English

Noun

crock ‎(plural crocks)

1. A stoneware or earthenware jar or storage container.
   • 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.

2. A piece of broken pottery, a shard.
3. (Britain) A person who is physically limited by age, illness or injury.

   Old crocks’ home = home for the aged

   • 1925, John Buchan, John Macnab, 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.”

   • 2006 The Moving Finger part one, Miss Marple, 15 min, 20 year old bicycling tomboy to injured walker:

     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."

4. (Britain) 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 (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.

Synonyms

• (vehicle): banger

Translations

Verb

crock ‎(third-person singular simple present crocks, present participle crocking, simple past and past participle crocked)

1. To break something or injure someone.
   • 1904, P.G. Wodehouse, The Gold Bat :

     "That last time I brought down Barry I crocked him. He's in his study now with a sprained ankle. ..."

   • 2007 January 3, Daily Mirror:

   Thousands of cars crocked by dodgy fuel

   • 2006 April 30, The Sunday Times:

   Ferreira ... peremptorily expunges England’s World Cup chances by crocking Wayne Rooney.

2. (textiles, leatherworking) To transfer coloring through abrasion from one item to another.
   • 1917, John H. Pfingsten, "Colouring-matter for leather and method of using the same" , US Patent 1371572, page 1:

     thus producing a permanent, definite color thereon which will not fade or crock, and at the same time using up all of the coloring matter.

   • 1964, Isabel Barnum Wingate, Know Your Merchandise , page 109:

   Colored fabrics should be dried separately for the first few times to prevent crocking (rubbing off of dye).

   • 2002, Sandy Scrivano, Sewing With Leather & Suede , ISBN 1579902731, page 95:

   In leather garments, lining also prevents crocking of color onto skin or garments worn underneath.

3. (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 , 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...

4. (transitive, now dialectal) To put or store (something) in a crock or pot.
   • 1970, Donald Harington, Lightning Bug:

     She filled the pail and carried it down to the springhouse to crock it and leave it to cool.

Translations

Derived terms

References

• Krueger, Dennis (December 1982). "Why On Earth Do They Call It Throwing?" Studio Potter Vol. 11, Number 1. (etymology)

Etymology 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

crock ‎(third-person singular simple present crocks, present participle crocking, simple past and past participle crocked)

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