crumble
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See also: Crumble
English
Alternative forms
- crimble (dialectal)
Etymology
From earlier crymble, crimble, from Middle English *crymblen, kremelen, from Old English *crymlan (“to crumble”), from *crymel (“a small crumb; crumble”), diminutive of Old English cruma (“crumb”), equivalent to crumb + -le (diminutive suffix). Compare Dutch kruimelen (“to crumble”), German Low German krömmeln (“to crumble”), German Krümel, diminutive of German Krume, German krümeln, krümmeln (“to crumble”). Alteration of vowel due to analogy with crumb.
Pronunciation
Verb
crumble (third-person singular simple present crumbles, present participle crumbling, simple past and past participle crumbled)
- (intransitive, often figurative) To fall apart; to disintegrate.
- Coordinate term: crumple
- The bread roll crumbled when I tried to slice it; it was too stale.
- The empire crumbled when the ruler's indiscretions came to light.
- 1978, Dino Fekaris, Freddie Perren (lyrics and music), “I Will Survive”, in Love Tracks, performed by Gloria Gaynor:
- Weren't you the one who tried to hurt me with goodbye? / Did you think I'd crumble? Did you think I'd lay down and die?
- 2012 April 4, Sam Anderson, “Just One More Game ...”, in The New York Times Magazine:
- In 1989, as communism was beginning to crumble across Eastern Europe, just a few months before protesters started pecking away at the Berlin Wall, the Japanese game-making giant Nintendo reached across the world to unleash upon America its own version of freedom.
- (transitive) To break into crumbs.
- We crumbled some bread into the water.
- (transitive) To mix (ingredients such as flour and butter) in such a way as to form crumbs.
- Coordinate term: fold
- Using your fingers, crumble the ingredients with the fingertips, lifting in an upward motion, until the mixture is sandy and resembles large breadcrumbs.
Derived terms
Translations
to fall apart
to render into crumbs
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Noun
crumble (countable and uncountable, plural crumbles)
- A dessert of British origin containing stewed fruit topped with a crumbly mixture of fat, flour, and sugar.
Related terms
Translations
dessert
Further reading
Anagrams
French
Etymology
Borrowed from English crumble.
Pronunciation
Noun
crumble m (plural crumbles)
Spanish
Noun
crumble m (plural crumbles)