Category:Crisp

Crisp (krsp), a. Etym: [AS. crisp, fr. L. crispus; cf. carpere to pluck, card (wool), and E. harvest. Cf. Crape.]

1. Curling in stiff curls or ringlets; as, crisp hair.

2. Curled with the ripple of the water. [Poetic] You numphs called Naiads, of the winding brooks. . . Leave jour crisp channels. Shak.

3. Brittle; friable; in a condition to break with a short, sharp fracture; as, crisp snow. The cakes at tea are short and crisp. Goldsmith.

4. Possessing a certain degree of firmness and freshness; in a fresh, unwilted condition. It [laurel] has been plucked nine months, and yet looks as hale and crisp as if it would last ninety years. Leigh Hunt.

5. Lively; sparking; effervescing. Your neat crisp claret. Beau & Fl.

6. Brisk; crackling; cheerful; lively. The snug, small room, and the crisp fire. Dickens.

crisp Crisp, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Crisped (krspt); p. pr. & vb. n. Crisping.] Etym: [L. crispare, fr. crispus. See Crisp. a. ]

1. To curl; to form into ringlets, as hair, or the nap of cloth; to interweave, as the branches of trees.

2. To cause to undulate irregularly, as crape or water; to wrinkle; to cause to ripple. Cf. Crimp. The lover with the myrtle sprays Adorns his crisped tresses. Drayton. Along the crisped shades and bowers. Milton. The crisped brooks, Rolling on orient pearl and sands of gold. Milton.

3. To make crisp or brittle, as in cooking. Crisping iron, an instrument by which hair or any textile fabric is crisped.

-- Crisping pin, the simplest form of crisping iron. (Isaiah 3:22).

crisp Crisp, v. i.

Defn: To undulate or ripple. Cf. Crisp, v. t. To watch the crisping ripples on the beach. Tennuson.

crisp Crisp, n.

Defn: That which is crisp or brittle; the state of being crisp or brittle; as, burned to a crisp; specifically, the rind of roasted pork; crackling.