crisp

«crisp» in Mova's school dictionary: hard and dry in a nice way, so it breaks with a crunch… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

adjective (crisp, crisper, crispest); noun (a crisp, crisps — British); verb (crisp up)

meaning for a pupil

1) Crisp means hard and dry in a nice way, so it breaks with a crunch, like fresh toast or an apple. tree →

2) Crisp weather is cold, dry and fresh. tree →

3) Crisp paper or clothes are fresh and smooth. tree →

4) In the UK and Ireland, crisps are thin fried potato slices in a packet (Americans call them chips). tree →

5) A crisp way of speaking is quick and clear. tree →

6) Crisp can also describe hair or a beard that is curly and wiry rather than straight and smooth. tree →

sense in the lessons

In everyday life and food, apples, lettuce and biscuits are crisp when fresh and go soft when old. In British school lunchboxes, a packet of crisps is common. In stories, «a crisp autumn morning» and «crisp snow» set the scene. Phrases: a packet of crisps, crisp and fresh, burnt to a crisp, crisp air.

examples

• This apple is crisp and juicy. tree →
• Can I have a packet of crisps? tree →
• It was a crisp, sunny winter morning. tree →
• Our boots crunched in the crisp snow. tree →
• The toast was burnt to a crisp. tree →
• He gave a crisp new note to the shopkeeper. tree →
• Keep the biscuits in a tin so they stay crisp. tree →
• Salt and vinegar crisps are my favourite. tree →
• His hair is brown and crisp, and his lips are red as a pomegranate, and he has large and dreamy eyes. tree →

note

Big trap: British «crisps» = American «chips»; British «chips» = American «fries». Adjective forms: crisper, crispest; «crispy» means almost the same. «Burnt to a crisp» means completely burnt.

In the corpora

• Nitrogen hardly reacts, so crisp packets are filled with it to keep the crisps fresh.
• Crisps and sweets have little goodness and lots of salt, sugar and fat, so treats are kept small and occasional.
• Maddie met a Station Road girl at swimming, and they got on so well they shared crisps every Saturday.
• She ended up sitting with Aisha, who shared her crisps for nothing, and they became proper friends.
• des frites are chips (French fries) and des chips are crisps.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «crisp» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.