CRUST

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does crust mean? 

• CRUST (noun)
  The noun CRUST has 3 senses:

1. the outer layer of the Earth

2. a hard outer layer that covers something

3. the trait of being rude and impertinent; inclined to take liberties

  Familiarity information: CRUST used as a noun is uncommon.

• CRUST (verb)
  The verb CRUST has 1 sense:

1. form a crust or form into a crust

  Familiarity information: CRUST used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CRUST (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The outer layer of the Earth

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)

Synonyms:

crust; Earth's crust

Hypernyms ("crust" is a kind of...):

layer (a relatively thin sheetlike expanse or region lying over or under another)

Meronyms (parts of "crust"):

asthenosphere (the lower layer of the crust)

Meronyms (substance of "crust"):

sial (the granitelike rocks that form the outermost layer of the earth's crust; rich in silicon and aluminum)

sima (rock that form the continuous lower layer of the earth's crust; rich in silicon and magnesium)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "crust"):

horst (a ridge of the earth's crust that has been forced upward between two faults and so is higher than the surrounding land)

crustal plate; plate (a rigid layer of the Earth's crust that is believed to drift slowly)

Holonyms ("crust" is a part of...):

geosphere; lithosphere (the solid part of the earth consisting of the crust and outer mantle)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A hard outer layer that covers something

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)

Synonyms:

crust; encrustation; incrustation

Hypernyms ("crust" is a kind of...):

cover; covering; natural covering (a natural object that covers or envelops)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "crust"):

calculus; tartar; tophus (an incrustation that forms on the teeth and gums)

Derivation:

crust (form a crust or form into a crust)

crusty (having a hardened crust as a covering)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The trait of being rude and impertinent; inclined to take liberties

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

cheekiness; crust; freshness; gall; impertinence; impudence; insolence

Hypernyms ("crust" is a kind of...):

discourtesy; rudeness (a manner that is rude and insulting)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "crust"):

chutzpa; chutzpah; hutzpah ((Yiddish) unbelievable gall; insolence; audacity)

Derivation:

crusty (brusque and surly and forbidding)

• CRUST (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they crust    ... he / she / it crusts   
Past simple: crusted   
Past participle: crusted   
-ing form: crusting   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Form a crust or form into a crust

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Context example:

The bread crusted in the oven

Hypernyms (to "crust" is one way to...):

change surface (undergo or cause to undergo a change in the surface)

"Crust" entails doing...:

dry; dry out (become dry or drier)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Derivation:

crust (a hard outer layer that covers something)

 Context examples 

Additional investigation revealed the moon has a global ocean beneath its icy crust, from which the jets are venting into space.

(Powering Saturn's Active Ocean Moon, NASA)

NASA's Dawn mission has found recently exposed deposits that give us new information on the materials in the crust and how they are changing.

(NASA Dawn Reveals Recent Changes in Ceres' Surface, NASA)

Inflammation of the skin at the corners of the mouth characterized by redness, fissures or crusts.

(Angular Cheilitis, NCI Thesaurus)

But due to Earth's active crust, our planet holds little direct geological evidence preserved from the time when life began.

(Mars Study Yields Clues to Possible Cradle of Life, NASA)

The findings align with the idea that, hundreds of millions (up to a billion) years ago, materials beneath Ceres' surface pushed upward toward the exterior, creating fractures in the crust.

(Dawn Explores Ceres' Interior Evolution, NASA)

The finding agrees with the results of a 2016 study by a team independent of the Cassini mission that estimated the thickness of Enceladus' icy crust.

(Cassini Sees Heat Below the Icy Surface of Enceladus, NASA)

Scientists estimate the ocean is 100 kilometers thick – 10 times deeper than Earth's oceans – and is buried under a 150-kilometer crust of mostly ice.

(Hubble Observations Suggest Underground Ocean on Jupiter's Largest Moon, NASA)

Tectonic pushing and pulling of the lunar crust also sculpt curved hills called lobate scarps and shallow trenches known as graben.

(Study Finds New Wrinkles on Earth's Moon, NASA)

An individual is contagious 1-2 days prior to the appearance of the blisters until all blisters are crusted over.

(Chicken Pox Infection, NCI Thesaurus)

Erionite is one of the more common types of zeolites that are found in the earth's crust.

(Erionite, NCI Thesaurus)