crumb
part of speech
noun (a crumb, crumbs); interjection (crumbs! — British, mild surprise)
meaning for a pupil
1) A very small piece of bread, cake or biscuit. tree →
2) A very small amount of something: "a crumb of hope". tree →
3) "Crumbs!" is an old-fashioned British way of showing surprise. tree →
sense in the lessons
In the Tanakh and Jewish tradition: It means a small bit. In Joshua, the Gibeonites show dry, crumbled bread to claim they came from far away. Interpretation: The Gibeonites tricked Israel into a treaty. Tradition reads it as a lesson about keeping an oath, and about asking God before deciding. In the primary lessons: In everyday life, crumbs fall on the table and floor when we eat; we wipe them up so they do not attract ants and mice. In cooking, breadcrumbs coat food like fish fingers. In stories, Hansel and Gretel dropped a trail of crumbs. Phrases: crumbs on the table, breadcrumbs, a trail of crumbs, a crumb of comfort.
examples
- He casteth forth His ice like crumbs; who can stand before His cold? (Writings PSA.147.17, JPS 1917) tree →
- and worn shoes and clouted upon their feet, and worn garments upon them; and all the bread of their provision was dry and was become crumbs. (Prophets JOS.9.5, JPS 1917) tree →
- This our bread we took hot for our provision out of our houses on the day we came forth to go unto you; but now, behold, it is dry, and is become crumbs. (Prophets JOS.9.12, JPS 1917) tree →
- Please sweep up the crumbs after lunch. tree →
- Birds pecked at the crumbs on the path. tree →
- Hansel dropped crumbs to find the way home. tree →
- There's not a crumb left of the cake! tree →
- Crumbs attract ants into the kitchen. tree →
- The fish was coated in breadcrumbs. tree →
- Crumbs! I forgot my homework. tree →
- Then he wiped the crumbs from his beard and began: tree →
note
Countable: a crumb, crumbs. The "b" is silent: said "krum". The verb "crumble" means break into crumbs; "crumbly" means breaks easily. Manners: brush crumbs into your hand or a napkin, not onto the floor.
In the corpora
- He casteth forth His ice like crumbs; who can stand before His cold?
- A mouse wants crumbs, a cockroach wants dark damp corners, and a clothes moth's caterpillar wants your wool jumper.
- Then the Mole despairs again: there's nothing to eat, not a crumb!
- Clues in a text, like crumbs on a jumper, can show that a character is not telling the truth.
- Ants come into kitchens for food, so you clean up crumbs and sticky spills.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «crumb» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.