I. ˈkräk noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English crocke, from Old English crocc; akin to Old Saxon krūka pot, Old Norse krukka, Old English crūce pot, pitcher, Middle High German krūche crock, pitcher, and perhaps to Old High German kriochan to creep — more at crutch
1. : a thick earthenware pot or jar
2. dialect England : a cooking pot usually of iron
3. : a broken piece of earthenware : a potsherd used especially to cover the hole in a flowerpot
4. dialect : loose black particles collected from combustion (as on cooking utensils or in a chimney) : soot , smut
5. : coloring matter that rubs off from cloth or dyed leather
II. verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
transitive verb
1. : to put in a crock
crock butter
2. : to provide drainage in (a flowerpot) by means of a crock
3. dialect : to soil with crock : smudge
intransitive verb
of dye or dyed fabric or leather : to transfer color under rubbing : rub off
a suede that will not crock
III. noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English crok, probably of Scandinavian origin; akin to Norwegian dialect krokje broken-down horse or person, Icelandic kraki delicate boy, Low German krakke broken-down horse, Dutch kraak broken-down cow or person, and perhaps to Old Norse krōkr hook, corner — more at crook
1. dialect Britain : an old or barren ewe
2. : an old or broken-down animal ; especially : an old or broken-down horse
3. : one that is broken down, disabled, or impaired
over three quarters of all the ships were crocks — Yale Review
an old crock of 104 who does nothing but sit by the fire — Richard Joseph
the poor old crock who feels tired every afternoon at three, from a complicated set of physical and psychological causes — Martin Mayer
IV. verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
transitive verb
: to cause to become impaired : put out of commission : disable
crock his thumb
— often used with up
a crocked -up athlete
intransitive verb
: to become impaired : break down
his physical vigor crocked
the mare soon crocked
V. noun
Etymology: from the phrase crock of shit
: bunkum : baloney : bull — usually used with a
those awards are a crock , a PR stunt — Irma Lipkin