▪ I. † crouch, n.1 Obs.
Forms: 1 cr{uacu}c, 2–3 cruche, 4–5 crouche, crowch(e.
[Early ME. cruche, app.:—OE. cr{uacu}c, ad. L. crux, crucis cross.
OE. cr{uacu}c is known to occur once c 1000 in sense ‘sign of the cross’: its history presents some difficulties. The palatalization of the final ć (whence 12th c. crūche) suggests that it was a word of early adoption which had undergone the usual phonetic change, as in circe, church. But in this case the vowel would have remained short, as in pic, pitch, and examples would surely have occurred. The probability is that it is a late learned adaptation of L. cruci-, as pronounced by Italians or other Romanic people with c as tch, and lengthened ū: cf. It. croce. See Pogatscher §160 (1888). Cf. also OS. crûci, OHG. crûci, crûzi, mod.G. kreuz, and their allied forms, where we have the long ū, and c repr. by ts as in OF. cruiz. (Some have thought ME. cruche to be of Fr. dial. origin: cf. Bearnese croutz cross).]
= cross, in its various early senses: the holy cross, or a representation or figure of it; the sign of the cross; a heraldic cross; the cross on a coin, a coin marked with a cross.
| c 1000 Sax. Leechd. II. 288 Þonne nime he his [petra oleum] dæl, and wyrce cristes mæl on ælcre lime butan cruc on þæm heafde foran se sceal on balzame beon. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 95 Crepe to cruche on lange fridai. a 1225 Leg. Kath. 1171 Ne mahte..his heuenliche cunde..felen..sorhe vpo þe cruche. c 1315 Shoreham 15 Ine the foreheved the crouche a-set Felthe of fendes to bermi. 1340 Ayenb. 41 The halȝede þinges, þe crouchen [Fr. les croiz], þe calices. 1389 in Eng. Gilds (1870) 54 In exaltacion of ye holy crouche. 1393 Gower Conf. I. 172 Whose tunge nouther pill ne crouche may hire. 1393 Langl. P. Pl. C. viii. 167 Meny crouche on hus cloke and keyes of rome. a 1400 Cov. Myst. (Shaks. Soc.) 355 He deyd on crowche. a 1420 Hoccleve De Reg. Princ. 680 Loke whethir In this purs there be ony crosse or crouche. 1463, etc. [see Crouchmas]. |
▪ II. crouch, n.2
(kraʊtʃ)
Also 6 crowche.
[f. crouch v.1]
a. An act of crouching; a stooping, bending, or bowing low.
| 1597 Lyly Wom. in Moone ii. i, Thou didst not honor me with kneele and crowche. 1632 Massinger City Madam ii. i, The reverence, respect, the crouches, cringes. 1809 Campbell Gertr. Wyom. iii. xiv, Nor cougar's crouch I fear'd. 1889 Adm. Maxse in Pall Mall G. 29 Jan. 1, Public Opinion, always on the crouch..in order to spring erect. |
b. Athletics. A method of starting in sprint races in which the runner crouches down on all fours. In full crouch start.
| 1913 S. A. Mussabini Compl. Athletic Trainer 196 The old-fashioned stand-up position enabled the runners to keep ‘set’ on their marks for a very much longer time than the present-day straining ‘crouch’ will let them do. Ibid. 217 Good level running from the modern ‘crouch’ start. 1931 F. A. M. Webster Atheletes in Action 17 No matter what type of race one is competing in, provided that it calls for a crouch start, the first consideration must be that of generating immediate momentum. Ibid. 81 The start is made in the normal ‘Crouch’ position used by sprinters. 1956 H. Abrahams Olympic Games Bk. Pl. facing p. 16 (caption) Start of the 100 metres final. T. E. Burke (U.S.A.)..has already adopted the ‘crouch’ start. |
▪ III. crouch
obs. by-form of crutch.
▪ IV. crouch, v.1
(kraʊtʃ)
Forms: 4 cruche(n, crouchen, 4–6 crouche, 5–7 croche, 6–7 crowch(e, crooch(e, 6 crootche, croutche, 6– crouch.
[First known in end of 14th c.; origin doubtful.
Generally identified with crouk v.; but (1) crouke and cruche come together as distinct words in 2nd quot. 1394; (2) there is no assignable reason for the palatalization of the k in crouk; cf. the phonetic history of OE. br{uacu}can, d{uacu}can, l{uacu}can, etc.; (3) crouch is palatalized in all Eng. dialects, Sc. (krutʃ), W. Yorksh. (kraːtʃ) (both meaning ME. ū). It is indeed impossible for a word in -ouch to be regularly derived from OE., since the same cause that palatalized the c in -{uacu}c would necessarily make umlaut and give -{yacu}c-, ME. -ych, -ich. There was however an OF. crochir to become hooked or crooked, of which Godefroy has a single example, said of the shoulders ‘a fet..les espaules crochir.’ On the analogy of pouch, avouch, etc., this might give Eng. crouch, but the lateness of the word is still surprising.]
1. intr. To stoop or bend low with general compression of the body, as in stooping for shelter, in fear, or in submission; to cower with the limbs bent. Formerly often applied to the act of bowing low in reverence or deference. Now said also of the depressed and constrained posture assumed by a beast in fear or submission, or in order to make a spring. (To cower concerns chiefly the head and shoulders: to crouch affects the body as a whole.)
| c 1394 P. Pl. Crede 302 Lordes loueth hem well, for þei so lowe crouchen. Ibid. 751 Kniȝtes croukeþ hem to & crucheþ full lowe. [14.. Golagros & Gaw. 1280 The King crochit with croune, cumly and cleir.] 1548 Gest Pr. Masse 121 Without ether crouching or kneling. 1581 J. Bell Haddon's Answ. Osor. 322 b, Croochyng and kneelyng to the Crucifixe. 1611 Cotgr., Tapir..to crooch, lurke, squat, or ducke vnder. 1653 H. Cogan tr. Pinto's Trav. 29 We sat crouching for the space of three whole days upon this rock. 1709 Addison Tatler No. 161 ¶5 A Couple of tame Lions lay crouching at her Feet. 1835 Marryat Jac. Faithf. xxxi, He crouched behind a lilac-bush. 1840 Dickens Barn. Rudge vi, Crouching like a cat in dark corners. 1873 Black Pr. Thule vii. 106 Sheila crouched into her father's side for shelter. |
2. To bow or bend humbly or servilely; to cringe submissively or fawningly. Chiefly fig.
| 1528 Roy & Barlow Rede me (Arb. 59) But they are constrayned to croutche..as it were unto an Emproure. 1577 Hanmer Anc. Eccl. Hist. (1619) 327 They crooched vnto the Romanes, and protested loyalty and subiection. 1594 Nashe Unfort. Trav. 41 He must faune like a spaniell, crouch like a Jew. 1601 R. Johnson Kingd. & Commw. 59 They are croched to, and feared of all men. 1779 J. Moore View Soc. Fr. (1789) I. xliv. 375 The free spirit must crouch to the slave in office. 1823 Scott Quentin D. xvi, I crouch to no one—obey no one. a 1862 Buckle Civiliz. (1869) III. iii. 126 They who crouch to those who are above them always trample on those who are below them. |
3. trans. To bow or bend low (the knee, etc.): often with implication of cringing.
| 1705 Lond. Gaz. No. 4149/4 [She] crouches her hind Fetterlock Joynts when she stands still. 1800 Coleridge Christabel 11, She..crouched her head upon her breast. 1815 Moore Lalla R. (1824) 207 'Twas not for him to crouch the knee Tamely to Moslem tyranny. 1854 Landor Lett. American 26 How long shall a hundred millions of our fellow-creatures crouch their backs before him? |
▪ V. † crouch, v.2 Obs.
Also 5 crowche, 7 cruch.
[f. crouch n.1: cf. cross v.]
1. trans. To cross; to sign with a cross.
| a 1225 Leg. Kath. 728 Heo wið Cristes cros Cruchede hire ouer al. c 1386 Chaucer Miller's T. 293, I crowche the from elues and from wightes. ― Merch. T. 463 And crouched hem, and bad God schuld hem blesse. |
2. To cross with lines, etc. rare.
| c 1620 Z. Boyd Zion's Flowers (1855) 125 Bred greefe hath cruch't our cheekes with water furrowes. |