crisp

UK/kɹɪsp/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

Scotland/kɾɪsp/

crisp adjective: of hair: curling, especially in tight, stiff curls or ringlets; also (obsolete), of a person: having hair curled in this manner.

Adjective

crisp (comparative crisper, superlative crispest)

(dated) Of hair: curling, especially in tight, stiff curls or ringlets; also (obsolete), of a person: having hair curled in this manner.
- crisp hair
- A certeyn lightning on his headtop gliſtered harmeleſſe. / His criſp locks frizeling, his temples prettelye ſtroaking.1582, Virgil, “The Second Booke of Virgil His Aeneis”, in Richard Stanyhurst, transl., The First Foure Bookes of Virgils Æneis, […], London: […] Henrie Bynneman […], published 1583, →OCLC...
(archaic, obsolete) Of a body of water, skin, etc.: having a surface which is rippled or wrinkled.
- [T]hree times did they drinke / Vpon agreement of ſvvift Seuerns floud, / VVho then affrighted vvith their bloudie lookes, / Ran fearefully among the trembling reedes, / And hid his criſpe-head in the hollovv banke, / Bloud-ſtained vvith theſe valiant combatants, […]c. 1597 (date written), [William Shakespeare], The History of Henrie the Fourth; […], quarto edition, London: […] P[eter] S[hort] for Andrew Wise, […], published 1598, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii]...
- You Nimphs cald Nayades of yͤ vvindring brooks, / VVith your ſedg'd crovvnes, and euer-harmleſſe lookes, / Leaue your criſpe channels, and on this greene-Lane / Anſvvere your ſummons, Iuno do's command.1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published...
(archaic) Synonym of crispate (“of a leaf: having curled, notched, or wavy edges”); crisped.
- Feathered VVater Moſs. Branched. Leaves criſp, feathered, undulated, pointing tvvo vvays.1770, John Berkenhout, “Class XXIV. Cryptogamia. […] II. Musci, Mosses.”, in Outlines of the Natural History of Great Britain and Ireland. […], volume II (Comprehending the Vegetable Kingdom)...
Synonyms:

crispate
(obsolete, uncertain) Clear; also, shining, or smooth.
- One whyle hée at my necke dooth ſnatch / Another whyle my cléere criſp legges be ſtriueth for too catch, / Or trippes at mée: and euerywhere the vauntage he dooth watch.1567, Ovid, “The Ninth Booke”, in Arthur Golding, transl., The XV. Bookes of P. Ouidius Naso, Entytuled Metamorphosis, […], London: […] Willyam Seres […], →OCLC, folio 111, recto
- Common Mother [Nature] […] vvhoſe ſelfeſame Mettle […] Engenders the blacke Toad, and Adder blevv, / The gilded Nevvt, and eyeleſſe venom'd VVorme, / VVith all th'abhorred Births belovv Criſpe Heauen, / VVhereon Hyperions quickning fire doth ſhine: […]c. 1605–1608 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Tymon of Athens”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
Having a consistency which is hard yet brittle, and in a condition to break with a sharp fracture; crumbly, friable, short.
- The crisp snow crunched underfoot.
- Our customers in the produce department expect crisp apples and firm bananas.
(figuratively) Not limp; firm, stiff; not stale or wilted; fresh; also, effervescent, lively.
- And this piece of laurel is from Vaucluse! […] What an exquisite dry old, vital, young-looking, everlasting twig it is! It has been plucked nine months, and looks as hale and as crisp as if it would last ninety years.1820 July 12, Leigh Hunt, “On Receiving a Sprig of Laurel from Vaucluse”, in The Indicator, volume I, number XL, London: […] Joseph Appleyard, […], published 1820, →OCLC, page 316
- A crisp fresh odour of starch wafted from the cardboard-stiff jacket which covered a well-built, Sunday athlete's frame.1968, Dorothy Uhnak, chapter 8, in The Bait, London: Mysterious Press in association with Arrow Books, published 1988, →ISBN, page 101
(figuratively) Of action, movement, a person's manner, etc.: precise and quick; brisk.
- An expert, given a certain query, will often come up with a crisp answer: “yes” or “no”.
- A very estimable young person, Miss Sturch […] such a well-regulated mind, and such a crisp touch on the piano; […]1857, [William] Wilkie Collins, “Fifteen Years After”, in The Dead Secret. […], volume I, London: Bradbury & Evans, […], →OCLC, book II, page 63
Antonyms:

flabby
(figuratively) Of air, weather, etc.: cool and dry; also, of a period of time: characterized by such weather.
- All these boys were in great spirits, and shouted to each other, until the broad fields were so full of merry music, that the crisp air laughed to hear it!1843 December 19, Charles Dickens, “Stave Two. The First of the Three Spirits.”, in A Christmas Carol. […], London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC, page 48
- In the long summer the climate much resembles that of Sindh; there are the same fiery suns playing upon the naked surface with a painful dazzle, cool crisp nights, and clouds of dust.1860, Richard F[rancis] Burton, “The Geography and Ethnography of Ugogo,—The Third Region”, in The Lake Regions of Central Africa: A Picture of Exploration […], volume I, London: Longman, Green...
(figuratively) Of fabric, paper, etc.: clean and uncreased.
- He sat in a small room with benches where Santino had placed him, handed him the crisp, freshly withdrawn fifty-dollar bills, while Santino set about getting a bail bondsman.1968, Dorothy Uhnak, chapter 5, in The Bait, London: Mysterious Press in association with Arrow Books, published 1988, →ISBN, page 72
(figuratively) Of something heard or seen: clearly defined; clean, neat, sharp.
- This new television set has a very crisp image.
(figuratively) Not using fuzzy logic; based on a binary distinction between true and false.
(figuratively) Of wine: having a refreshing amount of acidity; having less acidity than green wine, but more than a flabby one.

Noun

crisp (plural crisps)

(Ireland, UK, in plural) In full potato crisp: a thin slice of potato which has been deep-fried until it is brittle and crispy, and eaten when cool; they are typically packaged and sold as a snack.
- Edward, give me another of those delicious olives. / What's that? Potato crisps? No, I can't endure them.1949 August 22 (first performance), T[homas] S[tearns] Eliot, The Cocktail Party: A Comedy, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.; Hollywood, Los Angeles, Calif.: Samuel French […], published 1950...
- I was buying some crisps and pop when there was a noisy clatter on the bare floorboards and something hit my right heel. It was a white cue ball.2009, Sid Waddell, “Satan’s Citadel”, in The Road Back Home: The Bittersweet Memoirs of a Geordie Coal Miner’s Son, London: Ebury Press, →ISBN, page 210
Synonyms:

chip, potato chip
(Ireland, UK, broadly, in plural) Sometimes with a descriptive word: a crispy, savoury snack made of some other ingredient(s) (such as cornmeal or a vegetable) which is baked or deep-fried and eaten like a potato crisp.
- kale crisps prawn crisp
- When she’s not writing, Katie spends her time with her husband and two kids, and their dogs: Wotsit, the King Charles spaniel, and Skips, the three-legged rescue dog. (And yes, they are both named after crisps!)2019, Katie Ginger, “About the Author”, in Snowflakes at Mistletoe Cottage, London: HQ, HarperCollinsPublishers, →ISBN
Synonyms:

chip, potato chip
(Canada, US) A type of baked dessert consisting of fruit topped with a crumbly mixture made with fat, flour, and sugar; a crumble.

Synonyms:

crunch
(dated, slang) A banknote; also, a number of banknotes collectively.
(also, figuratively) Chiefly in to a crisp: a food item that has been overcooked, or a thing which has been burned, to the point of becoming charred or dried out.
- He bears my name—Glendinning. I will disown it; were it like this dress, I would tear my name off from me, and burn it till it shriveled to a crisp!1852 July, Herman Melville, “Book XII. Isabel, Mrs. Glendenning, the Portrait, and Lucy.”, in Pierre: Or, The Ambiguities, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC, section II, pages 262–263
- And, oh, to think she should meet such a death at last!—a sitting over the red-hot stove at three o'clock in the morning and went to sleep and fell on it and was actually roasted! Not just frizzled up a bit, but literally roasted to a crisp!1872, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], “Riley—Newspaper Correspondent”, in Mark Twain’s Sketches. […], author’s edition, London: George Routledge & Sons, →OCLC, page 215
(dialectal, obsolete except UK) The crispy rind of roast pork; crackling.
- Alon[zo]. Anon they’l cut off ſlivers from us, as they did from the vvhole Ox, in St. James’s Fair. / Gonz[alo]. Oh, ’tis intollerable: methinks I hear a great ſhe Devil, call for [a] Groats vvorth of the Criſpe of my Countenance.—They are all for Griſtle.1674 November 29 (probable first performance; Gregorian calendar), T. Duffett [i.e., Thomas Duffet], The Mock-tempest: Or The Enchanted Castle. […], London: […] William Cademan […], published 1675...
(obsolete) A curly lock of hair, especially one which is tightly curled.
- They are proud, and vveare their hayre pretty long, and about their criſpes vvreath a valuable Shaſh or Tulipant; […]1638, Tho[mas] Herbert, “Of Java Major”, in Some Yeares Travels Into Divers Parts of Asia and Afrique. […], 2nd edition, London: […] R[ichard] Bi[sho]p for Iacob Blome and Richard Bishop, →OCLC, book...
(obsolete) A delicate fabric, possibly resembling crepe, especially used by women for veils or other head coverings in the past; also, a head covering made of this fabric.
- Vpon her head a ſiluer criſp ſhe pind, / Looſe vvauing on her ſhoulders vvith the vvind.1584, [Guillaume de Salluste] Du Bartas, “[The Historie of Iudith, in Forme of a Poeme. […].] The Fourth Booke of Iudith.”, in Tho[mas] Hudson, transl., Du Bartas His Deuine Weekes and Workes […]...
- [T]he nevv deuiſed names of Stuffes and Colours, Crispe, Tamet, Pluſh, Tabine, Caffa, […]1619, Samuel Purchas, “Fashion Suted and Attired from the Head to the Foot”, in Purchas His Pilgrim. Microcosmus, or The Historie of Man. […], London: […] W[illiam] S[tansby] for Henry Fetherstone...

Verb

crisp (third-person singular simple present crisps, present participle crisping, simple past and past participle crisped)

(transitive) To make (something) firm yet brittle; specifically (cooking), to give (food) a crispy surface through frying, grilling, or roasting.
- to crisp bacon by frying it
- […] put it into a Dish, with a little stew’d Spinage, crisp’d Bread, and a few forc’d-meat Balls.c. 1752, Elizabeth Moxon, English Housewifry, Leeds: James Lister, “To make Hare Soop,” p. 6
Synonyms:

crispen
(dated, figuratively, transitive) To add small amounts of colour to (something); to tinge, to tint.
- It was the form of a man of middle age, the hair white, but the beard only crisped with grey,1876 December, Margaret Oliphant, “The Secret Chamber”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume 120, page 718
- […] Monte Pellegrino, a huge, inordinate mass of pinkish rock, hardly crisped with the faintest vegetation, looming up to heaven from the sea.1921, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, “The Sea”, in Sea and Sardinia, New York, N.Y.: Thomas Seltzer, →OCLC, page 55
(intransitive) To become firm yet brittle; specifically (cooking), of food: to form a crispy surface through frying, grilling, or roasting.
- to put celery into ice water to crisp
- […] the air chilled at sunset, the ground crisped, and ere dusk, a hoar frost was insidiously stealing over growing grass and unfolding bud.1849, Currer Bell [pseudonym; Charlotte Brontë], “Briarmains”, in Shirley. A Tale. […], volume I, London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], →OCLC, page 206
Synonyms:

crispen
(dated, intransitive) To make a sharp crackling or crunching sound.
- […] everything had become so still that the crisping of the snow under foot might be heard nearly half a verst round.1860, Nikolai Gogol, “The Night of Christmas Eve: A Legend of Little Russia”, in George Tolstoy, transl., Cossack Tales, London: Blackwood, page 1
- […] the wheels [of the carriage] made their little crisping over the fine metal of the driveway.1904, Harry Leon Wilson, chapter 10, in The Seeker, New York: Doubleday, Page, page 239
Synonyms:

crackle, creak, crunch, rustle
(dated, transitive) To curl (something, such as fabric) into tight, stiff folds or waves; to crimp, to crinkle; specifically, to form (hair) into tight curls or ringlets.
- […] those crisped snaky golden locks / Which make such wanton gambols with the wind,c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
- […] the brimme therof was as it were the brimme of a chalice, or of a crisped lilie:1609, Douay-Rheims Bible, 2 Chronicles 4.5
(dated, figuratively, transitive) To cause (a body of water) to undulate irregularly; to ripple.
- […] the crisped Brooks, / Rowling on Orient Pearl and sands of Gold1667, John Milton, “Book IV”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished...
- I would not their vile breath should crisp the stream
  Wherein that image shall for ever dwell;1818, Lord Byron, Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, Canto 4, London: John Murray, stanza 53, p. 29
(dated, figuratively, transitive) To twist or wrinkle (a body part).
- […] he consider’d what an infinity of Muscles these laughing Rascals threw into a convulsive motion at the same time; whether we regard the spasms of the Diaphragm and all the muscles of respiration, the horrible rictus of the mouth, the distortion of the lower jaw, the crisping of the nose...1741, Alexander Pope, chapter 10, in Memoirs of Martinus Scriblerus, Dublin: George Faulkner, page 82
- Phillotson saw his wife turn and take the note, and the bend of her pretty head as she read it, her lips slightly crisped, to prevent undue expression under fire of so many young eyes.1895, Thomas Hardy, Jude the Obscure, New York: Harper, published 1896, Part 4, Chapter 3, p. 266
(UK, dated, dialectal, transitive) To fold (newly woven cloth).
(dated, intransitive) To become curled into tight, stiff folds or waves.
- The Sauoie Lettuce hath very large leaues ſpread vpon the grounde, at the firſt comming vp broade, cut, or gaſht about the edges, criſping or curling lightly this or that way, not vnlike to the leaues of garden Endiue, […]1597, John Gerarde [i.e., John Gerard], “Of Lettuce”, in The Herball or Generall Historie of Plantes. […], London: […] Edm[und] Bollifant, for Bonham and Iohn Norton, →OCLC, book II, page 239
- […] a few shreds of purple bloom on a brown, crisping tuft of self-heal1972, Richard Adams, chapter 50, in Watership Down, New York: Scribner, published 1996, page 417
(dated, figuratively, intransitive) Of a body of water: to ripple, to undulate.
- Hitherto we haue sayled with a fore-wind, & our sliding ship hath plowed vp the crisping waues of the Sea at ease.1630, Henry Hawkins (translator), Certaine selected epistles of S. Hierome, Saint-Omer: The English College Press, “The Epitaphe of S. Paula,” p. 96
- To watch the crisping ripples on the beach,
  And tender curving lines of creamy spray:1832, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, “The Lotos-Eaters,” Choric Song, V., in Poems, London: Moxon, p. 114
(dated, figuratively, intransitive) Of a body part: to become twisted or wrinkled.
- […] she gave no sign of the wave of repugnance that swept over her except that her fingers suddenly crisped.1935, Edgar Wallace, Robert G. Curtis, chapter 10, in The Man Who Changed His Name,, London: Hutchinson

Proper noun capitalized: Crisp

Crisp

A surname.
An unincorporated community in Edgecombe County, North Carolina.
An unincorporated community in Ellis County, Texas, named after Charles F. Crisp.
An unincorporated community in Pleasants County, West Virginia, possibly a ghost town now.

crisp meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

crisp in Marathi

crisp, crispy, crunchy: कुरकुरीत kurkurīt
a crisp, flaky, fried, pastry resembling the shape of the aforementioned fruit, stuffed with a sweet filling of coconut, nuts and dry fruits, prepared especially on Diwali and Holi: करंजी karañjī
crisp, rich, flavorful or savory smelling in a way that stimulates appetite: खमंग khamaṅga

crisp in Urdu

خستہ, کرکرا

More languagesFewer languages

crisp in Bengali: কুড়কুড়ে, শক্ত, পরিষ্কার
crisp in Malayalam: മൊരിഞ്ഞ, നവംനവമായ, പൊടിയുന്ന, എളുപ്പത്തിൽ പൊട്ടുന്ന
crisp in Kannada: ಗರಿಗರಿ ಉಪ್ಪೇರಿ, ಚುರುಮುರಿ, ಉದುರು, ಕಟಕು
crisp in Punjabi: ਖਸਤਾ khastā
crisp in Nepali: क्रिस्प, क्रिस्प गर्न

Examples of crisp in a sentence

Bulls are more Criſpe vpon the Fore-head than Covves; […]1627 (indicated as 1626), Francis [Bacon], “IX. Century. [Experiment Solitary, Touching the Differences of Liuing Creatures, Male &...
There was no discoverable drapery; the dark head, with its crisp, curly, jetty hair, seemed just disentangling itself from out of curtains and clouds.1852 July, Herman Melville, “Book XXVI. A Walk; a Foreign Portrait; a Sail. And the End.”, in Pierre: Or, The Ambiguities, New York, N.Y....
[T]he short, soft, and crisp hair resembles Astrachan wool, […]1860, Richard F[rancis] Burton, “Zanzibar and the Mrima Explained”, in The Lake Regions of Central Africa: A Picture of Exploration […]...
The elder ladies' wrinkles curled much crisper / As they beheld; […]1823 August 29, [Lord Byron], Don Juan. Cantos IX.—X.—and XI., London: […] [C. H. Reynell] for John Hunt, […], →OCLC, canto IX, stanza...

All 40 example sentences with crisp

Synonyms of crisp

Antonyms

flabby

All synonyms and antonyms of crisp

Forms of crisp

Adjective
comparative	crisper
superlative	crispest
Noun
plural	crisps
Verb
third-person singular present	crisps
present participle	crisping
past participle	crisped
past	crisped
Proper noun
alternative form	Chrisp

Plural of crisp: crisps

Origin of crisp

The adjective is derived partly from the following: * Etymology 1, adjective sense 1: Middle English crisp (“curly, wavy”), from Old English crisp (“curly”), from Latin crispus (“of hair: crimped, curly”), possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kris-, from *(s)ker- (“to bend; to turn”). * Etymology 1, adjective sense 2: from the above, and probably also onomatopoeic, representing a crinkling or crunching sound. Doublet of crape and crepe. Adjective etymology 1, adjective sense 2.2.3 (“of air, weather, etc.: cool and dry”) is transferred from a description of frost or snow as “crisp”, that is, crunchy. The noun is derived partly from the following: * Middle English crisp (“light, crinkled fabric; kind of pastry; crinkliness or roughness of skin”), from crisp (adjective) (see above). * Modern English crisp (adjective) (“having a consistency which is hard yet brittle”).

Partly from the following: * Etymology 2 sense 1: crisp (adjective; see etymology 1). * Etymology 2 sense 2: Late Middle English crispen (“to curl; of hair: to be curly”), from Old English cirpsian (“to curl, crisp”), from Latin crīspō (“to crimp; to curl”), from crispus (“of hair: crimped, curly”, adjective) (see etymology 1) + -ō (suffix forming infinitives of first-conjugation verbs).

Words formed from crisp

Phrases with crisp

Words that rhyme with crisp

Questions about crisp

What does crisp mean?: Crisp means of hair: curling, especially in tight, stiff curls or ringlets; also (obsolete), of a person: having hair curled in this manner.
What is crisp in Hindi?: Crisp in Hindi is करारा (karārā). See Crisp meaning in Hindi.
How do you use crisp in a sentence?: Bulls are more Criſpe vpon the Fore-head than Covves; […]
What part of speech is crisp?: Crisp can be an adjective, a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce crisp?: Crisp is pronounced /kɹɪsp/ (UK).

Words near crisp in the dictionary

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-crisp.ogg.

Cite this entry: “crisp.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/crisp. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.