crock

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Contents

English [edit]

Etymology [edit]

From Middle English crokke, from Old English crocc, crocca (“crock, pot, vessel”), from Proto-Germanic *krukkō, *krukkô (“vessel”), from Proto-Indo-European *k(')rōug(')-, *k(')rōuk(')- (“vessel”). Cognate with Dutch kruik (“jar, jug”), German Krug (“jug”), Danish krukke (“jar”), Icelandic krukka (“pot, jar”), Old English crōg, crōh (“crock, pitcher, vessel”). See also cruse.

Pronunciation [edit]

Noun [edit]

crock (plural crocks)

  1. A stoneware or earthenware jar or storage container.
  2. A piece of broken pottery, a shard.
  3. (UK) A person who is physically limited by age, illness or injury.
    Old crocks' home = home for the aged
    • 1925, John Buchan, John Macnab, Gutenberg Australia eBook #0300621,
      He was getting very proud of the way he had learned to manage his game leg, and it occurred to him that here was a chance of testing his balance. […] “Not so bad that, for a crock,” he told himself, as he lay full length in the sun watching the faint line of the Haripol hills overtopping the ridge of Crask.
    • 1932, Helen Simpson, Boomerang, Gutenberg Australia eBook #0800611,
      He was in love with a girl, whose full name he did not tell me, and whom he had not seen for two years. She was a Lady Diana Someone, so much I knew, very lovely, a sort of relation, and he believed he had a chance if only the doctors could do something to help his asthma. “Can′t ask a girl to marry a crock.”
  4. (UK) An old or broken-down vehicle (and formerly a horse).
    Old crocks race = veteran car rally
  5. (slang, countable and uncountable) Silly talk, a foolish belief, a poor excuse, nonsense.
    That is a bunch of crock.
    The story is a crock.

Translations [edit]

stoneware or earthenware jar
piece of broken pottery, a shard
old or broken-down vehicle (and formerly a horse)

Verb [edit]

crock (third-person singular simple present crocks, present participle crocking, simple past and past participle crocked)

  1. To break something or injure someone.
    • 1904, P.G. Wodehouse, The Gold Bat [1]:
      "That last time I brought down Barry I crocked him. He's in his study now with a sprained ankle. ..."
    • 2007 January 3, Daily Mirror:
    Thousands of cars crocked by dodgy fuel
    • 2006 April 30, The Sunday Times:
    Ferreira ... peremptorily expunges England’s World Cup chances by crocking Wayne Rooney.
  2. (textiles, leatherworking) To transfer coloring through abrasion from one item to another.
    • 1917, John H. Pfingsten, "Colouring-matter for leather and method of using the same" [2], US Patent 1371572, page 1:
      thus producing a permanent, definite color thereon which will not fade or crock, and at the same time using up all of the coloring matter.
    • 1964, Isabel Barnum Wingate, Know Your Merchandise [3], page 109:
    Colored fabrics should be dried separately for the first few times to prevent crocking (rubbing off of dye).
    In leather garments, lining also prevents crocking of color onto skin or garments worn underneath.
  3. (horticulture) To cover the drain holes of a planter with stones or similar material, in order to ensure proper drainage.
    • 1900, H.A. Burberry, The Amateur Orchid Cultivators' Guide Book [5], page 21:
      The pots should be crocked for drainage to one-half their depth and the plants made moderately firm in the compost, as already indicated...
  4. (transitive) To store (butter, etc.) in a crock.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Halliwell to this entry?)
  5. (intransitive) To give off crock or smut.

Translations [edit]

To break something or injure someone

Derived terms [edit]

References [edit]

  • Krueger, Dennis (December 1982). "Why On Earth Do They Call It Throwing?" Studio Potter Vol. 11, Number 1.[6] (etymology)
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