crust

plural crusts

1. countableuncountableA more solid, dense or hard layer on a surface or boundary.
2. countableuncountableThe external, hardened layer of certain foodstuffs, including most types of bread, fried meat, etc.
3. countableuncountableAn outer layer composed of pastry

   Th' impenetrable crust thy teeth defies.

   1693, Decimus Junius Juvenalis, John Dryden, transl., “[The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis.] The Fifth Satyr”, in The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis. Translated into English Verse. […] Together with the Satires of Aulus Persius Flaccus. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson […], →OCLC

   1 more example

   They […] made the crust for the venison pasty.

   1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter III, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC

4. countableuncountableThe bread-like base of a pizza.
5. AustraliaCanadaIrelandNew ZealandNorthern USUKcountableuncountableA slice of bread cut from the end of a loaf; the heel.
6. countableuncountablegeographyThe outermost layer of the lithosphere of the Earth.

   Holonyms: lithosphere < Earth

   1 more example

   The crust (a mere 1% of the Earth's volume) is made of lighter melt products from the mantle.

   2012, Chinle Miller, In Mesozoic Lands: The Mesozoic Geology of Arches and Canyonlands National Parks, Kindle edition

7. broadlycountableuncountableastronomyThe outermost layer of the lithosphere of any terrestrial planet.

   Holonyms: lithosphere < planet

8. countableuncountableThe shell of crabs, lobsters, etc.
9. AustraliaUKcountableinformaluncountableA living.

   to earn one's crust

   1 more example

   Like most of us, I am frequently asked by friends and people I meet in business situations or round the dinner table what I do to earn my crust.

   1999, Norman Longworth, Making Lifelong Learning Work: Learning Cities for a Learning Century, Psychology Press, →ISBN, page 1

   Synonyms: daily bread, income, livelihood

10. informaluncountableNerve, gall.

    You've got a lot of crust standing there saying that.

    1 more example

    “Oh?” she said. “So you have decided to revise my guest list for me? You have the nerve, the – the –” I saw she needed helping out. “Audacity,” I said, throwing her the line. “The audacity to dictate to me who I shall have in my house.” It should have been “whom”, but I let it go. “You have the –” “Crust.” “– the immortal rind,” she amended, and I had to admit it was stronger, “to tell me whom” – she got it right that time – “I may entertain at Brinkley Court and who” – wrong again – “I may not.”

    1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter XVIII, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, →OCLC

11. AustraliaUKcountabledatedslanguncountableThe head.

    “Well, all I can say is that if yer don't take yer dial outer the road I'll bloomin' well take an' bounce a gibber off yer crust.”

    1918, Norman Lindsay, The Magic Pudding, page 90

12. abbreviationcountableellipsisuncountableentertainmentEllipsis of crust punk, a subgenre of punk music.

present singular third person crusts · participle present crusting · participle past crusted · past crusted

1. transitiveTo cover with a crust.

   The whole body is crusted over with ice.

   1662, Robert Boyle, An Account of Freezing

   1 more example

   Their minds are crusted over, like diamonds in the rock.

   1711, Henry Felton, Dissertation on Reading the Classics

2. intransitiveTo form a crust.

   , The Goblin Reign Boxed Set Thistle held her hand over the wound and pressed a wad of tree moss against it. "Don't move," she said. "Let it crust."