cruiser (n.) Look up cruiser at
1670s, agent noun from cruise (v.), or, probably, borrowed from similar words in neighboring languages (such as Dutch kruiser, French croiseur), originally a warship built to cruise and protect commerce or chase hostile ships (but in 18c. often applied to privateers).
Like the frigate of olden days the cruiser relies primarily on her speed; and is employed to protect the trade-routes, to glean intelligence, and to act as the 'eyes of the fleet'. [Sir Geoffrey Callender, "Sea Passages," 1943]
Meaning "one who cruises for sex partners" is from 1903, in later use mostly of homosexuals; as a boxing weight class, from 1920; meaning "police patrol car" is 1929, American English.
cruller (n.) Look up cruller at
1805, American English, apparently from Dutch kruller, from krullen "to curl," from Middle Dutch crullen, related to curl.
crumb (n.) Look up crumb at
Old English cruma "crumb, fragment," from a West Germanic root of obscure origin (compare Middle Dutch crume, Dutch kruim, German krume). The -b- appeared mid-15c., in part by analogy with words like dumb, in part perhaps reinforced by crumble. Slang meaning "lousy person" is 1918, from crumb, U.S. slang for "body-louse" (1863), so called from resemblance.
crumble (v.) Look up crumble at
crumby (adj.) Look up crumby at
1731, "full of crumbs," from crumb + -y (2). Overlapping somewhat with crummy, but generally restricted to the more literal senses.
crummy (adj.) Look up crummy at
crumpet (n.) Look up crumpet at
1690s, perhaps from crompid cake "wafer," literally "curled-up cake" (1382; Wyclif's rendering of Hebrew raqiq in Ex. 29:23), from crompid, past participle of crumpen "curl up." Alternative etymology is from Celtic (compare Breton krampoez "thin, flat cake"). Slang meaning "woman regarded as a sex object" is first recorded 1936.
crumple (v.) Look up crumple at
c. 1300, crumplen, frequentative of crumpen "to curl up" (from Old English crump "bent, crooked"). Related: Crumpled; crumpling.
crunch (v.) Look up crunch at
1814, from craunch (1630s), probably of imitative origin. Related: Crunched; crunching. The noun is 1836, from the verb; the sense of "critical moment" was popularized 1939 by Winston Churchill, who had used it in his 1938 biography of Marlborough.
crunchy (adj.) Look up crunchy at
1892, from crunch + -y (2). Student slang sense of "annoyingly intense about health or environmental issues" is by 1990, short for crunchy granola (considered as natural and wholesome); not entirely pejorative at first. Related: Crunchiness.
crunk (n.) Look up crunk at
by 1999, style of popular music developed in U.S. South in 1990s; often said to be a contraction of crazy drunk. It was used early in a sense of "cool, good."
crusade (n.) Look up crusade at
crusade (v.) Look up crusade at
crusader (n.) Look up crusader at
cruse (n.) Look up cruse at
"small vessel for liquids," early 15c., perhaps related to Old Norse krus "pot, tankard," from a general Germanic root which is of unknown origin. Compare Middle Dutch cruese, Dutch kroes "cup, pot, mug," Middle Low German krus, Danish krus "mug, jug," German Krause "jug, mug."
crush (v.) Look up crush at
mid-14c., from Old French cruissir (Modern French écraser), variant of croissir "to gnash (teeth), crash, break," perhaps from Frankish *krostjan "to gnash" (cognates: Gothic kriustan, Old Swedish krysta "to gnash"). Figurative sense of "to humiliate, demoralize" is c. 1600. Related: Crushed; crushing. Italian crosciare, Catalan cruxir, Spanish crujirare "to crack" are Germanic loan-words.
crush (n.) Look up crush at
1590s, "act of crushing," from crush (v.). Meaning "thick crowd" is from 1806. Sense of "person one is infatuated with" is first recorded 1884; to have a crush on is from 1913.
crust (n.) Look up crust at
crust (v.) Look up crust at
Crustacea (n.) Look up Crustacea at
1814, Modern Latin neuter plural of crustaceus (animalia), literally "having a crust or shell," from Latin crusta "crust, rind, bark, hard shell" (see crust (n.)). Taken as a zoological classification by Lamarck, 1801; Cuvier (1798) had les insectes crustacées.
crustacean (n.) Look up crustacean at
1835, from Crustacea the class name. As an adjective, 1858 (earlier was crustaceous, 1640s).
crustation (n.) Look up crustation at
mid-17c., noun of action from crust (v.).
crusty (adj.) Look up crusty at
c. 1400, from crust (n.) + -y (2). Figurative use, of persons, "short-tempered," is from 1560s.
crutch (n.) Look up crutch at
Old English crycce "crutch, staff," from Proto-Germanic *krukjo (cognates: Old Saxon krukka, Middle Dutch crucke, Old High German krucka, German Kröcke "crutch," related to Old Norse krokr "hook;" see crook). Figurative sense is first recorded c. 1600. As a verb, from 1640s. Italian gruccia "crutch," crocco "hook" are Germanic loan-words.
crux (n.) Look up crux at
cry (v.) Look up cry at
early 13c., "beg, implore," from Old French crier, from Vulgar Latin *critare, from Latin quiritare "to wail, shriek" (source of Italian gridare, Old Spanish cridar, Spanish and Portuguese gritar), which is of uncertain origin; perhaps a variant of quirritare "to squeal like a pig," from *quis, echoic of squealing, despite ancient folk etymology that traces it to "call for the help of the Quirites," the Roman constabulary. The meaning was extended 13c. to weep, which it largely replaced by 16c. Related: Cried; crying.

Most languages, in common with English, use the general word for "cry out, shout, wail" to also mean "weep, shed tears to express pain or grief." Romance and Slavic, however, use words for this whose ultimate meaning is "beat (the breast)," compare French pleurer, Spanish llorar, both from Latin plorare "cry aloud," but probably originally plodere "beat, clap the hands." Also Italian piangere (cognate with French plaindre "lament, pity") from Latin plangere, originally "beat," but especially of the breast, as a sign of grief. U.S. colloquial for crying out loud is 1924, probably another euphemism for for Christ's sake.
cry (n.) Look up cry at
late 13c., from cry (v.).
crybaby (n.) Look up crybaby at
1851, American English, from cry + baby (n.).
cryo- Look up cryo- at
word-forming element meaning "very cold, freezing," from Latinized form of Greek kryo-, comb. form of kryos "icy cold," related to kryeros "chilling" (see crust (n.)).
cryogenic (adj.) Look up cryogenic at
1902, from cryogen "freezing mixture" (1875), from cryo- "freezing" + -genic "having to do with production" (see genus). Related: Cryogenics (1958).
crypt (n.) Look up crypt at
early 15c., "grotto, cavern," from Latin crypta "vault, cavern," from Greek krypte (short for krypte kamara "hidden vault"), fem. of kryptos "hidden," verbal adjective from kryptein "to hide," from PIE root *krau- "to conceal, hide" (cognates: Old Church Slavonic kryjo, kryti "to hide"). Meaning "underground burial vault or chapel in a church" first attested 1789.
cryptic (adj.) Look up cryptic at
1630s, "hidden, occult, mystical," from Late Latin crypticus, from Greek kryptikos "fit for concealing," from kryptos "hidden" (see crypt). Meaning "mysterious, enigmatic" is recorded from 1920. Related: Cryptically.
crypto- Look up crypto- at
before vowels crypt-, word-forming element meaning "secret" or "hidden," used in forming English words since at least 1760, from Latinized form of Greek kryptos "hidden, concealed, secret" (see crypt; the Greek comb. form was krypho-). Crypto-fascist is attested from 1937; crypto-communist from 1946.
cryptogram (n.) Look up cryptogram at
cryptography (n.) Look up cryptography at
cryptology (n.) Look up cryptology at
1640s, from crypto- + -ology.
cryselephantine (adj.) Look up cryselephantine at
1827, from Greek khryselephantinos "of gold and ivory," applied to statues overlaid with gold and ivory, such as Athene Parthenos and Olympian Zeus.
crystal (n.) Look up crystal at
Old English cristal "clear ice, clear mineral," from Old French cristal (12c., Modern French crystal), from Latin crystallus "crystal, ice," from Greek krystallos, from kryos "frost," from PIE root *kru(s)- "hard, hard outer surface" (see crust). Spelling adopted the Latin form 15c.-17c. The mineral has been so-called since Old English; it was regarded by the ancients as a sort of fossilized ice. As a shortened form of crystal-glass it dates from 1590s. As an adjective, from late 14c.
crystalline (adj.) Look up crystalline at
late 14c., from Old French cristalin "like crystal" (Modern French crystallin), from Latin crystallinus, from Greek krystallinos "of crystal," from krystallos (see crystal).
crystallisation (n.) Look up crystallisation at
chiefly British English spelling of crystallization; for spelling, see -ize.
crystallization (n.) Look up crystallization at
1660s, noun of action from crystallize + -ation. Figurative use is attested from 1842.
crystallize (v.) Look up crystallize at
1590s, from crystal + -ize. Figurative use is from 1660s. Related: Crystallized; crystallizing.
crystallized (adj.) Look up crystallized at
c. 1600, past participle adjective from crystallize. Of fruit, etc., from 1875.
cub (n.) Look up cub at
1520s, cubbe "young fox," of unknown origin; perhaps from Old Irish cuib "whelp," or from Old Norse kobbi "seal." Extended to the young of bears, lions, etc., after 1590s. The native word was whelp. Cub Scout is from 1922.
Cuba Look up Cuba at
said to be from Taino (Arawakan) Cubanacan, the name of the people who occupied the island. Related: Cuban (1829), Cuban heel (1908); Cuban Missile Crisis (October 16-28, 1962).
cubby (n.) Look up cubby at
1868, short for cubbyhole.
cubbyhole (n.) Look up cubbyhole at
cube (n.) Look up cube at
1550s, from Middle French cube (13c.) and directly from Latin cubus, from Greek kybos "a cube, a six-sided die, vertebra," perhaps from PIE root *keu(b)- "to bend, turn." Mathematical sense is from 1550s in English (it also was in the ancient Greek word: the Greeks threw with three dice; the highest possible roll was three sixes).
cube (v.) Look up cube at
1580s in the mathematical sense; 1947 with meaning "cut in cubes," from cube (n.). The Greek verbal derivatives from the noun all referred to dice-throwing and gambling. Related: Cubed; cubing.
cubic (adj.) Look up cubic at
1550s, from Middle French cubique (14c.), from Latin cubicus, from Greek kybikos, from kybos "cube" (see cube (n.)). Related: Cubical.