rare. Also 6 cromble. [In sense 1, app. dim. of crumb: cf. Du. kruimel, LG. krömel, MG. krümel (:—*krumila), small crumb. In sense 2 treated as vbl. sb. from CRUMBLE v.]
1. A small or tiny crumb of anything friable; a particle of dust, etc. Obs. or dial.
1577. B. Googe, Heresbach’s Husb., III. (1586), 146 b. They so shake the milke, as they sever the thinnest parte of it from the thicke, which at the first gather together in little crombles.
1646. J. Maine, Sermon (1647), 19. This diversity of Tongues at first broke the world into the severall crumbles and portions of men.
1704. in Phil. Trans., XXV. 1552. The Powder or Crumbles of ’em is what we call Bik-stone.
1820. Clare, Poems Rural Life (1821), 43. Thou shalt eat of the crumbles of bread to thy fill.
2. Crumbling substance; anything of crumbling consistency; fine débris.
1860. Hawthorne, Marb. Faun (1879), II. xx. 203. She had trodden lightly over the crumble of old crimes.
1883. Jefferies, Story of my Heart, i. 5. The crumble of dry chalky earth I took up and let fall through my fingers.
