Forms: 1– crisp; also 1 cyrps, 3–5 crips, 4–7 crispe, 5 cryps(e, cryspe, kyrspe. [OE. crisp, cyrps, ad. L. crispus curled. Cf. OF. crespe curled, mod.F. crêpe; but this does not appear to have influenced the Eng. word in form. The sense development of branch II is not clear: cf. however CRIMP a., and the quot. from Cotgr. Some onomatopæic influence associated with the action of pronouncing crisp is to be suspected.]
I. In senses of L. crispus.
1. Of the hair: Curly; now applied esp. to stiff, closely curling, or frizzy hair; † also, having or wearing such hair.
c. 900. Bæda’s Hist., V. ii. Se ʓunga wæs ʓeworden hale lichoman … and hæfde crispe loccas fægre.
c. 1000. in Thorpe’s Hom., I. 456 (Bosw.). He is blæcfexede and cyrps.
c. 1290. S. Eng. Leg., I. 319/687. Blac with cripse here.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Knt.’s T., 1307. His crispe heer lyk rynges was yronne.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., IV. ii. (1495), 80. Lytyll heere and cryps as in blomens countree.
c. 1400. Lanfranc’s Cirurg., 179. Wynde alle þese þingis & frote þe heeris and þei wolen bicome crisp.
1583. Stanyhurst, Æneis, II. (Arb.), 65. A certeyn lightning on his headtop glistered harmelesse, His crisp locks frizeling.
1626. Bacon, Sylva, § 852. Buls are more Crispe upon the Fore-Head than Cowes.
1777. Cook, Voy. S. Pole, III. vi. Their hair … black and brown, growing to a tolerable length, and very crisp and curly.
1859. R. F. Burton, Centr. Afr., in Jrnl. Geogr. Soc., XXIX. 317. The hair of these races has invariably a crisp, short, and stiff curl.
2. Having a surface curled or fretted into minute waves, ripples, folds or wrinkles.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R. (Tollem. MS.), XIII. xv. The ponde … with crispe water and calm, and nouȝt with stronge wyndes.
c. 1400. Maundev. (1839), xv. 168. The peper … þei putten it vpon an owven and þere it waxeth blak and crisp [Roxb. ed. blakk and runklid].
c. 1430. Lydg., Min. Poems (Percy Soc.), 199. The kyrspe skyn of hyr forheed, Is drawyn up and on trustily bownde.
1596. Shaks., 1 Hen. IV., I. iii. 106. Swift Seuernes flood … hid his crispe-head in the hollow banke. Ibid. (1610), Temp., IV. i. 130. You Nimphs cald Nayades of ye windring brooks … Leaue your crispe channels.
1823. Byron, Juan, IX. lxxviii. The elder ladies’ wrinkles curl’d much crisper.
1877. Black, Green Past., xxix. (1878), 235. The crisp white crest of the running waves.
b. Bot. = CRISPATE, CRISPED 2 b.
1753. Chambers, Cycl. Supp., s.v. Leaf, Crisp leaf … that which is undulated or folded over and over at the edge.
1776. Withering, Brit. Plants (1796), III. 847. Hypnum crispum … leaves crisp, transversely waved.
† 3. Applied to some fabrics: perh. of crape-like texture. Cf. CRISP sb. Obs.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 28018 (Cott.). Yee leuedis … wit curchefs crisp and bendes bright.
1387. Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), I. 401. A crisp breche wel fayn [crispa femoralia].
1393. Will, in A. Gibbons, Early Linc. Wills (1888), 85. Omnes meos crispcouerchifes.
† 4. Apparently = Smooth, shining, clear. Obs.
[Cf. Cotgr. ‘Crespu, curled, frizled, ruffled, crisped; sleeked, shining’; ‘Cresper … also, to sleeke, make to shine or glitter.’]
1565. Golding, Ovid’s Met., IX. (1593), 211. My cleere crispe legs [L. crura micantia] he striveth for to catch.
1607. Shaks., Timon, IV. iii. 183. All th’ abhorred births below crispe Heauen.
1623. Fletcher, Bloody Bro., IV. ii. You must leave your neat crisp Claret, and fall to your Cyder a while.
II. 5. Brittle or ‘short’ while somewhat hard or firm in structure (usually as a good quality); said esp. of hard things which have little cohesion and are easily crushed by the teeth, etc.
1530. Palsgr., 501/1. I crasshe, as a thynge dothe that is cryspe or britell bytwene ones tethe.
1611. Cotgr., Cresper, to crackle or creake, as new shooes; or drie stickes that are laid in the fire; also, to crash between the teeth (a thing thats crispe or brittle).
1626. Bacon, Sylva, § 231. In Frostie weather … the Wood or String of the Instrument … is made more Crispe, and so more porous and hollow.
1749. F. Smith, Voy. Disc. N.-W. Pass., II. 15. The Snow was of a greyish Colour, crisp on the Top.
1766. Goldsm., Vic. W., xvi. If the cakes at tea eat short and crisp, they were made by Olivia.
1822. Lamb, Elia, Roast Pig. The crisp … not over-roasted crackling.
1866. Treas. Bot., 79/1. Celery … the sweet, crisp, wholesome, and most agreeable of our cultivated vegetables.
b. From crisp snow or frost, transferred by association to a brisk frosty day, to frosty air, and thence to bracing air generally.
1869. Lady Barker, Station Life N. Zeal., xv. (1874), 109. The peculiar fresh crisp feeling which the atmosphere always has here the moment the sun sets.
1873. ‘Mrs. Alexander,’ Wooing o’t, xxv. All that Christmas Day ought to be, clear, crisp, bright.
1883. Anna K. Green, Hand & Ring, xxxiv. The crisp frosty air had put everybody in a good humour.
6. transf. and fig. Applied vaguely to anything possessing qualities more or less characteristic of crisp substances: a. stiff, firm, as opposed to limp.
1820. L. Hunt, Indicator, No. xl. (1822), 316 (Webster). It [laurel] has been plucked nine months, and looks as hale and crisp as if it would last ninety years.
1851. Mayne Reid, Scalp Hunters, iv. 29. The ‘crop, crop’ of our horses shortening the crisp grass.
1868. Dilke, Greater Brit., I. 133. The ‘blue grass’ has high vitality … this crisp turf at once springs up, and holds the ground for ever.
b. fig. Short, sharp, brisk, decided in manner. (Cf. an analogous use of ‘flabby’ as the opposite.)
1814. Mackintosh, in Life (1836), II. 300. Ward said Constant was very ‘crisp.’
1857. W. Collins, Dead Secret, II. i. (1861), 31. Such a crisp touch on the piano.
1873. Hale, In His Name, iii. 10/1. What he said was crisp and decided.
1884. Athenæum, 6 Dec., 739/2. The crisp draughtsmanship of Mr. H. P. Riviere’s Arch of Constantine, Rome.
1884. H. D. Traill, in Macm. Mag., Oct., 441/2. His crisp antithetic manner is the perfection of style.
7. Comb., as crisp-haired, -withered.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 3757. Crispe herit was the kyng, colouret as gold.
1677. Hale, Prim. Orig. Man., II. vii. 200. The Ethiopian black, flat-nosed and crisp-haired.
1868. Ld. Houghton, in Select. fr. Wks., 201. Crisp-wither’d hung the honourable leaves.
