▪ I. cratch, n.1
(krætʃ)
Forms: 2–3 crecche, 4 creke, 4–5 cracche, crachche, 4–6 crache, cratche, 6 crach, cretche, (6–7 dial. critch), 6– cratch.
[ME. crecche, a. OF. creche, cresche manger, crib = Pr. crepcha, crepia, It. greppia:—Rom. type *creppja, a Ger. type *crippja (Goth. kribjo), whence OHG. chrippa, Ger. krippe = OE. cribb, crib. Thus cratch and crib are in origin identical.]
1. A rack or crib to hold fodder for horses and cattle in a stable or a cowshed; in early use sometimes, a manger. Obs. exc. dial.
| a 1300 Gloss. to Neckam in Wright Voc. I. 106 In stabulo sit presepe (gloss creeche [? crecche]). c 1350 Will. Palerne 3233 Queyntliche to his cracche was corue swiche a weie Þat men miȝt legge him [the horse] mete. 1382 Wyclif Isa. i. 3 The oxe kneȝ his weldere, and the asse the cracche of his lord. 1580 Baret Alv. C 1530 A Crach or cribbe, Præsepium. 1598 Florio, Presepio, a cratch, a rack, a manger, an oxe-stall in a stable, a crib, or a critch. 1616 Surfl. & Markh. Country Farme 91 Let his harnes be tied, and he close made fast to the cratch. 1653 Urquhart Rabelais i. iv, Beeves fatned at the cratch in Oxe stalls. 1669 Worlidge Syst. Agric. (1681) 324 Cratch, a Rack for Hay or Straw. 1691 Ray South-country Wds., Cratch, or Critch, a rack. |
b. spec. applied to the ‘manger’ at Bethlehem where the infant Jesus was laid. Obs. or arch.
| a 1225 Ancr. R. 260 Heo leiden hine up on heih in one crecche, mid clutes biwrabbed. c 1325 Metr. Hom. 64 Ȝe sall fynd a chylde thar bounden In a creke, wit cloutes wounden. 1382 Wyclif Luke ii. 7 Sche childide her firste born sone, and wlappide him in clothis, and puttide him in a cracche. a 1569 A. Kingsmill Man's Est. x. (1580) 55 A stable was his beste house, and a cratche his cradle. a 1654 Selden Table-t. (Arb.) 33 The Coffin of our Christmas Pies in shape long, is in imitation of the Cratch. 1656 Trapp Comm. Matt. ii. 13 From his cratch to his cross, he suffered many a little death all his life long. a 1711 Ken Hymns Evang. Poet. Wks. 1721 I. 48 When we saw him in a cratch, a weak, And sucking Babe. 1884 C. D. Warner in Harper's Mag. Dec. 9/2 The ‘cratch’, that is, the manger in which the infant Jesus was laid. |
† c. Astron. The star-cluster known as Præsepe (the manger), in the constellation Cancer.
| 1647 Lilly Chr. Astrol. clix. 667 The ascendant directed To the Cratch in the Crab. |
2. A movable rack for feeding beasts out of doors.
| 1523 Fitzherb. Husb. §70 It is necessary to make standynge cratches to caste theyr fodder in. 1577 B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. iii. (1586) 140 To feede them [sheep] at home in cratches. 1688 R. Holme Armoury ii. 176/1 Cratch, or Racks, to give..Sheep..meat in, in the Winter⁓time. 1831 Howitt Seasons 305 The farmer has driven his flocks into the farm-yard, where some honest Giles piles their cratches plentifully with fodder. 1834 Brit. Husb. I. 208 It consists of a cratch in the centre for hay, and four mangers projecting from it for corn or roots; the whole roofed with boards and mounted on four wheels. 1870 Auctioneer's Catal. in Miss Jackson Shropsh. Word-bk. s.v., Cratches and mangers. 1877 ibid. Two sheep-cratches. |
† 3. transf. A small house, a cot; cf. crib. Obs.
| c 1325 Poem Times Edw. II 75 in Pol. Songs (Camden) 327 He priketh out of toune..Into a straunge contré, and halt a wenche in cracche. |
4. A wooden grating or hurdle; a sparred frame or rack, for various purposes. local.
| 1382 Wyclif 1 Chron. iv. 23 Dwellynge in plauntyngis, and in cratchis [1388 heggis]. 1613 Purchas Pilgr. vii. ix. (1614) 696 In Bengo and Coanza they are forced to set vp..houses upon cratches. Ibid. ix. v. 844 Their Bouacan is a grediron of foure cratches. 1624 Capt. Smith Virginia iii. iii. 51 Poore bridges, onely made of a few cratches, thrust in the ose, and three or four poles laid on them. 1804 Hull Advertiser 3 Mar. 2/2 A large Bottle Cratch framed and tiled. 1863 Morton Cycl. Agric. II. Gloss., Cratch (Rutl.), a sort of rack with two legs and two handles, used to kill sheep on. 1865 E. Meteyard Life Wedgwood I. 201 And hooked to the beams of the ceiling the great oak-made cratch for bacon. 1887 S. Chesh. Gloss. s.v., The cratch in a drainer is the frame which supports the curd, and allows the whey to ooze out. Cratches are likewise fastened round the sides of a cart (e.g. in harvest-time) to allow of a larger load being placed upon it. |
5. Comb., as cratch-yard, a yard containing cratches or racks for fodder.
| 1610 W. Folkingham Art of Survey i. x. 30 Cast into the Cratch-yard all Winter, and bestowed on the fallowes next September. 1877 N.W. Linc. Gloss., Cratch-yard. |
▪ II. † cratch, n.2 Obs. or dial.
[f. cratch v.]
1. Some cutaneous disease attended with itching.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 11823 (Cott.) Wit þe crache [Fairf. skratting] him tok þe scurf. |
2. pl. A disease in the feet of horses; the scratches. Also a similar disease in sheep.
| 1523 Fitzherb. Husb. §112 Cratches is a soraunce that..appereth in the pasturnes, lyke as the skyn were cut ouer⁓thwarte. 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1673) 320 Of the Cratches, or Rats'-tails..This is a kinde of long scabby rifts growing..on the hinder part, from the fewter-lock up to the curb. Ibid. 476 Of the warts and cratches of sheep.—This disease..doth annoy the sheep. 1877 in N.W. Linc. Gloss. |
▪ III. † cratch, v. Obs.
Forms: 3 crechen, 4–5 cracche, 5–6 crache, cratch(e.
[Etymological history obscure: somewhat similar forms are MDu., MLG. kratsen (mod.Du. and LG. krassen), OHG. chrazzôn, MHG. kratzen, kretzen, G. kratzen; also Da. kradse, Sw. kratsa. Of all these the original seems to be the OHG. chrazzon, which corresponds to a WGer. *krattôn, app. the source of F. gratter, Pr., Sp. gratar, It. grattare.
The Eng. may possibly have been adopted from Du. or LG. in 12–13th c.; but evidence is wanting. Scratch, which appeared in 16th c., appears to be a modification of cratch: see scr-.]
1. trans. To scratch.
| c 1320 Orfeo 78 She..cracched hur tyl that sche can blede. 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. Prol. 154 He [the cat] wil..Cracche vs, or clowe vs. c 1475 Stans Puer 63 in Q. Eliz. Acad., etc. 58 Crache not þi fleche. 1547 Boorde Brev. Health 966 A good payre of nayles to crache and clawe. 1552 Huloet, Cratche out ones eyes, oculos exculpere. |
b. absol. or intr. (usu. for refl.)
| 1393 Langl. P. Pl. C. vii. 140 Ich crie and cracche with my kene nailes. 1494 Fabyan Chron. vii. ccxl. 282, .iii. of them all rased the body of y⊇ olde egle, and the .iiii. was cratchynge at the olde eglys eyen. 1547 Boorde Brev. Health ccxc. 96 Some do name it ych for the pacient must crache and clawe. |
2. trans. To seize or snatch with, or as with, claws; to scrape up greedily; to grab.
The first quot. is possibly an error for crochen or clechen.
| [a 1225 Juliana 35 Make me war & wite me wið his crefti crokes þat ha me ne crechen.] 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xi. 139 Al þe clergye vnder cryste ne miȝte me cracche fro helle. 1564 Becon Wks. Pref. (1843) 26 He that doth nothing but rake and take, cratch and snatch, keep and sweep all that he can get. 1581 J. Bell Haddon's Answ. Osor. 402 Their crafty conveyaunce to cratche uppe the pence. |
Hence ˈcratching vbl. n.
| c 1320 Seuyn Sag. (W.) 876 He mot the bringge to swich ending, Als hadde the bor for his cracheing. 1545 T. Raynalde Byrth Mankynde Y vj, In kembyng or cratchinge of the heade. |