[f. prec. sb., after F. crouster, croûter, L. crustāre.]
1. trans. To cover as with a crust, to encrust.
1545. Ascham, Toxoph. (Arb.), 157. Snowe … whyche was harde and crusted by reason of the frost.
1570. Levins, Manip., 194/22. To cruste, crustare.
1607. Shaks., Timon, III. vi. 109. Of Man and Beast, the infinite Maladie Crust you quite o’re.
1614. W. B., Philosopher’s Banquet (ed. 2), 162. The meates become crusted and baked.
1836. Macgillivray, trans. Humboldt’s Trav., ii. 34. Rocks … scantily crusted with lichens.
1892. L. J. Vance, in Eng. Illustr. Mag., Sept., 879. When the cutting north winds begin to crust over the pools and streams with ice.
b. fig.
c. 1616. Chapman, Homer, Battaile of Frogs, &c. Ep. Ded. (R.). Being crusted with their couetous leprosies.
1767. Johnson, Lett., 19 Aug. Ill health … has crusted me into inactivity.
1883. Froude, Short Stud., IV. II. i. 232. The truth had been crusted over with fictions.
2. intr. To form or contract a crust; to become covered with a crust or hardened surface. Also fig.
c. 1430. Two Cookery-bks., 32. Stere it faste þat it crouste noȝt.
1649. G. Daniel, Trinarch., Hen. IV., ccclxxvii. Aged Tyrrannie whose Oyle Crusts in the Lampe.
a. 1699. Temple, Misc., I. i. Wks. 1720, I. 144 (J.). The place that was burnt … crusted and healed in very few Days.
1765. A. Dickson, Treat. Agric., 471. The soil … will only crust a little above.
1820. Hazlitt, Lect. Dram. Lit., 26. The tide of fancy and enthusiasm … settles and crusts into the standing pool of dulness, criticism, and vertù.
3. trans. To form into a crust; to make hard like a crust.
1671. Narborough, Jrnl., in Acc. Sev. Late Voy., I. (1711), 182. The main Body of Ice that lyeth crusted about the Shore.
1857. W. Collins, Dead Secret, V. v. (1861), 227. The dirt of half a century, crusted on the glass.
4. U.S. and Canada. To hunt (deer, etc.) on the crust of snow; to crust-hunt.
1860. [see CRUSTING vbl. sb. 2].
1888. Forest & Stream, XXX. 46/3. The guides and hunters … going over the border … on the deep snows, and crusting deer and moose. Ibid., 165/1. A good deal of crusting deer is being done … this winter.
