Crumble
['krʌmb(ə)l] or ['krʌmbl]
Definition
(verb.) break or fall apart into fragments; 'The cookies crumbled'; 'The Sphinx is crumbling'.
(verb.) fall apart; 'the building crumbled after the explosion'; 'Negotiations broke down'.
Inputed by Elisabeth--From WordNet
Definition
(v. t.) To break into small pieces; to cause to fall in pieces.
(v. i.) To fall into small pieces; to break or part into small fragments; hence, to fall to decay or ruin; to become disintegrated; to perish.
Typist: Nola
Synonyms and Synonymous
v. a. Crush, break to pieces, disintegrate, reduce to fragments.
v. n. [1]. Fall to pieces, break into pieces, become disintegrated.[2]. Perish, fall into decay.
Checker: Norris
Synonyms and Antonyms
SYN:Disintegrate, pulverize, triturate
ANT:Consolidate, conglutinate, bond, amalgamate
Typed by Bartholdi
Definition
v.t. to break into crumbs: to scatter in crumbs.—v.i. to fall into small pieces: to decay.—n. a crumb: that which crumbles easily.—adj. Crumb′ly apt to crumble brittle.
Edited by Cary
Examples
- Sand should abound in the clay in a certain proportion, or be mixed therewith, otherwise the clay, whether burned or unburned, will crumble. William Henry Doolittle. Inventions in the Century.
- It is a crude and largely unconscious answer to certain immediate needs, and without those needs its power would crumble. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- She measures time, not by days and months and years, but by the empires she has seen rise, and prosper and crumble to ruin. Mark Twain. The Innocents Abroad.
- I'll crumble you. Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
- The ridges thrown to this side and to that, now crumble in and close behind the last plough as it passes on, for all are following to the Guillotine. Charles Dickens. A Tale of Two Cities.
- When it was evacuated (as we shall see further on), the Confederacy at once began to crumble and fade away. Ulysses S. Grant. Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant.
- By dint of hard scrambling he finally straddled the top, but some loose stones crumbled away and fell with a crash into the court within. Mark Twain. The Innocents Abroad.
- In other words, it was the kinetic energy of the rolls that crumbled up the rocks with pile-driver effect. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
- She crumbled it, and bending over his shoulder, put the crumbs into his hand. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- The wall must be crumbled, the stone decayed, To pleasure his dainty whim; And the mouldering dust that years have made, Is a merry meal for him. Charles Dickens. The Pickwick Papers.
- The wife minced a bit of meat, then crumbled some bread on a trencher, and placed it before me. Jonathan Swift. Gulliver's Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World.
- The fire had crumbled down to greyness, and one of the lamps made a gurgling appeal for attention. Edith Wharton. The Age of Innocence.
- All broken, and worm-eaten, and crumbling to dust at the edges. Wilkie Collins. The Woman in White.
- In the Sahara Desert much crumbling of the rock into sand has been caused by the intense heat of the day followed by the sharp frost of night. Bertha M. Clark. General Science.
- That was one regiment which had been eliminated from Lee's force by this crumbling process. Ulysses S. Grant. Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant.
- Rivers flowed back towards their sources; peaks and lofty mountains where countless trees had grown for ages rolled crumbling to the earth. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- She remained long in her sitting-room, where the embers were crumbling to cold grey, and the lamp paled under its gay shade. Edith Wharton. The House of Mirth.
- His hopes and his ambitions were all crumbling about him. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Return of Sherlock Holmes.
- On these stones that are crumbling away, the guide said, the Saviour sat and rested before taking up the cross. Mark Twain. The Innocents Abroad.
- After a time he brought the mass to Edison, and said: There's something wrong about this, for it crumbles even after manipulating it with my fingers. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
- Much crust, if you please--much crisp crust, my dear, that melts and crumbles delicious in the mouth. Wilkie Collins. The Woman in White.
- Granite quarried anywhere in which felspar predominates is not well adapted for buildings, as it cracks and crumbles down in a few years. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
Inputed by Ethel