crumb n.1
1. a pretty, plumpish woman.
![]() | Big Red 111: ‘Come up the hill with me, boy,’ Janice still called him that [...] ‘Cheeky little crumb,’ said Red as he steered Old Rowley into the road. |
2. plumpness.
![]() | Martin Chuzzlewit (1995) 460: Too much crumb, you know [...] too fat. |
In phrases
a plump, attractive woman.
![]() | press cutting in Passing Eng. of the Victorian Era 30/2: Then Joe fell in love with a dona — oh, what a bit of crumb. |
SE in slang uses
In compounds
1. a moustache; a beard.
![]() | Stayer (Canyon City, TX) 3 Oct. 3/6: Visiting Friend — Why, what has a full beard to do with housekeeping [...] Mr Tidey — It makes such a nice crumb-catcher. | |
![]() | Bad Sex on Speed 18: Drunk, with some crank flecks in his Magnum, P.I. crumb-catcher. |
2. (US) a hanger-on, one who acts as a parasite on the powerful or influential [the taking of crumbs from the rich man’s table].
![]() | in Cincinnati Enquirer (OH) 20 Aug. 6/3: Lured by idless and ease, we become a miserable lot of crumb-snatchers and cheese stealers. | |
![]() | On the Waterfront (1964) 50: He himself was just a hanger-on, a crumb-catcher, usually trusted with only the smallest errands. | |
![]() | (con. 1940s) Man Walking On Eggshells 160: All the crumb-snatchers along Papin Avenue who looked at the movie houses with bulging eyes. |
3. (orig. US black) a baby; usu. one who is just beginning to eat solids; cit. 1996 is the only use of ‘spouse’ as well as the more usual ‘child’.
![]() | Jive in Hi-Fi 27: a crumb-snatcher: a baby. | |
![]() | Beat Jokes Bop Humor and Cool Cartoons 59: The broad’s old man tried to sound him that his crumb snatcher was yet too young to indulge in the marriage action. | |
![]() | No Beast So Fierce 268: For Christ’s sake, I’ve got an old lady and crumb snatchers. I’m just a raggedy ass dope fiend. | |
![]() | After Hours 213: What about this little crumb-catcher you got in the oven here? | |
![]() | Runnin’ Down Some Lines 233: crumbsnatcher Baby. | |
![]() | Sl. and Sociability 49: ‘A dependent spouse or child’ can be called a crumbsnatcher. | |
![]() | Tuff 114: A luxury rumpus room where the staff called the kids ‘toddlers’ and ‘youngsters,’ not ‘clients’ and ‘crumb snatchers’. | |
![]() | Swollen Red Sun 42: [S]he ought to show those crumb-snatchers a little belt belt leather. | |
![]() | Razorblade Tears 246: They grabbed the crumb-snatcher. |
1. in pl., the teeth.
![]() | ‘Jiver’s Bible’ in Orig. Hbk of Harlem Jive. | |
![]() | Aggie Mack 31 Aug. [synd. cartoon] Sink your crumb crunchers into this fried chicken, man! |
2. (US) a (small) child.
![]() | Dly Press (Newport News, VA) 2 Jan. 16/5: Thank you, dear, for our four wonderful ‘unemployed crumb crunchers’ [...] our children. | |
![]() | Arizona Republic (Phoenix, AZ) 6 Dec. 2/1: Kid Football Rugged [...] The outcome wasn’t so important as the way the crumb-crunchers played the game. | |
![]() | Orlando Sentinel (FL) 14 May 13/1: I’ve never known a mother who didn’t thrive on hearing her little crumb-crunchers tell her they adore her. | |
![]() | Florida Today (Cocoa, FL) 7 July 4F/2: If your crumb-crunchers say they want something because they saw it touted on TV [etc]. |
(US black) to enjoy profoundly, to ‘eat up’.
![]() | N.Y. Amsterdam Star-News 3 July 16: We crumb-crushed your spiel about the ‘Seven Skulls’ just killing themselves on the gauge tip, lippin’ a lone giggle stick. | |
![]() | Orig. Hbk of Harlem Jive 122: [as prev.]. |
1. (US black) a glutton.
![]() | in Chicago Defender 26 Feb. 11: To be a crumb crusher one has to have firm teeth, a powerful jaw, and a stomach capacity of at least two gallons. A lot of folk think twice before asking ’em to dinner. |
2. in pl., the teeth.
![]() | Pittsburgh Courier (PA) 8 Aug. 19/3: Beat your crumb crushers on this: [etc]. | |
![]() | ‘Solid Meddlin’ in People’s Voice (NY) 7 Mar. 33/1: Dug Gill of Minton’s Bar showing off his new ivory crumb-crushers. | |
![]() | Pittsburgh Courier (PA) 26 June 20/1: You can attribute his smiling habit to those new front crushers [...] fitted in for him last week. | |
![]() | Jives of Dr. Hepcat (1989) 8: Stacked like the rock of Gibraltar and his crumb crushers are white and even, when he sounds down cupid’s taking his natural cut. | |
![]() | Corner Boy 195: Just keep your crumb crushers shut. | |
![]() | (con. 1930s–50s) Night People 117: Crumbcrushers. Teeth. |
3. (orig. US black) a baby , esp. one who is just learning to eat solids.
![]() | N.Y. Age 24 Feb. 4/3: She had been warned that another abortion would be suicidal, but the advent of a ‘crumb crusher’ qould hang like an anchor around [...] her life. | |
![]() | Esquire Nov. 70I: crumbcrusher: baby. | |
![]() | Third Ear n.p.: crumbcrushers n. small children. | |
![]() | Airtight Willie and Me 34: Got a crumb crusher, a daughter. |
4. in pl., the lips.
![]() | Black Jargon in White America 62: crumb crushers n. lips. |
1. (US) a young man who frequents tea-parties.
![]() | Appleton Post-Crescent (WI) 2 May 9/4: Flapper Dictionary crumb gobbler – A Cake-Eater or Bun-Buster who makes a specialty of crashing in at teas. |
2. (US) a (small) child.
![]() | St Louis Post-Dispatch (MO) 6 Oct. 3D/4: By the time we reached the children’s zoo [...] we were surrounded by eager crumb-gobblers. | |
![]() | St Louis Post-Dispatch (MO) 4 Feb. 2F/1: Thousands of screaming crumb-gobblers ravage the ever-present souvenir stands. | |
![]() | News-Press (Fort Myers, FL) 20 Jan. 1B/1: The five crib screamers [...] would grow into carpet crawlers, crumb gobblers and curtain climbers. | |
![]() | Arizona Republic (Phoenix, AZ) 25 May CL/1/1: There’s much to say for having a back seat [...] when you have a pair of crumb gobblers. | |
![]() | Cincinnati Enquirer (OH) 25 Nov. G1/4: There’s only one thing that can keep crumb gobblers transfixed for long periods of time. |
(orig. US black) a baby who is just beginning to eat solids.
![]() | N-W Arkansas Times (Fayetteville, AR) 22 Nov. 5/5: Oatmeal raisin bars will be a popular treat with the crumb-greabbers in your house. | |
![]() | Trial Valley 19: It was Devola who found our little deserted crumb-grabber that day. | |
![]() | Killing Time 237: When I went out to take a better look at our predicament, you were sleeping like a little crumb grabber. | |
![]() | Row House Days 41: The driveway is DeLuca turf, and they don’t want some little crumb-grabber taking up space. |
(US black) a dining-room, esp. in an institution.
![]() | ‘Jiver’s Bible’ in Orig. Hbk of Harlem Jive. |
1. the hand.
![]() | in DARE. |
2. see crumb-catcher
(US black/Harlem) a kitchen; a dining room.
![]() | ‘Jiver’s Bible’ in Orig. Hbk of Harlem Jive. |