croft en · NOUN · etymology 1
Pronunciation
- (UK) audio
- /kɹɑft/ (Canada, US, cot-caught-merger)
- /kɹɒft/ (Canada, US, cot-caught-merger)
- /kɹɒft/ (Received-Pronunciation)
- /kɹɔft/ (General-American) without the cot–caught merger
Etymology
The noun is derived from Middle English croft, crofft, croffte, croofte, crofte (“croft”), from Old English croft (“enclosed field”); further etymology uncertain, but possibly from Proto-Germanic *kruftaz (“a hill; a curve”), from Proto-Indo-European *grewb- (“to bend; arch, crook, curve”); see also crop. The English word is cognate with Middle Dutch kroft, krocht, crocht (“high and dry land; a field on the downs”), Middle Low German kroch (“enclosed piece of farmland or pasture”), Scots croft, craft (“croft”). The verb is derived from the noun.
Meanings
-
An enclosed piece of land, usually small and arable and used for small-scale food production, and often with a dwelling next to it; in particular, such a piece of land rented to a farmer (a crofter), especially in Scotland, together with a right to use separate pastureland shared by other crofters.
Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft / The red-breast whistles from a garden-croft; / And gathering swallows twitter in the skies.
1819 September 19, John Keats, “To Autumn”, in Lamia, Isabella, the Eve of St. Agnes, and Other Poems, London: […] [Thomas Davison] for Taylor and Hessey, […], published 1820, →OCLC, stanza 3, page 139:...to haue set and for malis and service...the four markland of Kincrakin...with the croft of Polgreyich and the croft that Ewin M'Ewin was wount to haue...
1530: Sir John Campbell of Glenurchy (in a lease to his "weil belouit" servant John M'Conoquhy V'Gregour)
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| crofts | Number=Plur | lexicographic |
Deriveds
goodman's croft · toft and croft · Moorcroft · croftland · Cloudcroft · Joan Croft
Synonyms
Translations (21)
is hjáleigubóndi (enclosed piece of land) · it podere (enclosed piece of land) · ga croit (enclosed piece of land) · gv croit (enclosed piece of land) · cy tyddyn (enclosed piece of land) · cs políčko (enclosed piece of land) · fi torppa (enclosed piece of land) · it campetto (enclosed piece of land) · nb tuft (enclosed piece of land) · fi mäkitupa (enclosed piece of land) · is smábóndi (enclosed piece of land) · gd croit (enclosed piece of land) · bg заградено поле (enclosed piece of land) · sh ograđeno polje (enclosed piece of land) · ga crochta (enclosed piece of land) · sv torp (enclosed piece of land) · it campicello (enclosed piece of land) · cs záhumenek (enclosed piece of land) · cy crofft (enclosed piece of land) · es coto (enclosed piece of land) · fi haka (enclosed piece of land)