crumblingn.
/ˈkrʌmblɪŋ/ 1. The action of crumble v.
ΚΠ
1656 R. Vines Treat. Inst. Lords-Supper xxii. 263 I naturally abhorre the crumbling of Scripture into crums.
1810 R. Southey Curse of Kehama ii. 19 He heard the crumbling of the pile.
2. concrete (plural). Crumbled particles, debris.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > constitution of matter > lack of density > [noun] > loose texture > lack of cohesion > quality of being friable or crumbly > particle(s) of
crumble1577
crumbling1660
the world > relative properties > wholeness > incompleteness > part of whole > [noun] > a separate part > a fragment > fragments made by crumbling
crumbling1660
attritus1818
1660 R. Burney Κέρδιστον Δῶρον 96 That Royal David..gathers up the crumblings of it.
1865 A. C. Swinburne Atalanta in Calydon 2231 As light dust and crumblings from mine urn.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1893; most recently modified version published online December 2019).
crumblingadj.
That crumbles; breaking into small particles.
ΘΚΠ
the world > existence and causation > creation > destruction > breaking or cracking > [adjective] > crumbling or not crumbled
crumbling1577
slacking1811
uncrumbled1878
1577 B. Googe tr. C. Heresbach Foure Bks. Husbandry ii. f. 85v [That the ground] may be mellowed & made crombling.
1697 J. Dryden tr. Virgil Georgics i, in tr. Virgil Wks. 53 The crumbling Clods. View more context for this quotation
1769 T. Gray Jrnl. 5 Oct. in Corr. (1971) III. 1094 A mass of crumbling slate.
1861 T. Hughes Tom Brown at Oxf. I. i. 12 A venerable old front of crumbling stone fronting the street.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1893; most recently modified version published online June 2019).
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n.1656adj.1577