a. (Properly two words) A crumb of bread; esp. (in pl.) bread crumbled down for dressing fried fish, boiled ham, etc. b. The crumb or soft part of bread, as distinct from the crust. Hence Bread-crumby a.
1769. Mrs. Raffald, Eng. Housekpr. (1778), 35. Strew over them bread crumbs.
1831. Carlyle, Sart. Res., II. ii. To carry forth my supper (bread-crumb boiled in milk), and eat it out of doors.
1879. Geo. Eliot, Theo. Such, iv. 85. He was … acceptable in society as a part of what we may call its bread-crumb.
1881. Miss Braddon, Asph., 19. Thin slices of carmine ham, with a bread-crumby edge.
