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
crust verb
crustal adjective
crustless adjective

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 on the Web Here’s some essential reading: 5 tips for cooking juicy pork chops quickly 6 tips for browning food to get more flavor 7 pie crust tips for tender, flaky results every time Baking spices add complexity to savory dishes. Aaron Hutcherson, Washington Post, 5 Mar. 2024 This biz brainstorms fanciful flavors—such as vanilla bean ice cream perfumed with a hint of jasmine and lychee jellies; mellow jackfruit cream with lightly roasted chili cashew nuts; and mango ice cream with peach-mango fruit swirls and pie crust crunch. Laura Manske, Forbes, 1 Mar. 2024 Sugared Doughnuts Made from a delicate yet sturdy brioche dough with rich pats of good butter folded in, these doughnuts are soft with almost feathery middles and a delicious deep golden-brown crust. Yewande Komolafe, San Diego Union-Tribune, 28 Feb. 2024 Pan-frying creates a golden brown, crispy crust, and transferring to the oven ensures that the pork chops cook more gently and stay juicy. Robin Miller, The Arizona Republic, 23 Feb. 2024 Instead of gathering in the shallow crust, molten rock appeared to be rocketing straight to the surface from a great depth — the boundary between the crust and the underlying, puttylike mantle. Robin George Andrews, Quanta Magazine, 20 Feb. 2024 Venus’ crust isn’t clearly fragmented like Earth’s to allow for plate tectonics. Shi En Kim, Smithsonian Magazine, 14 Feb. 2024 On Earth, these geologically heated geysers support all manner of life miles below the surface; Europa, with its flexing crust, could easily be home to similar processes. TIME, 12 Feb. 2024 Charles Lewis is the wizard of crusts known as Pie Guy. Roger Naylor, The Arizona Republic, 18 Feb. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'crust.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

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 crystal entry 1).

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Time Traveler
The first known use of crust was in the 14th century

Dictionary Entries Near crust

Cite this Entry

“Crust.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/crust. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

crust

noun
1
a
: the hardened outside surface of bread
b
: a piece of dry hard bread
2
: the pastry cover of a pie
3
a
: a hard surface layer
a crust of snow
b
: the outer part of the earth
crustal adjective

Medical Definition

crust

noun
1
2
: an encrusting deposit of serum, cellular debris, and bacteria present over or about lesions in some skin diseases (as impetigo or eczema)
crust verb

More from Merriam-Webster on crust

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!