different between kruft vs cruft

English

Noun

kruft (uncountable)

1. Alternative spelling of cruft

English

Etymology

Circa 1959, MIT Tech Model Railroad Club. Unknown origin; possibly from Cruft Hall, built in 1915 as a gift from a donor named Harriet Otis Cruft. Cruft Hall was the radar laboratory of Harvard's physics department during the Second World War, which contained much old and unused technical equipment. Possibly blend of crust +? fluff, both of which may form on old abandoned things, or influenced by crud.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /k??ft/
• Rhymes: -?ft
• Hyphenation: cruft

Noun

cruft (uncountable)

1. (computing, slang) Anything old or of inferior quality.
   • 2020: The Washington Post

     The document just goes on at length in the same way, picking out the sort of cruft that’s been littering Trump’s Twitter feed since Nov. 3 and tying it all into one stinky package. It’s sincerely not worth running through the entire litany again; simply consider The Post’s Fact Checker articles as an effective rejoinder.

2. (computing, slang) Redundant, old or improperly written code, especially that which accumulates over time; clutter.
3. (film, slang) Meaningless and/or gratuitous content displayed on computer consoles in visual entertainment productions.

Derived terms

• crufting
• crufty
• cruftware
• fancruft

Translations

Verb

cruft (third-person singular simple present crufts, present participle crufting, simple past and past participle crufted)

1. (computing, slang) To generate cruft. (Can we add an example for this sense?)

References