uncrisp meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

uncrisp

adj

Etymology From un- + crisp.

› Not crisp.

Not possessing firmness and freshness or brittleness (especially of foods).

[…] if a second crop was taken from the same ground without fertilizing it, the melons would be small and what we called soapy; that is, soft and smooth, utterly uncrisp, and without a trace of the lively freshness and sweetness of those raised on virgin soil.1913, John Muir, chapter 6, in The Story of my Boyhood and Youth,, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, page 200:

Not quick, precise, accurate or well-defined.

[…] from time to time a sort of unhealthy almost-light leaked from the large uncrisp corpse of the sky, returning for a moment to our view the ruined landscape.1922, E. E. Cummings, chapter 12, in The Enormous Room, New York: Boni and Liveright, page 250:

Dated Not curling in stiff curls or ringlets (of hair).

His light brown hair fell, in thin, uncrisp locks, about his white, prominent temples,1855, Mary Anna Needell, chapter 2, in Catherine Irving, volume 1, London: Thomas Cautley Newby, pages 35–36:

verb

Etymology From un- + crisp.

To become less or not crisp.

[The] metal [of the coach], jouncing on the track, massaged his behind and his pants, uncrisping, were as wet from the mangy dog as from the sweat pouring out between his legs.1978, Doris Schwerin, chapter 1, in Leanna,, New York: William Morrow, page 14:

Dated To stop contorting or tensing (a part of one's body); to cause to be no longer contorted or tensed.

When his miserable life is over they lay him out—that is, they pull his legs, and try to uncrisp his fingers,1858, George Augustus Sala, chapter 12, in A Journey Due North,, London: Richard Bentley, page 189:
She also lay white and twisting on a couch, crisping and uncrisping her little hands.1900, Maurice Hewlett, The Life and Death of Richard Yea-and-Nay, London: Macmillan, Book 2, Chapter 4, p. 265:

Dated To stop being contorted or tensed (of a part of the body).

She saw his fingers uncrisp, then grip the shelf again.1919, John Galsworthy, Saint’s Progress, New York: Scribner, Part 3, Chapter 3, p. 252:

Archaic To stop (something) from rippling or undulating.

Behold your Neptune, with his Trident there, Vncrisps the Billows, smoothing them like Glass;1683, Thomas Shipman, “An Hystorick Poem”, in Carolina, or, Loyal Poems, London: Samuel Heyrick and William Crook, page 61: