Dictionary

croaker en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈkɹoʊkɚ/ (General-American)
• (Australia) audio

Etymology

Etymology tree English croak Proto-Indo-European *-yósder. Proto-Italic *-āzios Latin -āriusnom. Latin -āriusbor. Proto-Germanic *-ārijaz Proto-West Germanic *-ārī Old English -ere Middle English -ere English -er English croaker From croak + -er.

Meanings

1. Someone who or something that makes a croaking sound.
2. Any of certain fish in the family Sciaenidae, known for the throbbing sounds they make.
3. (informal) A frog.
   • Frogs are also sensitive to vibrations through the ground, a footfall usually being sufficient to instil silence in a pond full of croakers. 1974, Clive Roots, Animals of the Dark, page 41:
4. (slang) A doctor.
   • He located a doctor in Brooklyn who was a writing fool. This croaker would go three scripts a day for as high as thirty tablets a script. 1977 [1953], William S. Burroughs, edited by Allen Ginsberg, Junky, Penguin Books, →ISBN, page 20:
   • "Lungs," said McGuire comprehensively. "I got it. The croaker says I'll come to time for four months longer—maybe six if I hold my gait.[…]" 1903 February, O. Henry [pseudonym; William Sydney Porter], “Hygeia at the Solito”, in Everybody’s Magazine, volume VIII, number 2, New York, N.Y.: John Wanamaker, →ISSN, page 173, column 1:
5. (slang) One who will soon die; a goner.
   • Mrs. Burke had […] bought a bottle […] to comfort him in his dying struggles (she was sure he must be a 'croaker'). 1888, Fredrick W. J. Henning, Some Recollections of the Prize Ring, page 75:
6. (dated) A vocal pessimist, grumbler, or doomsayer.
   • "It is my advice," the speaker continued, "that we go easier upon the small men. On the day that they have all been driven out the power of this society will have been broken." Unwelcome truths are not popular. There were angry cries as the speaker resumed his seat. McGinty rose with gloom upon his brow. "Brother Morris," said he, "you were always a croaker..." 1914 September – 1915 May, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Valley of Fear: A Sherlock Holmes Novel, New York, N.Y.: George H[enry] Doran Company, published 27 February 1915, →OCLC:
   • Nor did the croakers have long to wait. The second night after the drowning of the mate the little yacht was suddenly wracked from stem to stern. 1913 June–December, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Return of Tarzan, New York, N.Y.: A[lexander] C[aldwell] McClurg, published March 1915, →OCLC:
   • It is thought by many, and said by some, that this Republic has already seen its best days; that the historian may now write the story of its decline and fall. Two classes of men are just now especially afflicted with such forebodings. The first are those who are croakers by nature – the men who have a taste for funerals, and especially national funerals. They never see the bright side of anything, and probably never will. 1869, Frederick Douglass, Our Composite Nationality:
   • There are croakers in every country, always boding its ruin. 1771–1790, Benjamin Franklin, “The Autobiography [Part 1]”, in John Bigelow, editor, Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. […], Philadelphia, Pa.: J[oshua] B[allinger] Lippincott & Co., published 1868, →OCLC, page 167:

Forms

Deriveds

croakerlike · nibe croaker · spotfin croaker · kingcroaker · spot croaker · geelbeck croaker · yellowfin croaker · Atlantic croaker · white croaker