crisp

• POS: Adjective, Noun, Verb (usu participle)

CIDE DICTIONARY

crisp, a. [AS. crisp, fr. L. crispus; cf. carpere to pluck, card (wool), and E. harvest. Cf. Crape.].

•  Curling in stiff curls or ringlets; as, crisp hair.  [1913 Webster]
•  Curled with the ripple of the water.  [1913 Webster]

  "You nymphs called Naiads, of the winding brooks . . .
  Leave jour crisp channels."  [1913 Webster]
•  Brittle; friable; in a condition to break with a short, sharp fracture; as, crisp snow.  [1913 Webster]

  "The cakes at tea ate short and crisp."  [1913 Webster]
•  Possessing a certain degree of firmness and freshness; in a fresh, unwilted condition.  [1913 Webster]

  "It [laurel] has been plucked nine months, and yet looks as hale and crisp as if it would last ninety years."  [1913 Webster]
•  Lively; sparking; effervescing.  [1913 Webster]

  "Your neat crisp claret."  [1913 Webster]
•  Brisk; crackling; cheerful; lively.  [1913 Webster]

  "The snug, small room, and the crisp fire."  [1913 Webster]

crisp, v. t. [L. crispare, fr. crispus. See Crisp. a. ].

•  To curl; to form into ringlets, as hair, or the nap of cloth; to interweave, as the branches of trees.  [1913 Webster]
•  To cause to undulate irregularly, as crape or water; to wrinkle; to cause to ripple. Cf. Crimp.  [1913 Webster]

  "The lover with the myrtle sprays
  Adorns his crisped tresses."  [1913 Webster]

  "Along the crisped shades and bowers."  [1913 Webster]

  "The crisped brooks,
  Rolling on orient pearl and sands of gold."  [1913 Webster]
•  To make crisp or brittle, as in cooking.  [1913 Webster]

Crisping iron, an instrument by which hair or any textile fabric is crisped. -- Crisping pin, the simplest form of crisping iron. Is. iii. 22.

crisp, v. i. 

 To undulate or ripple. Cf. Crisp, v. t.  [1913 Webster]
"To watch the crisping ripples on the beach."  [1913 Webster]

crisp, n. 

 That which is crisp or brittle; the state of being crisp or brittle; as, burned to a crisp; specifically, the rind of roasted pork; crackling.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

crisp, adj., n., & v.
--adj.
1 hard but brittle.
2 a (of air) bracing. b (of a style or manner) lively, brisk and decisive. c (of features etc.) neat and clear-cut. d (of paper) stiff and crackling. e (of hair) closely curling.
--n.
1 (in full potato crisp) Brit. a thin fried slice of potato sold in packets etc. and eaten as a snack or appetizer.
2 a thing overdone in roasting etc. (burnt to a crisp).
--v.tr. & intr.
1 make or become crisp.
2 curl in short stiff folds or waves.

Derivative

crisply adv. crispness n.

Etymology

OE f. L crispus curled

THESAURUS

crisp

Siberian, Spartan, abbreviated, abridged, algid, aphoristic, aposiopestic, arctic, axiomatic, below zero, biting, bitter, bitterly cold, bleak, boreal, bracing, breakable, brief, brisk, brittle, brittle as glass, brumal, brusque, cheering, chip, clean-cut, clear, clear as crystal, clear as day, clear-cut, clipped, close, coherent, coil, cold, cold as charity, cold as death, cold as ice, cold as marble, compact, compendious, compressed, concise, condensed, connected, consistent, contracted, cordial, crackable, crease, crimp, crinkly, crisped, crispy, crumbly, crump, crushable, crystal-clear, crystalline, curl, curled, curly, curt, cut, cutting, defined, definite, delicate, direct, distinct, docked, dog-ear, double, double over, elliptic, energizing, enfold, epigrammatic, exhilarating, explicit, express, fissile, flimsy, flounce, flute, fold, fold over, formulaic, formulistic, fracturable, fragile, frail, frangible, freezing, freezing cold, fresh, friable, frigid, frill, frizzed, frizzly, frizzy, gather, gelid, glacial, gnomic, hibernal, hiemal, hyperborean, ice-cold, ice-encrusted, icelike, icy, inclement, infold, ingoing, interfold, invigorating, keen, kink, kinked, kinky, lacerable, laconic, lap over, limpid, loud and clear, lucid, luminous, nipping, nippy, numbing, pellucid, penetrating, perspicuous, piercing, pinching, pithy, plain, plait, plat, platitudinous, pleat, plicate, ply, pointed, proverbial, provoking, pruned, pulverizable, pulverulent, pungent, quill, raw, refreshful, refreshing, regaling, reserved, rigorous, rousing, ruff, ruffle, scissile, sententious, severe, sharp, shatterable, shattery, shivery, short, short and sweet, shortened, simple, sleety, slushy, snappy, splintery, stimulating, stone-cold, straightforward, subzero, succinct, summary, supercooled, synopsized, taciturn, terse, tight, to the point, tonic, translucent, transparent, transpicuous, trenchant, triturable, truncated, tuck, turn over, twill, unambiguous, unconfused, unequivocal, univocal, unmistakable, vulnerable, well-defined, winterbound, winterlike, wintery, wintry, zestful, zesty

ROGET THESAURUS

crisp

Conciseness

N conciseness, brevity, the soul of wit, laconism, Tacitus, ellipsis, syncope, abridgment, compression, epitome, monostich, brunch word, portmanteau word, concise, brief, short, terse, close, to the point, exact, neat, compact, compressed, condensed, pointed, laconic, curt, pithy, trenchant, summary, pregnant, compendious, succinct, elliptical, epigrammatic, quaint, crisp, sententious, concisely, briefly, summarily, in brief, in short, in a word, in a few words, for shortness sake, to come to the point, to make a long story short, to cut the matter short, to be brief, it comes to this, the long and the short of it is, brevis esse laboro obscurus fio.

Convolution

VB be convoluted, wind, twine, turn and twist, twirl, wave, undulate, meander, inosculate, entwine, intwine, twist, coil, roll, wrinkle, curl, crisp, twill, frizzle, crimp, crape, indent, scollop, scallop, wring, intort, contort, wreathe.

Roughness

VB be rough, go against the grain, render-rough, roughen, ruffle, crisp, crumple, corrugate, set on edge, stroke the wrong way, rumple.

N roughness, tooth, grain, texture, ripple, asperity, rugosity, salebrosity, corrugation, nodosity, arborescence, pilosity, brush, hair, beard, shag, mane, whisker, moustache, imperial, tress, lock, curl, ringlet, fimbriae, pili, cilia, villi, lovelock, beaucatcher, curl paper, goatee, papillote, scalp lock, plumage, plumosity, plume, panache, crest, feather, tuft, fringe, toupee, wool, velvet, plush, nap, pile, floss, fur, down, byssus, moss, bur, fluff, knot (convolution), rough, uneven, scabrous, scaly, knotted, rugged, rugose, rugous, knurly, asperous, crisp, salebrous, gnarled, unpolished, unsmooth, roughhewn, craggy, cragged, crankling, scraggy, prickly, arborescent, leafy, well-wooded, feathery, plumose, plumigerous, laciniate, laciniform, laciniose, pappose, pileous, pilose, trichogenous, trichoid, tufted, fimbriated, hairy, ciliated, filamentous, hirsute, crinose, crinite, bushy, hispid, villous, pappous, bearded, pilous, shaggy, shagged, fringed, befringed, setous, setose, setaceous, like quills upon the fretful porcupine, rough as a nutmeg grater, rough as a bear, downy, velvety, flocculent, woolly, lanate, lanated, lanuginous, lanuginose, tomentose, fluffy, against the grain, cabello luengo y corto el seso.

Brittleness

N brittleness, fragility, friability, frangibility, fissibility, house of cards, house of glass, brittle, brash, breakable, weak, frangible, fragile, frail, gimcrack, shivery, fissile, splitting, lacerable, splintery, crisp, crimp, short, brittle as glass.