Becrust

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To cover with a crust, especially in bread making
2. to become encrusted with a layer of hard material
3. to form a hard outer layer that protects or coats the inner substance

Etymology: The word is a simple formation: the prefix be-, meaning "on, upon, about, all over," attached to the noun "crust." Its sense is literal and concrete: to put a crust on something, or to cover a surface all over with one. The prefix does the work here, turning a noun for a hard outer layer into a verb for coating something with that layer. The prefix be- is one of English's older verb-forming tools, and it appears in many words where it adds the idea of covering or surrounding, as in "bespatter" or "besmear." "Becrust" follows the same pattern, so a reader who knows those words can work out its meaning without a dictionary.

Synonyms: crust, cover, encrust, coat, overlay

Antonyms: clean, strip, remove, bare, expose