different between department vs crumb

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French département.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /d??p??tm(?)nt/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /d??p??tm?nt/
• Hyphenation: de?part?ment

Noun

department (plural departments)

1. A part, portion, or subdivision.
2. A distinct course of life, action, study, or the like.
3. A specified aspect or quality.

   The 2012 Boston Marathon was outstanding in the temperature department; runners endured temperatures of no less than 88 degrees Fahrenheit.

4. A subdivision of an organization.
   1. (often in proper names) One of the principal divisions of executive government

      the Treasury Department; the Department of Agriculture; police department

   2. (in a university) One of the divisions of instructions

      the physics department; the gender studies department

5. A territorial division; a district; especially, in France, one of the districts into which the country is divided for governmental purposes, similar to a county in the UK and in the USA. France is composed of 101 départements organized in 18 régions, each department is divided into arrondissements, in turn divided into cantons.
   • 2002, Colin Jones, The Great Nation: France from Louis XV to the 1715-99, Penguin 2003, p. 427:

     The departments were the bricks from which the edifice of the nation was to be constructed.

6. (historical) A military subdivision of a country

7. (obsolete) Act of departing; departure.
   • 1624, Henry Wotton, The Elements of Architecture

     sudden 'departments from one extreame to another

Synonyms

• (distinct course): province, specialty
• (division of executive government): ministry

Derived terms

• departmental
• departmentally
• Department of Redundancy Department
• department store
• fire department
• interdepartmental
• police department
• state department
• trouser department

Translations

See also

• province
• state

English

Alternative forms

• crimb (dialectal)

Etymology

From Middle English crome, cromme, crumme, crume, from Old English cruma (“crumb, fragment”), from Proto-Germanic *krumô, *kr?mô (“fragment, crumb”), from Proto-Indo-European *gr?-mo- (“something scraped together, lumber, junk; to claw, scratch”), from *ger- (“to turn, bend, twist, wind”). The b is excrescent, as in limb and climb, appearing in the mid 15th century to match crumble and words like dumb, numb, thumb. Cognate with Dutch kruim (“crumb”), Low German Krome, Krume (“crumb”), German Krume (“crumb”), Danish krumme (“crumb”), Swedish dialectal krumma (“crumb”), Swedish inkråm (“crumbs, giblets”), Icelandic krumur (“crumb”), Latin gr?mus (“a little heap”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /k??m/
• Rhymes: -?m

Noun

crumb (countable and uncountable, plural crumbs)

1. A small piece which breaks off from baked food (such as cake, biscuit or bread).

   • desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table

   • At twilight in the summer there is never anybody to fear—man, woman, or cat—in the chambers and at that hour the mice come out. They do not eat parchment or foolscap or red tape, but they eat the luncheon crumbs.

2. A small piece of other material, such as rubber.
   • 2012, Caroline Joy Adams, An Italic Calligraphy Handbook (page 79)

     Then erase any pencil lines with a good, soft eraser, rubbing gently, in only one direction. A dustbrush can be useful in removing any eraser crumbs.

3. (figuratively) A bit, small amount.

4. The soft internal portion of bread, surrounded by crust.
   • 1861, Thomas Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxford

     Dust unto dust, what must be, must; / If you can't get crumb, you'd best eat crust.

5. A mixture of sugar, cocoa and milk, used to make industrial chocolate.
6. (slang) A nobody; a worthless person.
   • 1999, Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, Alice on the Outside (page 146)

     All Dad can think of is a gift certificate from the Melody Inn? And my crumb of a boyfriend doesn't even show up? This is a birthday?

7. (slang) A body louse (Pediculus humanus).

Synonyms

• (crumbled food): crumbling
• (small amount): see also Thesaurus:modicum.

Derived terms

Related terms

• crumble
• crumpet
• crumbum

Translations

Verb

crumb (third-person singular simple present crumbs, present participle crumbing, simple past and past participle crumbed)

1. (transitive) To cover with crumbs.
2. (transitive) To break into crumbs or small pieces with the fingers; to crumble.

   to crumb bread

Derived terms

• crumbed

Related terms

• crumple

Translations