rubber. When vulcanized rubber is milled, it does not become soft and plastic but forms a type of material known as crumb or spring rubber. 1957Times 20 Dec. 17/6 Output of reclaim and crumb rubber for the 12 months was approximately 7 per cent. higher.
1906E. W. Hilgard Soils vii. 109 The word ‘Krümelstructur’ (crumb-structure), adopted by Wollny for this phenomenon, has both fitness and priority in its favor. Ibid. 110 Clay is most frequently the substance which imparts at least temporary stability to the crumbs and crumb-structure. 1926Tansley & Chipp Study of Veg. vii. 116 The ‘primary’ inorganic particles of soil show a tendency to aggregate into ‘compound particles’... This ‘crumb structure’ ..is found in all good agricultural and good forest soils. 1960L. D. Stamp Britain's Struct. (ed. 5) xi. 96 It is mainly the maintenance of this soil-structure, especially this crumb structure, which the farmer means when he talks about..‘maintaining a fine tilth’.
▪ II. † crumb, crum, a. Obs. exc. dial.
Also 4 croume, 9 dial. crum, crom.
[A common WG. adj.: OE. crumb = OFris. krumb (EFris. krum, -mme), OS. crumb (MLG. krum, -mme, LG. krumm); MDu. cromp, -be, crom(m (Da. krom), OHG. chrump, -be (MHG. krump, -be, G. 16–17th c. krumb, mod.G. krumm, Upper G. dial krump) crooked:—OTeut. type *krumbo-, f. krimb-, kramb, krumb- to press, squeeze, compress: see cramp n.1 Cf. also Irish cróm, Welsh crom, crooked, bent. This adj., so important in G. and Du., has had very little development in Eng., its place being taken by the kindred crump; it survives to a slight extent dialectally as crum, crom crooked, and in the derivatives crum, crom vb. (see crumb v.2), cromster, crummie q.v.]
Crooked.
a1100Misc. Glosses in Wr.-Wülcker 514/14 Obunca þa crumban. c1200Ormin 9207 {oeamp} all þatt ohht iss wrang {oeamp} crumb shall effnedd beon {oeamp} rihhtedd. c1425Seuyn Sag. (Wr.) 2477 With a lytil croume knyfe. 1866Gregor Banffshire Gloss. (Philol. Soc.), Crom, crooked: as ‘the man [has] a crom finger’. Very frequently prefixed, as crom-taet (-toed), crom-fingert, crom-leggit. 1878Cumberld. Gloss., Crum-horn't.
▪ III. crumb, crum, v.1|krʌm|
Forms: 5 croume, 5–6 crumm(e, crume, crome, 6 cromme, 6–7 crum, 7– crumb.
[f. crumb n. There was an earlier umlaut form crim (:—crymman), cream, still in dialect use.]
1. trans. To break down into crumbs or small fragments, reduce to crumbs. Now rare.
c1430Pilgr. Lyf Manhode iv. xxxiii. (1869) 194 As me þouhte, she bar mete croumed vp on parchemyn. 1565Jewel Repl. Harding (1611) 457 Into how small mites the Bread may be crummed. 1583Hollyband Campo di Fior 201 Heate them..before you crume in the bread. a1625Fletcher Mons. Thomas iv. iv, Crumb not your bread before you taste your porridge. 1882Worc. Exhib. Catal. iii. 38 Machine for crumbing bread.
†2. intr. To fall into crumbs; to crumble. Obs.
1562J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 64 A mud wall..Cracketh and crummeth in peeces. 1580North Plutarch (1676) 493 Ground..that..being troden on, crummeth like white lime. 18..Southey (F. Hall).
3. trans. To put crumbs into or over; to thicken or cover with crumbs.
[See crim v.]1579Fulke Heskins' Parl. 377 As for his bare bread, let him keepe to crome his pottage. 1669Dryden Wild Gallant i. ii, Last night good Mrs. Bibber..crumm'd me a mess of gruel. 1684Bunyan Pilgr. ii. 133 A Dish of Milk well crumbed. 1864Mrs. H. Wood Trev. Hold III. ix. 131 To see a sweetbread egged and crumbed.
Hence crumbed ppl. a.
c1430Two Cookery-bks. 55 Melle yt with cromyd Marow, & lay on Sugre y-now.
▪ IV. † crumb, crum, v.2 Obs. exc. dial.
Also 5 crom-in, 9 dial. crom.
[f. crumb a. Not recorded in OE., but cf. OS. crumban, MLG. krummen, Du. krommen, OHG. chrumbian, MHG. krumben, G. krümmen to make crooked, to crook; also MHG. krumben, G. dial. krummen, to become crooked, f. the corresponding adj. crumb, see above.]
trans. To make crooked or curved; to crook, bend.
c1490Promp. Parv. 104 (MSS. K., H.) Cromyn [v.r. crokyn], unco. 1866Gregor Banffshire Gloss., Crom, to double, to crook..as ‘the tinker crommt up 's leg’.
Hence crummet, crum't, crommt ppl. a. Sc. [G. gekrümmt], crooked, crooked-horned.
1789D. Davidson Seasons 51 (Jam.) Spying an unco crummet beast. 1866Gregor Banffshire Gloss., Crommt, crooked; [also] same as crummie. |