• Crock

    Pronunciation

    • Rhymes: -É’k

    Origin 1

    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.

    Full definition of crock

    Noun

    crock

    (plural crocks)
    1. A stoneware or earthenware jar or storage container.
      • 1590-96, Edmund Spenser, , 1750, The Works of Spenser, Volume 3, page 181,Therefore the Vulgar did about him flock
        And cluster thick unto his leaſings vain;
        Like fooliſh Flies about an Honey-Crock;
        In hope by him great Benefit to gain,
        And uncontrolled Freedom to obtain.
    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, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir, , 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.
    6. A low stool.
      • 1709, Isaac Bickerstaff#The Tatler (), , 1822, Alexander Chalmers (editor), The Tatler, 2007 Facsimile Edition, page 12,I then inquired for the person that belonged to the petticoat; and, to my great surprise, was directed to a very beautiful young damsel, with so pretty a face and shape, that I bid her come out of the crowd, and seated her upon a little crock at my left hand.

    Verb

    1. To break something or injure someone.
    2. Thousands of cars crocked by dodgy fuel
      • 2006 April 30, The Sunday Times:
    3. Ferreira ... peremptorily expunges England’s World Cup chances by crocking Wayne Rooney.
    4. (textiles, leatherworking) To transfer coloring through abrasion from one item to another.
    5. Colored fabrics should be dried separately for the first few times to prevent crocking (rubbing off of dye).
    6. In leather garments, lining also prevents crocking of color onto skin or garments worn underneath.
    7. (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 http://books.google.com/books?id=PeECAAAAYAAJ, 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...
    8. (transitive) To store (butter, etc.) in a crock.

    Derived terms

    Origin 2

    Compare Welsh croeg ("cover"), Scots crochit, covered.

    Noun

    crock

    (uncountable)
    1. The loose black particles collected from combustion, as on pots and kettles, or in a chimney; soot; smut.
    2. Colouring matter that rubs off from cloth.

    Verb

    1. (intransitive) To give off crock or smut.
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