Link Centre Dictionary

crumb

UK/kɹʌm/ US/ˈkrʌm/ uncommon slang
noun (3) verb (3)

noun

1.

a very small quantity of something

  • “he gave only a crumb of information about his plans”
  • “there were few crumbs of comfort in the report”
2.

a person who is deemed to be despicable or contemptible

  • “only a rotter would do that”
  • “kill the rat”
  • “throw the bum out”
  • “you cowardly little pukes!”
  • “the British call a contemptible person a”
  • “'”
Synonyms
3.

small piece of e.g. bread or cake

verb

1.

coat with bread crumbs

  • “crumb a cutlet”
2.

break into crumbs

3.

remove crumbs from

  • “crumb the table”

Origin

From Middle English crome, cromme, crumme, crume, from Old English cruma (“crumb, fragment”), from Proto-Germanic *krumô, *krūmô (“fragment, crumb”). The b is unetymological, as in limb, and first appeared in the mid-15th century, influenced by crumble and words such as dumb, numb, and thumb. Cognate with Dutch kruim (“crumb”), Low German Krome, Krume (“crumb”), German Krume (“crumb”), Danish krumme (“crumb”), Swedish dialectal krumma (“crumb”), Swedish inkråm (“crumbs, giblets”), Icelandic krumur (“crumb”), Latin grūmus (“a little heap”).

Phrases

  • bread crumb
  • by crumbs
  • cake crumbs
  • crumb cake
  • crumb cruncher
  • crumb crusher
  • crumb down
  • crumb grinder
  • crumb rubber
  • crumb up

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

Narrower terms

Parts

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.