crock en · NOUN · etymology 1
Pronunciation
- /kɹɔk/ (Australia)
- /kɹɒk/ (Received-Pronunciation)
- (Australia) audio
- /kɹɑk/ (General-American)
Etymology
From Middle English crok, crokke (“earthenware jar, pot, or other container; cauldron; belly, stomach”) [and other forms], from Old English crocc, crocca (“crock, pot, vessel”) [and other forms], from Proto-West Germanic *krokku, *krokkō, from Proto-Germanic *krukkō, *krukkô (“vessel”), perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *grewg- (“vessel”). The English word is cognate with Danish and Norwegian krukke (“jar”), Dutch kruik (“jar, jug”), regional German Kruke (“crock”), Icelandic krukka (“pot, jar”), Old English crōg, crōh (“crock, pitcher, vessel”). See also cruse.
Meanings
-
(countable) A stoneware or earthenware jar or storage container.
He thin swore what he wouldn't do to him iv he didn't show him whare his money was. Tom luked so wicked, an' so bloody-minded, that the little man was quite frightened. "So," sez he, "come along wid me a couple o' fields aff, an' I'll show ye a crock o' gould."
1850, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, London: H.G. Bohn, page 375:1590-96, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, 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.
- (countable) A piece of broken pottery, a shard.
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(UK, countable, slang) A person who is physically limited by age, illness or injury.
old crocks’ home
Girl: "Will you always be a bit of a crock?" Man: "According to my doctor, no." Girl: "I was afraid you looked bad-tempered because you were crocked up for life."
2006, The Moving Finger, part one (Miss Marple, 15 min, 20 year old bicycling tomboy to injured walker)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.
1925, John Buchan, John Macnab, Gutenberg Australia eBook #0300621: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.”
1932, Helen Simpson, Boomerang, Gutenberg Australia eBook #0800611:
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(UK, countable, slang) An old or broken-down vehicle (and formerly a horse or ewe).
I could make a walking tour to see Milly by the canal. Or cycle down. Hire some old crock, safety.
1922 February 2, James Joyce, “[Episode 6: Hades]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company […], →OCLC, part II [Odyssey], page 96:old crocks race
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(Canada, US, countable, slang, uncountable) Silly talk, a foolish belief, a poor excuse, nonsense.
The story is a crock.
That's a bunch of crock.
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(countable) A low stool.
1709, Isaac Bickerstaff (Richard Steele), 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.
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(countable, derogatory, qualifier:medical slang, uncountable) A patient who is difficult to treat, especially one who complains of a minor or imagined illness.
Mumford (1970) noted that the terms ‘crock’, ‘gomer’, and ‘turkey’, were sometimes utilized by interns to designate different types of undesirable patients, and sometimes used synonymously.
1976, Stephen Charles Frankel, Emergency Medical Care in an Urban Area, page 118:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| crocks | Number=Plur | lexicographic |
Deriveds
crocky · crockware · crock cheese
Synonyms
shitpot · lemon · gas guzzler · bucket of bolts · bucket of rust · shitbox · clunker · crock · old banger · crate · wreck · rattletrap · rustbucket · banger · flivver · junker · tin Lizzie · jalopy · shitbucket · shed · beater · shitcan · banger · hooptie
Translations (44)
ota چوقال (stoneware or earthenware jar) · et potikild (piece of broken pottery, a shard) · gl cacharro (old or broken-down vehicle (and formerly a horse)) · bg таратайка (old or broken-down vehicle (and formerly a horse)) · pl garnek (stoneware or earthenware jar) · et parsa (old or broken-down vehicle (and formerly a horse)) · de Schrottkiste (old or broken-down vehicle (and formerly a horse)) · el τσουκάλι (stoneware or earthenware jar) · fi romu (old or broken-down vehicle (and formerly a horse)) · es pote (stoneware or earthenware jar) · ru черепо́к (piece of broken pottery, a shard) · fi saviruukku (stoneware or earthenware jar) · fa خنور (stoneware or earthenware jar) · fi ruukunsirpale (piece of broken pottery, a shard) · ru горшо́к (stoneware or earthenware jar) · el στάμνα (stoneware or earthenware jar) · cs křáp (old or broken-down vehicle (and formerly a horse)) · ko 그릇 (stoneware or earthenware jar) · bg чиреп (piece of broken pottery, a shard) · gl pote (stoneware or earthenware jar) · it catorcio (old or broken-down vehicle (and formerly a horse)) · et loks (old or broken-down vehicle (and formerly a horse)) · fr cruche (stoneware or earthenware jar) · pl skorupa (piece of broken pottery, a shard) · et pann (old or broken-down vehicle (and formerly a horse)) · pl szkapa (old or broken-down vehicle (and formerly a horse)) · es cacharro (old or broken-down vehicle (and formerly a horse)) · gl carraca (old or broken-down vehicle (and formerly a horse)) · es fragmento (piece of broken pottery, a shard) · ko 항아리 (stoneware or earthenware jar) · ga próca (stoneware or earthenware jar) · sco crock (stoneware or earthenware jar) · el σαράβαλο (old or broken-down vehicle (and formerly a horse)) · cs hliněný hrnec (stoneware or earthenware jar) · cs vrak (old or broken-down vehicle (and formerly a horse)) · pl chabeta (old or broken-down vehicle (and formerly a horse)) · bg кранта (old or broken-down vehicle (and formerly a horse)) · et romu (old or broken-down vehicle (and formerly a horse)) · ga croca (stoneware or earthenware jar) · it coccio (piece of broken pottery, a shard) · it rottame (old or broken-down vehicle (and formerly a horse)) · ga gliogar (old or broken-down vehicle (and formerly a horse)) · et logu (old or broken-down vehicle (and formerly a horse)) · bg глинен съд (stoneware or earthenware jar)