crust

noun \ ˈkrəst \

|Updated on: 11 Jun 2018

Examples: crust in a Sentence

Definition of crust

1 a : the hardened exterior or surface part of bread

b : a piece of this or of bread grown dry or hard

2 a : the pastry shell of a pie : piecrust

b : the bready layer that forms the foundation of a pizza

3 : a hard or brittle external coat or covering: such as

a : a hard surface layer (as of soil or snow)

b : the outer part of a planet, moon, or asteroid composed essentially of crystalline rocks

c : a deposit built up on the interior surface of a wine bottle during long aging

d : an encrusting deposit (as of the eye) of dried secretions or exudate; also : scab

4 : gall, nerve

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crust

verb

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crustal

play \ˈkrə-stᵊl\ adjective

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crustless

play \ˈkrəs(t)-ləs\ adjective

See crust defined for English-language learners

See crust defined for kids

Examples of crust in a Sentence

Her children prefer to eat their sandwiches with the crust cut off.
a pie with flaky crust
He likes pizza with thin crust.

Recent Examples of crust from the Web

Crab cakes brought the ocean front and center with a sweet, welcome briny flavor that broke through a spiky fried crust and a mismatched schmear of romesco sauce.

— mike sutter, San Antonio Express-News, "Review: New Dominion restaurant Acú Bistro Bar aims high but misses a few," 7 June 2018
In fact, lava solidifies quickly, forming a black crust at the top that’s pretty sturdy — sturdy enough, for instance, to support the weight of this guy running up a lava flow on Mount Etna in Italy.

— alessandra potenza, The Verge, "Falling into lava would be a pretty hot mess," 30 May 2018
More ambitious recreators, like Packer and Norris, can venture off the trails onto a firm crust that's formed in the pass, allowing skiers to roam all over.

— nathaniel herz, Anchorage Daily News, "WATCH: It’s almost June, and the cross-country skiing at Hatcher Pass is still really good," 25 May 2018
Europa, a moon of Jupiter thought to harbor a warm, saltwater ocean sloshing beneath a thick, icy crust, has long been considered one of the best spots in the solar system to look for alien beings.

— sarah kaplan, courant.com, "Scientists discover new evidence for plumes on Europa, a target in the search for life," 14 May 2018
Researchers have long believed that Europa is home to a vast saltwater ocean, trapped beneath a thick crust of ice, making the moon potentially habitable for life and a focus of upcoming robotic exploration.

— paul voosen, Science | AAAS, "Europa is venting water into space, old spacecraft data suggest," 14 May 2018
Europa, a moon of Jupiter thought to harbor a warm, saltwater ocean sloshing beneath a thick, icy crust, has long been considered one of the best spots in the solar system to look for alien beings.

— sarah kaplan, ajc, "Scientists discover new evidence for jets of water on Europa, a target in the search for life," 14 May 2018
Saturn has 62 confirmed moons orbiting around it, many of which have crusts of ice and rock, and some likely contain subterranean oceans.

— laura yan, Popular Mechanics, "See Saturn's Rings and Three Moons In Cassini Photo," 12 May 2018
The quintessential neighborhood joint serves outstanding pies, with sharp, tangy tomato sauce and a puffy crust that sags just so at the center.

— ben mesirow, Los Angeles Magazine, "The Ultimate Pizza Crawl Through Northeast L.A.," 23 May 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'crust.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Origin and Etymology of crust

Middle English crouste, cruste, borrowed from Anglo-French & Latin; Anglo-French cruste, crouste, going back to Latin crusta "hard coating or surface layer, shell of an arthropod or crustacean, mineral flake, stone slab used in paneling," perhaps, if going back to *krus-to- "something crushed or pounded into a hard layer," from a zero-grade nominal derivative of Indo-European *kreu̯s- "beat, crush, pound," whence also Old English hruse "earth, ground," Old High German roso, rosa "crust, layer of ice" (going back to Germanic *hrusōn-) — more at anacrusis

Note: The hypothetical base *krus-to- is suggested by Michiel de Vaan, Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the Other Italic Languages (Leiden: Brill, 2008), p. 147, though the older handbooks (Walde-Hoffman, Ernout-Meillet) tend to support a connection with Greek krýos "icy cold, frost" and other derivatives, going back to a presumed homonymous *krus- (see cryo-). As de Vaan points out, however, Latin crusta does not mean "ice." The original sense of the Germanic noun *hrusōn- is not certain. Greek krýstallos "ice, rock crystal" is almost certainly unrelated (see ¹crystal).

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 14th century

in the meaning defined at sense 1a

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