Crisp (kr?sp), a. [AS.
crisp, fr. L. crispus; cf. carpere to
pluck, card (wool), and E. harvest. Cf. Crape.]
1. Curling in stiff curls or ringlets; as,
crisp hair.
2. Curled with the ripple of the
water. [Poetic]
You nymphs called Naiads, of the winding brooks .
. .
Leave jour crisp channels.
Shak.
3. Brittle; friable; in a condition to
break with a short, sharp fracture; as, crisp
snow.
The cakes at tea ate short and crisp.
Goldsmith.
4. Possessing a certain degree of
firmness and freshness; in a fresh, unwilted condition.
It [laurel] has been plucked nine months, and yet
looks as hale and crisp as if it would last ninety
years.
Leigh Hunt.
5. Lively; sparking;
effervescing.
Your neat crisp claret.
Beau. & Fl.
6. Brisk; crackling; cheerful;
lively.
The snug, small room, and the crisp
fire.
Dickens.
Crisp, v. t. [imp. & p.
p. Crisped (kr?spt); p. pr. & vb.
n. Crisping.] [L. crispare, fr.
crispus. See Crisp. a. ]
1. To curl; to form into ringlets, as hair,
or the nap of cloth; to interweave, as the branches of
trees.
2. To cause to undulate irregularly, as
crape or water; to wrinkle; to cause to ripple. Cf.
Crimp.
The lover with the myrtle sprays
Adorns his crisped tresses.
Drayton.
Along the crisped shades and bowers.
Milton.
The crisped brooks,
Rolling on orient pearl and sands of gold.
Milton.
3. To make crisp or brittle, as in
cooking.
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.
To watch the crisping ripples on the
beach.
Tennuson.
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.
