Green’s Dictionary of Slang

to earn a living; ext. as crack a tidy crust, to make a very good living.

1861		(con. 1840s–50s) H. Mayhew London Labour and London Poor III 435/2: I am just now managing to ‘crack an honest crust;’ and while I can do that I will never thieve more.
1866		J. Greenwood Little Ragamuffin 304: You’ve bin a-crackin’ a tidy crust since them ‘Delphi times.’.
1873		Sl. Dict. 132: Cracking a crust rubbing along in the world. cracking a tidy crust, means doing very well. This is a very common expression among the lower orders.

to lose one’s temper.

1892

Burnley Exp. 5 Mar. 2/6: He don’t know I’m hedre; if he did he would go off his crust, I fancy.

eccentric, insane.

1893		Castling & LeBrunn [perf. Marie Lloyd] No, ’Arry don’t ask me to marry 🎵 But what’s the use of you agoin’ away / For seven years, you must be off yer crust.
1902		Carter & Weston ‘The Broken Down Showman’ 🎵 Oh! Our show, it's sending me off my crust.

(US black) to a great extent.

1941

‘Digg Mee’ ‘Observation Post’ in N.Y. Age 19 July 9/7: To hear old Bill is dead pains me to the crust.

(US black) a baby who is just learning to eat solids.

1953		in J.H. Clarke Amer. Negro Stories 214: You tell ’em, little crust-busters [HDAS].
1974		A. Murray Train Whistle Guitar 27: What I got a good mind to do is whale the sawdust out of both you little crustbusters [HDAS].

1. (US Und.) one who surreptitiously throws a crust into the gutter, then ostentatiously picks it up in the hope of gaining alms for his plight.

1903		N.-Y. Trib. 10 May: Perhaps the meanest beggar in creation is the ‘crust thrower.’ This vagabond provides himself with a mouldy crust and walks along a fashionable street. When he sees one or two well dressed women approaching he drops the crust and steps back a few feet. As the women reach the crust he suddenly discovers it, rushes up and picks it up with apparent eagerness, and chews it ravenously.
1907		N.Y. Times 27 Jan. 5M4: [headline] Pest of Beggars Loosed on the Town [...] Fagin’s Nests Filled Again with ‘Yeggs,’ ‘Crust-Throwers’ and ‘Floppers’ [...] There is the ‘crust thrower,’ who casts a dirty fragment of bread into the gutter and makes a dive for it and pretends to eat it ravenously as a charitable-looking old lady happens in sight.
1919		Annual Report Bklyn Bureau Charities 12: The ‘flopper,’ the ‘crust thrower,’ the ‘paralytic,’ and other precious rascals who used to mulct the public of thousands of dollars each year.
1920		C.S. Montanye ‘Perfect Crime’ in Penzler Pulp Fiction (2007) 355: It will be of wonderful assistance to young, ambitious crust-floppers, grifters and heavymen.

2. in fig. use.

1908

A.Stringer The Under Groove 4: [of NYC] I ached for a sight of that old crust-thrower of a town, where its sky-scraper teeth bit up into the morning smoke, and it seemed to whisper, with one eye winked: ‘Feed me, or I’ll feed on you!’.

1. to hit hard enough to break the skin.

1867		G.W.H. Griffin Hamlet the Dainty Act III: You’ll bust his crust.
1880		C.F. Holder Californian 159: I’d bust your crust quicker ’n lightnin’. I’d — I’d — I’d give you a leetle the hottest time you ever heard of, bet your boots.
1896		R. Savage Exile from London 42: I told him that his old valise had been laying around here unlocked for a whole year, and I told him I’d bust his crust if he said I took ’em.
1907		D. Runyon in Reader X 345: I told him then that if ever he tried to hand me anything again I’d bust his crust.
1927		J. Peterkin Black April 182: When I git home to-night, I’m gwine gi’ em de heaviest lickin’ ever was. I ain’ gwine leave a whole piece o’ hide on em. No, suh! I’m gwine bust his crust.

2. to suffer a knock or injury that breaks the skin.

1909

J. Ware Passing Eng. of the Victorian Era.

3. as an excl.

1880

R.W. Raymond Camp and Cabin 239: Dick said, Bust his crust, if he’d ever had a breakfast set so comfortable-like as that one did.