Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. unpleasant, nasty; also adv. (see cite 1867).

1569–70		T. Preston Cambyses B3: ruf: Gogs wounds Maister Snuf are ye so lusty? snuf: Gogs sides Maister Ruf are ye so crusty?
1760		Scots Mag. 3 Mar. 37/1: I hate to be churlish and crusty.
1815		D. Humphreys Yankey in England 36: At first he maddened me. Crusty! Short as a pie-crust! Techy and snappish.
1824		Pierce Egan’s Life in London 5 Dec. 356/2: ‘I suppose he has never had a London engagement.’ ‘No; he was in Mr. Baker’s company.’ ‘That accounts for his being so crusty.’ ‘I am sorry he is in want of bread’.
1835		G. Kent Modern Flash Dict. 11: Crusty – vexed, chagrined.
1841		Sheffield Indep. 7 Aug. 5/2: You may ask why I do not write to the editor of the paper [...] but I know [...] he is so crusty and snappish.
1852		H.B. Stowe Uncle Tom’s Cabin 82: Aunt Chloe set a chair for her in a manner decidedly gruff and crusty.
1864		G.A. Sala Quite Alone I 23: One crusty-looking cheesemonger denounced the whole proceedings as rubbish. [Ibid.] 35: He’s apt to turn crusty sometimes.
1867		Swindon Advertiser 11 Nov. 4/1: Your Carnarvons might ride rusty, or your Cranbornes cut up crusty.
1870		Sth Aus. Chron. (Adelaide, SA) 1 Jan. 9/5: Dick Baker's ‘chaffey,’ but his dough I’ll cook / So as to make him desperate crusty.
1877		R. Burdette Rise and Fall of the Mustache 108: Run! for the womanly temper is crusty.
1886		M.E. Kennard Girl in the Brown Habit I 31: One can easily understand a man turning a trifle crusty, when he looks on and sees his best gates smashed to atoms.
1891		Bird o’ Freedom (Sydney) 14 Feb. 2/3: [I]t was not till the crusty, flat- footed Paddington parent ambled down that he discovered how easily these things can be done.
1897		R. Marsh Beetle 285: That’s a nice old lady, on my honour, — one of the good old crusty sort.
1900		Hants Teleg. 21 Apr. 11/3: Sometimes a crusty ole buffer will threaten me wiv ’is stick .
1908		G. Seagram Bushmen All 55: A crusty old farmer stood on the bank shaking his fist at me .
1916		T. Dreiser in Riggio Diaries (1982) 232: New darkie cleaner comes, a crusty soul who looks as though she took hop [...] Objects to cleaning windows.
1932		R. Fisher Conjure-Man Dies 287: Our crusty friend Jenkins discovers the fact that the man talking to him is a corpse.
1947		R.O. Boyer Dark Ship 149: A crusty red-faced little militant of fifty, whose proudest boast is that he tore off the ear of a police sergeant in a 1939 strike.
1966		M. Rumaker Exit 3 and Other Stories 112: ‘Crusty bastards,’ he muttered.
1972		B. Rodgers Queens’ Vernacular.
1978		J. Dingwall Sun. Too Far Away 29: Dawson’s a working cocky, crusty and tough.
1986		C. Hiaasen Tourist Season (1987) 309: The crusty business man in Cardoza – which was to say, all of Cardoza – immediately thought of selling the newspaper.
1991		D. Gaines Teenage Wasteland 68: His clothes are getting crusty, and he points to his armpits and says he smells.
2001		N. Barlay Hooky Gear 225: After all wha does a muff really look like? Suited up, casual? Crusty, smooth?
2016		C. Eble UNC-CH Campus Sl. Spring 2016 3: CRUSTY — ugly, unappealing.

2. (UK black) of people, well-built, muscled [one is ‘encrusted’ with muscles].

1999		(con. 1979–80) A. Wheatle Brixton Rock (2004) 84: Finnley checked the crusty torso of Brenton [...] Angela [was] licking her lips at the sight of the jutting pectorals.
2016		A. Wheatle Crongton Knights 25: He’s kinda crusty [...] His arms are thicker than my legs.

3. (UK black) of objects, large, heavy.

1999		(con. 1979–80) A. Wheatle Brixton Rock (2004) 144: You’ll end up lifting crusty speaker boxes for your supper.
2001		(con. 1981) A. Wheatle East of Acre Lane 131: John Holt’s ‘Queen of the Ghetto’ pounded from the crusty speaker boxes.