† crakow Obs. exc. Hist.
(ˈkrækaʊ)
Forms: 4–5 crakowe, 5 crawcow, 7–9 crac(k)owe, 8 crakow, crakoe.
[f. Crakow, Krakau, or Cracovie, in Poland, whence they were introduced to England: see Zébot, Dějiny Kroje v Zem{iacu}ch Českych (History of Costume in Bohemia), Prague (1892) 333.]
A boot or shoe with a very long pointed toe, worn at the end of the 14th century.
| c 1367 Eulogium Hist. (1863) III. v. clxxxvi. 231 Habent etiam sotulares rostratas in unius digiti longitudine quæ ‘crakowes’ vocantur; potius judicantur ungulæ..dæmonum quam ornamenta hominum. c 1380 Antecrist in Todd 3 Treat. Wyclif 128 Wiþ tagged cloþes and crakowe pykis. c 14.. in Rel. Ant. I. 41 With her long crakowis. 14.. tr. Higden (Rolls) VIII. App. 467 A man..was compellede to eite the crawcows and leder of his schoone. 1754 T. Gardner Hist. Dunwich 47 A Stone-Coffin, wherein lay the Corpse of a Man..upon his Legs were a Pair of Boots picked like Crakows. 1860 Fairholt Costume 110 But one representation of crackowes thus fastened has been recorded, and in that instance they are secured to the girdle. |