different between sliver vs crumb

English

Etymology

From Middle English slivere, sliver from Middle English sliven (“to cut, cleave, split”), from Old English sl?fan (as in t?sl?fan (“to split, split up”)).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?sl?v.??/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?sl?.v?/
• Rhymes: -?v?(r)

Noun

sliver (plural slivers)

1. A long piece cut or rent off; a sharp, slender fragment; a splinter.
   • 2013, J. M. Coetzee, The Childhood of Jesus. Melbourne, Australia: The Text Publishing Company. chapter 27. p. 270.

     A sliver of bone has punctured a lung, and a small surgical operation was needed to remove it (would he like to keep the bone as a memento?--it is in a phial by his bedside).

   1. (regional US) Specifically, a splinter caught under the skin.
2. A strand, or slender roll, of cotton or other fiber in a loose, untwisted state, produced by a carding machine and ready for the roving or slubbing which precedes spinning.
3. (fishing) Bait made of pieces of small fish. Compare kibblings.
4. (US, New York) A narrow high-rise apartment building.

Synonyms

• (long piece cut or rent off): shard, slice, splinter

Translations

See also

• slither

Verb

sliver (third-person singular simple present slivers, present participle slivering, simple past and past participle slivered)

1. (transitive) To cut or divide into long, thin pieces, or into very small pieces; to cut or rend lengthwise; to slit.

Anagrams

• Elvirs, Silver, levirs, livers, livres, rivels, silver, svirel

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