[f. CRUST v. (and sb.) + -ING1.]
1. The action of the verb CRUST; formation of a crust; concr. a crust formed, an incrustation.
1398. Trevisa, Barth De P. R., VII. lix. (1495), 273. Paaste in an ouen … receyueth a maner croustyng in the vtter syde vnder the whiche crouste the paaste is nesshe.
1820. Blackw. Mag., VI. 548. The … department in this factitious wine trade, called crusting, consists in lining the interior surface of empty wine bottles … with a red crust of super-tartarate of potash.
1853. Kane, Grinnell Exp., xxx. (1856), 261. Put out your tongue, and it instantly freezes to this icy crusting.
2. U.S. = CRUST-HUNTING: see CRUST v. 4.
1860. Gosse, Rom. Nat. Hist., 207. Deer are taken extensively by a process called ‘crusting’; that is, pursuing them, after a night’s rain followed by frost has formed a crusty ice upon the surface of the deep snow.
1888. Forest & Stream, XXX. 165/1. A crust sufficiently strong for moose and deer crusting.
