different between particle vs crumb

English

Etymology

From Middle French particule, and its source, Latin particula (“small part, particle”), diminutive of pars (“part, piece”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?p??t?k(?)l/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?p??t?k?l/
• Rhymes: -??(?)t?k?l

Noun

particle (plural particles)

1. A very small piece of matter, a fragment; especially, the smallest possible part of something. [from 14th c.]
2. (physics) Any of various physical objects making up the constituent parts of an atom; an elementary particle or subatomic particle. [from 19th c.]
   • 2011, Brian Cox & Jeff Forshaw, The Quantum Universe, Allen Lane 2011, p. 55:

     What, he asked himself, does quantum theory have to say about the familiar properties of particles such as position?
3. (linguistics) A word that has a particular grammatical function but does not obviously belong to any particular part of speech, such as the word to in English infinitives or O as a vocative particle.

   • In English there is no grammatical device to differentiate predicational judgments from nonpredicational descriptions. This distinction does cast a shadow on the grammatical sphere to some extent, but recognition of it must generally be made in semantic terms. It is maintained here that in Japanese, on the other hand, the distinction is grammatically realized through the use of the two particles wa and ga.

   • Traditional grammar typically recognises a number of further categories: for example, in his Reference Book of Terms in Traditional Grammar for Language Students, Simpson (1982) posits two additional word-level categories which he refers to as Particle, and Conjunction. Particles include the italicised words in (58) below:

     (58)

     (a) He put his hat on

     (b) If you pull too hard, the handle will come off

     (c) He was leaning too far over the side, and fell out

     (d) He went up to see the manager

4. (linguistics) A part of speech which cannot be inflected: an adverb, preposition, conjunction or interjection.
   • 1844, E. A. Andrews: First Lessions in Latin; or Introduction to Andrews and Stoddard's Latin Grammar. (6th edition, Boston), p.91 (at books.google)

     322. The parts of speech which are neither declined nor conjugated, are called by the general name of particles. 323. They are adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, and interjections.

   • 1894 (2008), B. L. Gildersleeve & G. Lodge: Gildersleeve's Latin Grammar (reprint of the 3rd edition by Dover, 2008), p.9. (at books.google)

     The Parts of Speech are the Noun (Substantive and Adjective), the Pronoun, the Verb, and the Particles (Adverb, Preposition, and Conjunction)[.]

5. (Christianity) In the Roman Catholic church, a crumb of consecrated bread; also the smaller breads used in the communion of the laity.

Synonyms

• see Thesaurus:particle
• p-word

Hyponyms

Derived terms

• charged-particle
• multiparticle

Related terms

Translations

References

• particle on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• crepital, preictal, prelatic

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