Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In decorative art, something prepared for application or inlaying, as a small chased or sculptured ornament made for the decoration of vessels of silver or other metal.
  • noun In botany, the brittle crustaceous thallus of lichens.
  • noun In zoology, a crust.
  • noun In anatomy: A crust.
  • noun The smaller and lower of two parts into which each crus cerebri is divisible, the other being called the tegmentum. The upper boundary of the substantia nigra is the boundary between the two.
  • noun In physiology and pathology, a crust.
  • noun A cocktail served in a glass lined with the rind of half a lemon and having its rim incrusted with sugar.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A crust or shell.
  • noun A gem engraved, or a plate embossed in low relief, for inlaying a vase or other object.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A crust or shell.
  • noun A gem engraved, or a plate embossed in low relief, for inlaying a vase or other object.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Latin, shell, crust, inlaid work.

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Examples

  • Cartoonist Al Hirschfeld found him there in the last days of Prohibition, "an old-timer in the profession," pining for the lost days of glorious garnish: "He'll befriend the first man who seriously asks him for a brandy crusta."

    Consider the Trimmings 2008

  • Further finds included a crusta with sculptural decoration in the form of a fish (or whale?); part of a palm tree in limestone, which probably once served as support for a statue; two volutes of what seems to be a late Ionic capital, as it is very roughly carved; and finally, another miniature column in red marble, similar to the one of last week, which probably supported the altar.

    Interactive Dig Sagalassos - Apollo Klarios Sanctuary Report 3 2003

  • The distinction we made between crustae and sham architecture is this: as soon as a piece of wall veneer was not flat, it was considered to be a piece of crusta, but if there was even the slightest hint of a profile or relief, it was considered to be sham architecture.

    Interactive Dig Sagalassos - Stone Report 1 2003

  • One crusta fragment bore a di pinti, which was applied in red pigment.

    Interactive Dig Sagalassos - Stone Report 1 2003

  • Porfido verde di grecia or serpentine crusta fragment

    Interactive Dig Sagalassos - Stone Report 1 2003

  • Noteworthy finds from the contexts of the areas excavated this year were a piece of crusta in africano (Teos, Turkey) from a sondage near the theatre and a piece of porfido rosso originating from the Odeion.

    Interactive Dig Sagalassos - Stone 2003

  • Rather than quantifying every single crusta unearthed at the Roman Baths, our methodology is to process a sample of every sector and room, then extrapolate the results to the whole asemblage and to do this systematically for every sector and for every room excavated in the Roman Baths.

    Interactive Dig Sagalassos - Stone Report 1 2003

  • The two unlikely hunters returned with a load of crusta - ceans the size of king crabs.

    The Day of the Dissonance Foster, Alan Dean, 1946- 1984

  • In the thicker portions of the crusta petrosa, the lamellæ and Haversian canals peculiar to bone are also found.

    XI. Splanchnology. 2a. The Mouth 1918

  • The solid portion of the tooth consists of (1) the ivory or dentin, which forms the bulk of the tooth; (2) the enamel, which covers the exposed part of the crown; and (3) a thin layer of bone, the cement or crusta petrosa, which is disposed on the surface of the root.

    XI. Splanchnology. 2a. The Mouth 1918

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